About the Blog


If you like to talk about books this is the place to
post that book you just finished. Please include the title and author as well
as what you liked or disliked about the book. If you have questions or
suggestions, if you want to share your impressions on the book you read, send
your reviews to
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We'd like to hear from you!


What are you reading?







четверг, 5 декабря 2013 г.

Haruki Murakami "Dance Dance Dance"


Haruki Murakami is a famous name in the world of modern literature. A remarkable writer with the personal style and a personal way of making poetry while writing a prose. Those who are acquainted with his works will find Dance Dance Dance very much of an interest and those who never read will have a chance to open the new Universe of his literary works.  And now a few words about book itself.
High-class call girls billed to Mastercard. A psychic thirteen-year-old drop-out with a passion for Talking Heads. A hunky matinee idol doomed to play dentists and teachers. A one-armed beach-combing poet, an uptight hotel clerk and one very bemused narrator caught in the web of advanced capitalist mayhem. Combine this offbeat cast of characters with Murakami’s idiosyncratic prose and out comes Dance Dance Dance. It is an assault on the senses, part murder mystery, part metaphysical speculation; a fable for our times as catchy as a rock song blasting from the window of a sports car.
Welcome to the mystery of reading!
Oleg

пятница, 1 ноября 2013 г.

Orson Scott Card "Ender's Game"


Once again, Earth is under attack. An alien species is poised for a final assault. The survival of humanity depends on a military genius who can defeat the aliens. But who? Ender Wiggin. Brilliant. Ruthless. Cunning. A tactical and strategic master. And a child.
Recruited for military training by the world government, Ender’s childhood ends the moment he enters his new home: Battle School. Among the elite recruits Ender proves himself to be a genius among geniuses. In simulated war games he excels. But is the pressure and loneliness taking its toll on Ender? Simulations are one thing. How will Ender perform in real combat conditions? After all, Battle School is just a game. Right?
Michail   

вторник, 22 октября 2013 г.

Herman Melville "Moby Dick"


Today I represent a famous book by Herman Melville “Moby Dick”.
In his imagination Melville lived as well as wrote Moby Dick, his great epic of whales and whaling. It tells the story of Ahab, Captain of the Pequod and of his revenge-mission and insane pursuit of Moby Dick, the fierce white whale. Among Ahab’s crew is Ishmael, a young man undergoing a grueling rite of passage and pursuing a different salvation.

As the Pequod circles the globe like a latter-day Noah’s Ark, so Moby Dick ranges and digresses through space and time, through mythologies, religions and philosophies. It is Melville’s great ‘romance of adventure’ and one of the greatest novels of all time.
Aleksandr

понедельник, 14 октября 2013 г.

Steven Pressfield "The Legend of Bagger Vance"


In the Depression year of 1931, on the golf links at Krewe Island off Savannah’s windswept shore, two legends of the game, Bobby Jones and Walter Hagen, meet for a mesmerizing thirty-six-hole showdown. Another golfer will also compete – a troubled local war hero, once a champion, who comes with his mentor and caddie, the mysterious Bagger Vance. Sage and charismatic, it is Vance who will ultimately guide the match, for he holds the secret of the Authentic Swing. And he alone can show his protégé the way back to glory.
It’s a philosophical fantasy imagined on a golf course, heavy with fog, storm, fireworks and howling winds of supernatural forces…
Yura

среда, 4 сентября 2013 г.

Douglas Adams "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"

Seconds before the Earth is demolished to make way for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is plucked off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect, a researcher for the revised edition of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy who, for the last fifteen years, has been posing as an out-of-work actor.

