Lebanese Bookworms

All you need to know about books : reviews, summaries and ratings...Our reviews include arabic, french and english books. We take book requests! instagram account : here

[foooledmyself]

All too human.

[allyouneedaboutbooks]

Vingt-quatre heures de la vie d'une femme - Stefan Zweig. Nombre de pages: 160 Edition: Le livre de poche @livredepoche Est-ce qu'une folle passion qui ne dure que vingt-quatre heures peut changer le courant d'une vie? Telle est la question qui se pose dans cette nouvelle de Stefan Zweig. Dans un lieu paisible éclate un scandale: une femme épousée, maman de deux petites filles, s'enfuie avec un jeune étranger qu'elle connaît seulement depuis quelques heures. Faisant le sujet d'insultes et de reproches, l'éscapée est uniquement défendue par le narrateur qui met à dos tous ses compagnons sauf Mrs. C, une dame anglaise, qu'il prend pour alliée. Cette dernière, et après de longs dialogues avec le narrateur, décide de lui confier vingt-quatre heures de sa vie, une journée qu'ella a passée en compagnie d'un homme qui a boulversé sa vie à jamais. Que s'est-il vraimant passé durant ces quelques heures? Confusion de sentiments, passion, amour et jeu... peuvent-ils ôter toute faculté d'analyse critique consciente? Ce livre dévoile tout. En plus, ami de Freud et influencé pas ses idées, Stefan Zweig introduit dans cette nouvelle un trait psychanalytique auquel on peut assister tout au long de la confession de Mrs. C. Evaluation: 8.1/10

[allyouneedaboutbooks]

لستُ معلّماً.. لأعلّمك كيف تحبّينْ. فالأسماك، لا تحتاج إلى معلِّمْ لتتعلَّم كيف تسبحْ.. و العصافير، لا تحتاج إلى معلِّمْ لتتعلّمَ كيف تطير.. إسبحي وحدَكِ.. و طيري وحدَكِ.. إنّ الحبّ ليس له دفاتر.. و أعظمُ عشّاق التاريخ.. كانوا لا يعرفون القراءة..

[allyouneedaboutbooks]

Divergent Veronica Roth Number of pages: 487 Edition: International Edition Beatrice Prior is a 16 year-old girl who lives a society shared by five factions. She has to choose whether to stay in her faction or transfer into another one. To help her decide, she must take a test to find out which faction she belongs to. People who fit into many factions at once are called 'Divergent'. Beatrice, divergent, finds herself running for her life. So I finished this book in two days; it is a really good book. I found myself flipping through the pages to find out what was going to happen next. The book is really gripping and so is its sequel, Insurgent. Rating: 8.7/10

[allyouneedaboutbooks]

The Scorch Trials James Dashner Number of pages: 368 Edition: Chicken House Having escaped the Maze, Thomas and the Gladers thought that everything was over: they got rid of Wicked for good. However, this wasn't the case. Wicked was preparing for phase two of the test: sending the gladers into the Scorch. The boys had no choice: either they pass the scorch in two weeks, or they die. I was really excited to read this book, and I really liked it. I already talked about how much I admire Dashner's style of writing. Having finished this book in just one day, you can see that it's really gripping. Rating: 8.8/10 (I also read 'The Death Cure'; however, I was really disappointed by it. The actions are boring and illogically chained together. I didn't want the series to end this way.)

[allyouneedaboutbooks]

The Diary of a young girl Anne Frank Number of pages: 350 Edition: Penguin Okay so the book's title is self-explanatory: Anne Frank is a young girl who started writing her diary on her thirteenth birthday. She talks about her family and all the difficulties they had to face in the world war two since they were Jewish. I was really surprised by the quality of the writing: I didn't think that a 13 year old girl could write this good to be honest. And to think that a girl this young was trying to find peace within her ennemies is so heartwarming. With more than 35 million copies sold, you can see why everyone should read this book. Rating: 8/10

[allyouneedaboutbooks]

The Notebook Nicholas Sparks Number of pages: 221 Edition: Sphere Okay so I’m not a huge fan of romance books, but when I read this book, I finished it in one night. It is a great book written in a great way. Allie is confused between choosing the boy she fell in love with 14 years ago, and her fiancé. And you can probably guess who she chose. It’s just that happy endings aren’t my thing, and unfortunately, all of Nicholas Sparks’ books are written this way. But if you like romance, then this book is the one for you. You won’t be able to stop reading. Rating: 8/10

[allyouneedaboutbooks]

