One Chen Chen itibaren Beauchamp Roding, Ongar, Essex CM5 0NX, İngiltere itibaren Beauchamp Roding, Ongar, Essex CM5 0NX, İngiltere

Gerçekliğin arzularını aşmasına izin vermeyi reddeden karakterler hakkında harika bir hikaye. Bir uzun paragraf yaklaşımı ilk başta göz korkutucu görünüyor (gece okumayı nerede durduracağım?), Ancak yakında Baba Urrutria'nın hayatına ve onun çok çalkantılı bir Şili tarihine girme çabalarına çekiliyorsunuz. Bolaño bu karakteri ustaca ele alır, asla saf bir kötü adam içine akılsızca kaymasına izin vermez, aynı zamanda hatalarını asla reddetmez. Urrutria hem kendini tanıyan hem de kendini karalayan bir kişidir. "Sessizliklerinin" insanları incittiği zamanların farkında olduğu izlenimini ediniriz, ama aynı zamanda onları ölüm yatağında haklı çıkarmak için büyük özen gösterir. Sonuna doğru, bir hükümet işkence odasının gerçekliği ile karşı karşıya kaldığında, sadece bilseydi konuşacağını iddia ediyor, ama sonra bakmayı reddediyor. Bu, kısa uzunluğuna rağmen uzun süre sizinle kalacak olan düşündürücü bir roman.

"I can see it in your eyes," the man said above him, blood dripping from his lips as he attempted to force the glinting blade down into Tom's face. " 'Why won't this guy go down?'" Wells laughed, shaking his head ever so slowly, his face a bloody mess. "I can't feel a thing," he said. "Do you understand, boy? They made it so I don't feel any pain." The blade slowly descended. "It's a battle of the science projects," Wells grunted with exertion. "May the better freak win." I must confess that although I enjoyedSleeper Code, Sniegoski's first book about Tom Lovett, I merely found it "good", rather than something I'd retain as a highly enjoyable read. The premise in outline is that Tom has narcolepsy, but when he's asleep sometimes he's actually host to a second, cultivated personality - a killer. I got the strong urge to pick up This (the second book) straight after the first, largely due to a sense of incompleteness. The story was obviously going further, and I wanted to find out where. So I did... Taking both works as a whole my rating has to increase, because although the kid-as-spy or teenager-as-soldier concept has been done and done to death, this was nevertheless an interesting twist on the concept. Books that inform about any sort of condition (narcolepsy in this case) are always good because that sort of material gave me, at a younger age, insight into a condition I was otherwise clueless about. it's fiction, of course, primarily a good yarn, but with some interesting comment about its subject matter nevertheless. I do find myself wondering if that's the end of it, or if (in Alex Rider fashion) more and more titles will appear. The ending is complete but certainly not closed-off, so who knows. Hopefully, if done properly, it won't be overdone.

Incredibly eloquent and dignified account of humanity written by an escaped slave in pre-Civil-war America.

William Shakespeare: Chauvinist pig? Or Feminist saint? The answer, it seems, lies in Taming of the Shrew, which is, to quote a Disney movie, a tale as old as time about a man who reforms an abrasive and undesirable woman into a refined lady. You've seen already it in Pretty Woman, My Fair Lady, Pygmalion, etc., but older than all of those was Shakespeare's version. It's not a masterpiece in the same vein as Hamlet or Romeo & Juliet or even as strong a comedy as As You Like It or Midsummer Night's Dream, yet Shrew is enjoyably catty, and as far as verbal sparring goes, Shakespeare is rarely better. I don't know how to answer the question about Shakespeare's sexism, however; on one hand, yes, the "shrew", Katharine, is portrayed rather despicably until she is "tamed" by her husband, Petruchio. On the other hand, however, Katharine is in the end a much more likable character and doesn't really lose her spark, though she does find it in her best interests to reign in her surliness toward her husband. The play could be critical of woman, I guess, but it could just as easily be critical of the men who expect their women to wait on them hand and foot. I imagine audiences would much rather see Katharine than Petruchio (or any of the other male characters) on the stage. That confessed, Shrew does make for dishy beach reading. Recommended.

This was my first Jodi Picoult book and now that I've read several of her works, I'd still say this one was my favorite.