Together this dynamic pair begin a journey through space aided by quotes from The Hitchhiker’s Guide (“A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have”) and a galaxy-full of fellow travelers: Zaphod Beeblebrox – the two-headed, three-armed ex-hippie and totally out-to-lunch president of the galaxy; Trillian, Zaphod’s girlfriend (formally Tricia McMillan), whom Arthur tried to pick up at a cocktail party once upon a time zone; Marvin, a paranoid, brilliant and chronically depressed robot; Veet Voojagig, a former graduate student who is obsessed with the disappearance of all the ballpoint pens he bought over the years.
Where are these pens? Why are we born? Why do we spend so much time in between wearing digital watches? For all the answers stick your thumb to the stars. And don't forget to bring a towel!
Yura

среда, 21 августа 2013 г.

"Schatten, die verdämmern" Hans Ernst

"Schatten, die verdämmern" von Hans Ernst

Die Haupthelden sind zwei verliebten Menschen, die viel erlebt haben, um ihre Liebe zu erhalten. Toni und Helen kannten einander seit ihrer Kindheit.  Aber als sie älter wurden, erfuhren sie ihr Familiengeheimnis. 
Außer der spannenden Liebesgeschichte genießt der Leser die schöne Natur von Berglandschaften, denn die Handlung spielt in einem Bergdörfchen.
Ich habe dieses Buch sehr gern.

Katerina

среда, 14 августа 2013 г.

Freya North "Cat"


Catriona McCabe, 28, only ever known as Cat is trying to improve her career as a sports journalist and get over a failed relationship. What better way to do both than to spend the summer following the Tour de France?
Plunged into a male press corps, Cat has to fight for space and for stories. From Provence to Paris, up the Pyrenees and over the Alps, Cat and an entourage of podium girls, anxious wives, autocratic team directors and seasoned hacks pursue the boys on bikes. With sex, drugs, large bulges and larger egos, the soap opera that is Tour de France unfolds, with Cat’s life frequently mirroring the peaks and perils of the race. Take a ride on the wild side…
Sara  

понедельник, 12 августа 2013 г.

Mario Puzo “The Godfather”


 “The Godfather” is one of the best pieces of literature ever written and the most interesting novel that I have ever read. Mario Puzo described the mysterious and powerful world of American Mafia, which was controlled by a few originally Italian Families. He told the story of the Family Corleone, an Italian immigrant who went from poverty in Little Italy to create one of the Five Families of New York, especially of don Corleone and his four children, Sonny, Fred, Connie and Michael. The most enjoyable character was the hot-tempered Santino Corleone, better known as “Sonny.” He was so real and interesting to me. Sonny made many thoughtless decisions that led to his death…..

 I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes thriller novels.

Olga

четверг, 8 августа 2013 г.

"Opa steht auf rosa Shorts" Kirsten Boie

"Opa steht auf rosa Shorts"
Kirsten Boie

Ich möchte über ein Buch erzählen. Es hat mir viel Spaß  gemacht, dieses Buch zu lesen. Der Autor erzählt über Helen und ihre Familie: Mutter, Vater und Großvater. Der Leser erfuhr viele lustige Situationen aus dem Leben dieser Familie. Wir erlebten zusammen mit den Haupthelden Glück und Leid. Wir lachten zusammen mit Helen, als sie ihrem Großvater die Großmutter ihrer Freundin vorstellte. Wir fühlten ihre Verzweiflung, als sie eines Tages in der Schule Schmach hatte.
Der Autor zeigte die Beziehung zwischen einem Großvater und seiner Enkelin. Es ist sehr interessant, dass sie zu zwei verschiedenen Generationen gehören, aber sie verständigen sich mit einander. Die Enkelin es zieht öfter vor, sich mit ihren Problemen an ihren Großvater zu wenden, und nicht an ihre Eltern.
 Ich empfehle Ihnen dieses Buch zu lesen.

Katerina

Буктрейлер Н.Абгарян "Манюня"


вторник, 30 июля 2013 г.