Les Prodigieuses victoires de la Psychologie Pierre Daco Nombre de pages: 505 Edition: Poche Marabout “Les Prodigieuses victoires de la Psychologie” est un livre qui met en relief l'importance du cerveau humain qui règne en maître sur le corps entier. “Le cerveau gouverne nos gestes, nos actes, nos pensées, notre vie.” Daco traite alors dans ce livre, évidemment, un problème d'ordre psychologique. Donc si vous êtes interessés par le corps humain, son fonctionnement et sa psyché, ce livre est à ne pas rater! Evaluation: 8.5/10

[allyouneedaboutbooks]

Veronika decides to die Paulo Coelho Number of pages: 192 Edition: Harper Veronika is a young girl who has everything: beauty, a caring family and a loving boyfriend. Yet she’s not happy and one day, she tries to commit suicide. But she doesn’t die. Instead, she wakes up in a mental hospital. This book is my favourite book by the author Paulo Coelho. The way he chains the actions and leads the readers to an unexpected ending is amazing. I didn’t like the way he described every other patient’s life though, like why do I even care about them? Nonetheless, this book is wonderful and trust me, the ending is stunning! Rating: 8.3/10

[allyouneedaboutbooks]

Le Dernier Jour d'un condamné Victor Hugo Nombre de pages: 150 Edition: Le livre de Poche @livredepoche Pourquoi la societé se permet-elle de faire, de sang froid, ce qu'elle reproche à l'accusé d'avoir fait? Comment penser l'homme quand l'homme décide de la mort de l'homme? Rectifions-nous une faute par une autre plus grave? “Le Dernier Jour d'un condamné” nous laisse penser. Dans ce livre, qui est l'un de mes préferés, Hugo réinvente son art pour servir la plus noble des causes: l'abolition de la peine de mort. Il nous incite à se mettre dans les bottes d'un certain condamné que, d'ailleurs, on ne saura jamais l'identité, et nous conduit vers son avenir immédiat: le spectacle de la guillotine, l'éxecution. Ce livre est suivi de: Claude Gueux et de L'Affaire Tapner, autres oeuvres du grand défandeur de la justice. Evaluation: 7.5/10

The last day of a Condemned Man Funny how society judges someone thoughtlessly,and accuses him of a murder he committed “thoughtlessly”. Who are you to judge someone and to put an end to his life? If you think correcting somebody else’s mistake by committing a bigger one is the solution, then this book will happily make you think again. In this book, Hugo is once again using his art to defend his most noble causes: put an end for death sentences. He invites the readers to step into a convicted’s shoes whose identity is never revealed, and guides them into this person’s immediate fate: execution. If you liked this book, you can read its sequels: Claude Gueux and L'Affaire Tapner. Rating: 7.5/10

[allyouneedaboutbooks]

The Maze Runner James Dashner Number of pages: 369 Edition: Chicken House The Maze Runner is a science fiction book that tells the story of a young boy, Thomas, who finds himself suddenly in a place called “the Glade”. But he’s not alone - an army of boys “the Gladers” is there too. The book follows the journey of these boys and all the difficulties they had to overcome to escape from this prison. I cannot talk enough about James Dashner’s excellent style in writing: the way he finishes every chapter, the way he cuts the actions in half just so you won’t put the book down and continue to read the next chapter is just magnificent. This is the first book in the ‘Maze Runner Series’, and I can’t wait to read the other books. Rating: 8.5/10

[allyouneedaboutbooks]

The power of life mastery Anthony Rizk Number of pages: 320 Edition: not specified I’m not usually into this type of books, but my brother bought it to me so I had to read it. Okay so this genre is not my usual cup of tea, but the book was OKAY. It’s a guide for people who are looking to change their lives for the better, and it has some really good advice to help them achieve this. What I also liked about this book is the worksheets it contains: before every chapter, you’re asked some questions to help you visualize certain goals, and you get the answers in the following chapter. Pretty neat. It’s great for people who love psychology and spirituality. But like I said, it’s not one of those books that I’ll be happy to re-read. But hey! Anthony Rizk is Lebanese and I had to support him 😊 Rating: 5.8/10

[allyouneedaboutbooks]

The Midnight Palace Carlos Ruiz Zafòn Number of pages: 298 Edition: Little, Brown If I had to choose the worst book in my book collection, I would definitely choose this one. Let me start with the good things. Okay, Carlos Ruiz Zafòn has a good style in writing: he writes in a way you won’t be able to stop reading even if you hated every word you read (kinda like what happened with me). However, this book is just awful. It tells the story of two twins separated after their birth, the boy put in an orphanage and the girl raised by her grandmother. For 16 years, the grandmother tried to hide the girl as much as she can, and she never told her the truth of her parents’ death. The problem is that the plot is so childich that it made me want to puke. And the worst part was the ending: it was so unbelievebly weak that I actually laughed when I read it. If you read the book and you liked it, feel free to disagree and share your opinion. But as much as I love mystery books, I didn’t like this one at all. Rating: 2/10