Sandra Brown "Smoke Screen"


A few words about detective story I recommend to read. When newswoman Britt Shelley wakes up to find herself in bed beside Charleston PD detective Jay Burgess, she remembers nothing of how she got there – or how he wound up dead. Burgess was one of four heroic city officials who risked their lives five years earlier to lead others to safety from a catastrophic fire. His lifelong friend, Raley Gannon, was later assigned to investigate. But Raley never finished the inquiry because one calamitous night his career was destroyed by scandal. Now the newswoman whose biased reporting helped bring about Raley’s downfall might be his only chance to vindicate himself and get justice for the fire’s victims. But the more Raley and Britt discover about that fateful day, the more perilous their situation becomes, until they’re not only chasing the truth but running for their lives.
Ann  

вторник, 23 июля 2013 г.

Wally Lamb "She's Come Undone"


  In his extraordinary coming-of-age odyssey, Wally Lamb invited us to hitch a wild ride on a journey of love, pain and renewal with the most heartbreaking comical heroine to come along in years.
  Meet Dolores Price. She’s thirteen, wise mouthed but wounded, having bid childhood good-bye. Stranded in front of her bedroom TV, she spends the next few years nourishing herself with the Mallomars, potato chips and Pepsi her anxious mother supplies. When she finally orbits into young womanhood at 257 pounds, Dolores is no stronger and life is no kinder. But this time she’s determined to rise to the occasion and give herself one more chance before she really goes under.  
  Larisa

понедельник, 15 июля 2013 г.

Christie Golden "Marooned"


If you are a science fiction fan and especially the Star Trek Voyager’s fan then it’s time to read a real thing – a book of the Star Trek Voyager series by Christie Golden named “Marooned”.
When an alien pirate abducts Kes, U.S.S. Voyager takes off in hot pursuit, but the first rescue mission fails disastrously; an ion storm forces the shuttle to crash on an unknown world. Now Captain Janeway and her Away Team must embark on a hazardous trek through a hostile environment in search of a way off the planet, while Voyager, commanded by Chakotay, confronts an enemy fleet in the depth of space.

Vadim

четверг, 11 июля 2013 г.

Rich Cohen "Lake Effect"


Raised in an affluent suburb on the North Shore of Chicago, Rich Cohen had a cluster of interesting friends, but none more interesting than Jamie Drew. Fatherless, reckless and lower middle class in a place that wasn’t, Jamie possessed such an irresistible insouciance and charm that even the teachers called him Drew-licious. Through the high school years of parties and Cub games and girls, of summer nights on the beach and forbidden forays into the blues bars of Chicago’s notorious South Side, the two formed a lasting bond. Even after Cohen went to college in New Orleans (Jamie went to Kansas) and then moved to New York, where he had a memorable interlude with the legendary New Yorker writer Joseph Mitchell, Jamie remained oddly crucial to his life. Exquisite and taut, Lake Effect is a bittersweet coming-of-age story that quietly bores to the essence of friendship and how it survives even as it is destined to change.
Rich Cohen has taken the everyday stuff of life and made it joyously readable. The mundane becomes richly evocative in his hands. The usual becomes unusual, the boring becomes interesting, the sweet becomes bittersweet and Lake Effect becomes the proverbial book you can’t put down.
Michail    

четверг, 20 июня 2013 г.

Ken Follett “The Pillars of the Earth”

It is a story of a British family that built Cathedrals in England. What made the book for me were the characters. The characters were interesting and complex There were the monk, the young woman, the builder and I felt that they were like a real persons As you read this book, you get to know Tom, his family and the lives of each member. The storyline was captivating and exciting.

Also I loved the love stories in it. I loved Tom and Ellen's story most of all. It was sad that it happened so quickly after Agnes but it became so like as if they were meant to be together. This love story is intriguing and captivating
A marvelous and exciting novel.
Ann

понедельник, 27 мая 2013 г.

Jonathan Franzen "The Corrections"

A comic, tragic epic stretching from the Midwest of the midcentury to the Wall Street and Eastern Europe of today, The Corrections brings an old-fashioned world of civic virtue and sexual inhibitions into violent collision with the era of home surveillance, hands-off parenting, do-it-yourself mental health care and globalized greed.

After almost fifty years as a wife and mother, Enid is ready to have some fun. Unfortunately, her husband, Alfred, is losing his sanity to Parkinson's disease and their children have long since flown the family nest to the catastrophes of their own lives. Desperate for some pleasure to look forward to, Enid has set her heart on bringing the family together for one last Christmas at home.

Greg 

четверг, 16 мая 2013 г.

Dean Koontz "Icebound"


Suspense! If you are a fan of the genre, in that case I recommend to read a novel by Dean Koontz “Icebound”.
A widespread drought is causing murderous famine. There is one possible solution: giant masses of Arctic ice, split from the polar pack by high explosives, could be moved south to parched coastlines and melted for water.

In an Arctic ice field a special team of eight scientists has planned a number of powerful bombs that will detonate automatically at midnight. But before they can withdraw to the safety of their base camp – Edgeway Station – a shuttering tidal wave breaks loose the ice on which they are working. Now they are hopelessly marooned on an iceberg during the worst winter storm of the decade. The bombs in the ice beneath them are buried irretrievably deep … and ticking.

 Abruptly thrown into a desperate struggle for survival, the Edgeway scientists are further plagued by the discovery that one of them is a ruthless killer hellbent on a strange mission of his own…
The reading of the novel swept me along with a breathless pace …

Michail

вторник, 7 мая 2013 г.

Steven Saylor “The Seven Wonders: A Novel of the Ancient World”


“The Seven Wonders: A Novel of the Ancient World” by Steven Saylor is a collection of short stories. The protagonist, Gordianus, is 18 years old and he sets off with his tutor Antipater of Sidon, the world’s most celebrated poet. Their journey takes them on a tour of the Seven Wonders of the World and we go along on the journey. One of the things I admire most about this book is the incredible research and description of the wonders and the cities of Greece, Asia, Egypt, which Gordianus and Antipater visit. They meet many interesting people and solve many mysteries and riddles. We see the beginnings of the Olympic Games. We not only see the wonders of the world, we go inside them. We're introduced to the politics of the time.

Saylor's writing is so real. And I really enjoy reading this book.

Ann

John Gridham "The Partner"


What can be better than to read a good detective story during the day off? Especially if it’s a story by John Grisham!!! Now a few words about the plot…
Once he was a well-liked, well paid young partner in a thriving Mississippi law firm. Then Patrick Lanigan stole ninety million dollars from his own firm and run for his life. For four years he evaded men who were rich, powerful and would stop at nothing to find him. Then inevitably on the edge of the Brazilian jungle they finally tracked him down.

Now Patrick is coming home. And in the Mississippi city where it all began an extraordinary trial is about to begin. As prosecutors circle like sharks, as Patrick’s lawyer prepares his defense, as Patrick’s lover prays for his deliverance and his former partners wait for their revenge, another story is about to emerge. Because Patrick Lanigan, the most reviled white-collar criminal of his time, knows something that no one else in the world knows. He knows the truth…

Jack

четверг, 11 апреля 2013 г.

Sara Gruen “Water for Elephants”


   In the beginning of Water for Elephants Jacob Jankowski tells us that he is ninety or ninety-three. He's not really sure anymore. His body betrayed him years ago and Jacob now fears that his mind isn’t far, he’s living out his final days in the nursing home and hating every minute of it.  When the circus comes to town, Jacob comes alive and begins to tell us his life’s story. Water for Elephants transported me to a time of the great depression. I learned a lot about the old traveling circuses and life with them. That was really interesting. Water for Elephants is a wonderfully entertaining and well-written story that I think everyone should read. This novel is a delightful with unexpected and wonderful ending.

Olga

воскресенье, 7 апреля 2013 г.