[allyouneedaboutbooks]

The picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde Number of pages: 177 Edition: Wordsworth Editions What can I even say about this book? 177 pages of COMPLETE JOY!!! This book is amazingly well written, and it can change the way you look at art, nature and even the simplest things in life. Oscar Wilde’s wonderful choice of words makes this book a great companion for people interested in arts, philosophy and literature. I can assure you that once you’ve picked this book, you won’t have the ability to put it down until you finish reading it. You probably won’t like the ending, but I loved it. I would’ve told you what it was but hey, no spoilers allowed! 😁 Translated into many other languages, the picture of Dorian Gray is truly a life changing book! Rating: 9/10

[allyouneedaboutbooks]

رواية حامل الوردة الأرجوانيةهذه المرة الأولى التي أقرأ بها للكاتب و المفكّر اللّبناني 'أنطوان الدّويهي' الذي ذهلني تماماً في كتابته السلسة و المعقدة في الوقت نفسه. هو يكتب حديثاً لكنه يروي قصة تاريخيّة عتيقة تجري أحداثها في سجن حصن الميناء في بيروت. هو ينادي و يسأل و يكتب بأعلى صوته عن غموض مصيره في سجنٍ لا يعرف كيف و لأي سبب دخله. يصيح فلا يسمع إلا صدى أفكاره. يشتمّ الحرية فيختنق في تلك الغرفة المقفلة، العديمة النوافذ. يكتب الواقع الحي فيهين له المستقبل الخفي القاتل . "و أستمدّ قوتي من حياتي الداخلية و من قدرتي على الصمت، و من هذه العزلة التي هي عزلتي، حيث يحيط بي و يحرسني أشخاصٌ غير مرئيين

تقييم : ١٠/٨.٧

الكتاب مؤلف من ٢٨ فصلاً في ١٩٠ صفحة

.من أعماله 'حديقة الفرج'، 'رتبة الغياب'، 'كتاب الحالة'...

https://instagram.com/p/6yGQQDsvXI/?taken-by=allyouneedaboutbooks

[allyouneedaboutbooks]

The book thief

Markus Zusak

Number of pages: 547

Edition: KNOPF

Markus Zusak's 'The book thief' is one of the greatest books I've ever read. Its actions take place in the world war two, and it tells the story of a young girl, Liesel, who has lost her brother, was abandoned by her mother and then adopted by a German family. What's really wonderful about this book is how it shows the contrast in the characters' personalities: how they react to the difficulties caused by the war, and how they help each other to surpass them. The book also shows how long would you go to fulfill your needs and desires, since it follows the journey of Liesel and her love for books that leads her to steal some books from the mayor's library. Zusak's wonderfully crafted writing engulfs the readers in a way you won't be able to put the book down. Written in English and translated to German, this amazingly wonderful book must be on each person's reading list. Rating: 9/10

https://instagram.com/p/6xnDB4MvYX/?taken-by=allyouneedaboutbooks

[allyouneedaboutbooks]

Les jeux sont faits / The chips are down Jean-Paul Sartre Number of pages: 165 Edition: folio Sartre étant athé, je n'étais pas vraiment surpris par les actions de ce livre. Pourtant, c'est un très bon livre et definitivement mon livre français préféré. La façon avec laquelle Sarte joigne les caractères de ce livre est magnifique car les coincidences semblent très réelles. J'ai aussi aimé l'histoire d'amour que l'auteur a créée après la mort des deux personnages, comment il a transformé le monde des morts en une chose à laquelle personne a pensé. Je n'ai pas beaucoup aimé que leur amour les a rendus vivants de nouveau, mais la façon avec laquelle Sartre écrit m'a fait croire chaque mot qu'il a écrit. Le livre est écrit en français et en anglais, et il est excellent pour les personnes qui aiment les mentalités originales.

Given Sartre's atheism, I wasn't really surprised by the plot of this book. Actually, it's a really good book, definitely my favourite french book so far. The way Sartre joins the characters is marvelous; he makes coincidences look as if they were real and not fake at all. I also loved how he created the love story between the two characters after they died, transforming the world of death into something different from what most people think. I didn't like the fact that their love made them return into the moral world, but Sartre's way of writing made me believe every word he wrote. This book is available in French and English, and is a perfect recommendation for people who love "outside the box" thinking. Rating: 8/10

https://instagram.com/p/6x0k8OsvVK/?taken-by=allyouneedaboutbooks