L. Frank Baum "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz"


   Well, friends – it is time for the fairy-tale to come! Today it will be the bewitching tale of Dorothy’s adventures in the magical Land of Oz. The name of the book – The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and for sure it’s one of the best loved of the modern fairy-tales. Made into a spectacular film in 1939 it continues to delight adult and child alike.
    The story begins when a cyclone suddenly propels Dorothy and her dog Toto skywards and she finds herself in an unknown land.  She is hailed as a powerful sorceress by the little Munchkins, but her one desire is to return to Kansas, where beloved Aunt Em and Uncle Henry await her. Dorothy’s quest to seek the ‘Great Wizard Oz’ – the only one who can help her – leads her on a perilous journey along the Yellow Brick Road towards the glittering City of Emeralds. On the way she encounters the brainless Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman in search of a heart and the Cowardly Lion, who all join her. At last they reach the castle of Oz – yet in this strange land nothing is ever as it seems…
    So… if you want to have a real rest with the book in the hand – The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is your choice!!!
Yura  

вторник, 2 апреля 2013 г.

Ernest Hemingway "The Old Man and the Sea"


When The Old Man and the Sea was published in 1952, it was instantly hailed as a classic. The triumphant yet tragic story of an old Cuban fisherman and his supreme ordeal – a relentless, agonizing battle with a giant marlin far out in the Gulf Stream – it has the simplicity of a fable, the significance of a parable and the drama of an epic. Among the finest in English literature, Hemingway’s description of fishing and the teeming tropical life abounding in the Gulf Stream provide a setting of warmth and shimmering beauty for the struggle between man against sea and man against fate. A story of grace and courage, of heroism and pity, The old Man and the Sea received special recognition in the citation accompanying Hemingway’s Nobel Prize for literature in 1954 and remains one of his most popular works today.
Donald

вторник, 12 марта 2013 г.

Alan Titchmarsh "Rosie"


Nick Robertson thought he’d got used to his grandmother Rosie’s dotty behavior. At 87-years-old she is determined that before life passes her by she will live a little or preferably a lot. It wouldn’t be so bad if Nick had nothing else to do. But with a living to make on the Isle of Wight, two warring parents on the mainland to cope with and a love life in terminal decline, he would prefer his grandmother to get on with things a little more quietly.
But there is no time like the present, Rosie insists. Life is to be enjoyed to the full and to hell with the consequences. She will help Nick find the soul mate he clearly lacks and he can help her find out more about her past. It seems a simple task, but it turns out to involve rather more skullduggery than Nick had anticipated…
Alan Titchmarsh’s sparkling novel is a delicious blend of humor and romance – and a resounding affirmation that there is no such thing as the generation gap.
Max       

понедельник, 11 марта 2013 г.

Chuck Palahniuk “Fight Club”


 “Fight Club” is one of the most original and provocative novels, was published in 1996.
There are so many wonderful quotable quotes:
“If you don't know what you want," the doorman said, "you end up with a lot you don't.”
“I let go. Lost in oblivion. Dark and silent and complete. I found freedom. Losing all hope was freedom.”
“The lower you fall, the higher you'll fly.”
“It's only after we've lost everything that we're free to do anything.”
“This is your life and its ending one moment at a time.”
“You know how they say you only hurt the ones you love? Well, it works both ways.”
“I don't want to die without any scars.”
“The things you own end up owning you. It's only after you lose everything that you're free to do anything.”
"We don't have a great war in our generation, or a great depression, but we do, we have a great war of the spirit. We have a great revolution against the culture. The great depression is our lives. We have a spiritual depression."

Story about a man searching for his life purpose. Looking for something to fulfill his life, his desire, someone he wanted to be. I enjoyed it from start to finish and i found it really memorable, dynamic and powerful.
 A must read.
Olga

понедельник, 25 февраля 2013 г.

Arabella Weir "Stupid Cupid"


Why do we always want something even more when we can’t have it? Hat Grant is getting married. She is having a proper, big wedding. That is until something goes wrong. Six weeks before the day her fiancé Jimmy Mack dumps her. Hat is devastated. It can’t be happening. This is her special day. She can’t cancel everything – what about the flowers, her dress, the photographer, the caterers, her ghastly mother? So, she doesn’t. She decides to go ahead with the wedding plans come what may. Can anything stop Hat from her descent into madness or is she spiraling towards the world’s first solo wedding ceremony? Stupid Cupid is a wicked , laugh-out-loud comedy about denial, blind hope and wanting something you can’t have.
Sara    

Louisa May Alcott "Little Women"


Grown-up Meg, tomboyish Jo, timid Beth and precocious Amy – the four March sisters couldn’t be more different. But with their father away at war and their mother working to support the family, they have to rely on each other. Whether they’re putting on a play, forming a secret society or celebrating Christmas, there’s one thing they can’t help wondering. Will father return home safely?

Ann  

вторник, 5 февраля 2013 г.

Sally Spedding "Wringland"

Abbie Parker has just started her new job as sales negotiator for a prestige housing development in sinister and vaporous Black Fen – rumoured to be the most haunted corner of England. One morning she arrives to find her office door ajar and a strangely dressed woman waiting inside, intent on laying claim to just one particular plot.


As the days go by Abbie has further strange experiences both on the building site itself and in the surrounding wet-lands. Not only must she cope with the unwelcome attentions of a weird local clergyman and the erratic behaviour of her visiting boyfriend Simon but also with a hazy sense that she is now somehow in conflict with the vengeful spirit of a woman betrayed over a century earlier.

After the terror of risking her life by befriending the cleric’s disturbed little daughter, Abbie finally enjoys a brief period of happiness with Simon. But can their mere human love and courage prove sufficient – as both are drawn deeper into the profoundest evil?
Uncle Bens

воскресенье, 13 января 2013 г.

Paul Brodeur "The Stunt Man"


To a seedy New England resort comes Robert Cameron, a fugitive soldier who is tricked into taking a job as a stunt man with a movie company on location. The movie, improvised from day to day, becomes a startling mirror of Cameron’s own situation. Pursued by the Army and local police, held spellbound by the enigmatic leading lady and the magic of the movies, Cameron is pushed by the flamboyant, autocratic director into death defying stunts, each more terrifying than the last. And as he is led further away from the real world and deeper into the unreality of the film, life itself becomes the most intricate stunt of all…
Eric

четверг, 10 января 2013 г.

Gregory David Roberts “Shantaram”


 Absolutely marvelous! This is an incredible adventure story that takes the reader from the slums of Bombay to mafia life to the war in Afghanistan.  It was based on a real life situation.  David Roberts knows how to keep you interest by conducting a tour not only a picturesque corners of India, introduces its people, culture and life, but also carries on his experiences, feelings and his inner "I". The book is rich in philosophical sayings, speaks simple about the complex things. I'm sure that book will not leave anyone indifferent, everyone can find something new, interesting and incredible in it! I was completely captivated by this book. I have read hundreds of books, but few have held my attention as well as “Shantaram”.

Ann

четверг, 3 января 2013 г.

Dan Brown "Deception Point"


When a NASA satellite discovers an astonishingly rare object buried deep in the Arctic ice, the floundering space agency proclaims a much-needed victory – a victory with profound implications for NASA policy and the impending presidential election. To verify the authenticity of the find, the White House calls upon the skills of intelligence analyst Rachel Sexton. Accompanied by a team of experts, including the charismatic scholar Michael Tolland, Rachel travels to the Arctic and uncovers the unthinkable: evidence of scientific trickery – a bold deception that threatens to plunge the world into controversy. But before she can warn the president, Rachel and Michael are ambushed by a team of assassins. Fleeing for their lives across a desolate and lethal landscape, their only hope for survival is to discover who is behind this masterful plot. The truth, they will learn, is the most shocking deception of all.
Ken