Shelves with Stories

This is a blog with book reviews. I use this blog to practice so it is nothing too fancy. I'd like my reviews to be simple, yet useful. For any feedback, please head over to my ask :) Happy reading!

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This blog has gone dormant

In case you haven’t noticed: this blog has gone dormant

I’m still reading, but I don’t have the time right now to keep writing reviews. When things quiet down, I might start this up again.

You can follow my reading on The Storygraph, there’s a link at the top of this page

Happy reading!

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The Saint’s Getaway - Leslie Charteris

The final book of 2021 and it wasn’t a banger. I got this book from my dad’s old collection. It was a bundle with the previous one (Fourth Side of a Triangle) and it turned out to be number 9 in a series about the same main character. Which would have been fine, but it took me quite a lot of pages to figure out what kind of person the main character (apparently nicknamed ‘The Saint’) actually is. Anyway, turns out he’s a big shot criminal in Europe who always manages to escape The Law.

In this book he is in Austria with his wife and a friend and somehow manages to get involved in a scheme surrounding crown jewels. Initially rescuing a poor man from getting beaten up by a couple of big guys, this poor man was part of a criminal gang that stole the crown jewels.

It got quite confusing when over time it became clear that there were three parties looking for the jewels, one contracting the other to do the dirty work etc.

The writing style is also very interesting, full of strange comparisons about, for example, the way a smile looks. (“The smile on the Saint's lips was as superficial as a reflection in burnished bronze.”)

Like I said, not great to read as a standalone, especially when you’re not familiar with the series or the character of The Saint.

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The Fourth Side of the Triangle – Ellery Queen

Murder mystery, where each chapter represents the victim and one of the main suspects. A star fashion designer is shot at her appartment, whilst calling the police. A wealthy business family living in the same building is somehow connected to her in different ways. But did any of them fire the fatal shot?

I consider this a book with an unreliable narrator. Eventhough it’s all written in third person, it feels like we see it from the son’s perspective. I wasn’t really blown away by the big reveal at the end. It felt rushed and there really were not any hints throughout the book that would (in hindsight) tell you who did it. You could blame it on an unreliable narrator, but I just think it wasn’t very good writing.

All in all, it was an ok read, but it could have been better, and might have been more interesting from the detectives’s point of view.

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De Kraai - Kader Abdolah

This one is a very short story about a coffeeseller in Amsterdam. A man from Persia, who always wanted to be a writer, ends up having to flee Iran and start a new life in The Netherlands. Now, he is writing down his memories, becoming a writer, when he’s not at work.

It’s a lovely little read with beautifully written scenery

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One Day - David Nicholls

A re-read for me, but it’s been such a long time that I didn’t remember anything that happened in the story anymore. I did remember loving it a lot the first time around, so when I found it in a little library by the road, I decided it would be a perfect moment to read it again.

The premise of the story is quite simple: Emma and Dexter spend a night together on the day of their graduation, July 15th. Every year after that, for 20 years, we get to have a glimpse at their lives based on what happens on that very day. No matter what, though, they can never seem to get rid of each other. Through success, failure, fame, shame, fights, and love, Em and Dex are meant to be together one way or another.

One Day is a wonderful book about the life of ordinary people, like you and me. We change jobs, fall out with our best friends, fall in love, lose people we care about, etc, etc. There’s nothing extraordinary about it, and yet, that’s exactly what makes life special. Nicholls managed to capture that perfectly.

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In the Time of the Butterflies – Julia Alvarez

In this book Alvarez dives into another part of Dominican history under dictator rule. This time, she creates a reconstruction of the lives of 4 sisters who became the faces of the resistance movement and got given the nickname the Butterflies.

We shift between present day, where (we assume) Julia Alvarez is visiting the only surviving sister (Dedé Mirabal) to learn more about them, and the 1950s and 60s when the girls grow op, learn about the dictatorship and get involved in the resistance. We get rounded views on all 4 of the Mirabal sisters.

While Alvarez doesn’t claim this book to be a 100% accurate portrayal of the girls’ lives, it gives a realistic view of what they might have been like and it shows that behind the legend of the Butterflies, were just 4 young women trying to do the right thing for their country.

It’s another great read and I asolutely recommend this book, especially if you want to learn more about the Dominican Republic and its dark history.

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101 - 110

Abel Sánchez, una Historia de Pasión – Miguel de Unamuno (6/10)

The Eve Illusion - Giovanna & Tom Fletcher (5.5/10)

Zorro - Isabel Allende (8.5/10)

Talking to Strangers - Malcolm Gladwell (8/10)

How the García Girls Lost Their Accents - Julia Alvarez (8/10)

The Song of Achilles - Madeline Miller (8.5/10)

El Conde Lucanor (5.5/10)

The Perfect Man – Sheila O’Flanagan (6.5/10)

The Devil’s Advocate - Morris L. West (7/10)

Leyendas Costarricenses – Elías Zeledon (6/10)

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Leyendas Costarricenses – Elías Zeledon

I bought this book on my trip to Costa Rica in 2015 (not surprising I guess), and have only now gotten around to reading it. It’s basically a collection of a number of legends rooted in Costa Rican culture. Divided into 3 parts: earth, magic, and religion.

As it is a collection, and most of these stories are (or at least have been) passed down orally, Zeledon added multiple versions of some of them. After all, who knows what “the real one” is anymore, and was there actually ever one?

This book is not really one that you read in one go: you read one or two stories a day before bed for example, and maybe forget to pick it up again for weeks on end.

It does give a great insight into Costa Rican culture and history. There are many similarities in legends  about very different events or people, which shows you what is/was important in those early days.

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The Devil’s Advocate – Morris L. West

A dying priest is sent on a mission to a small town in Italy to investigate claims of sainthood of Giacamo Nerone.

Set in the 50s, Giacome Nerone spent a short, but intense, part of his life in the little town of Gemello Minore where he made a lasting impact on its people. No one really knew where he came from, he just showed up during the war. After doing a great deal of good, he was ultimately accused of being a communist and killed.

It is up to priest Meredith to untangle the tales told by the town’s people, a diverse group of people that were close to him and experienced different parts of his life, and find the truth.

It was a fascinating read. I am not very informed about Catholic/Vatican business, especially surrounding sainthood and the like. So I had no idea that “the devil’s advocate” is not just a saying, but also very much a job.

Ultimately, we find out what Nerone did during his time in Gemello Minore, and what caused his killing. But, much like the people of the town and the Vatican at that, the story leaves it up to the reader to judge what his actions were worth.

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The Perfect Man – Sheila O’Flanagan

Sisters Britt and Mia reunite to make a Valentine’s Day cruise through the Caribbean, where Britt will be giving writing workshops. She was a divorce lawyer and recently wrote a bestselling novel about “the perfect man” so is now assumed to be an expert on the matter. Both women go through their fair share of drama on the boat, where there are still some single men on the lose, despite it being a Valentine’s Day cruise for mainly couples.

The Perfect Man is a fun summer’s read for on the beach or by the pool, eventhough the story started to drag a bit by the end.

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El Conde Lucanor

This was a very old book/story, written in the first half of the 14th century. It’s basically a collection of stories containing advice for gentlemen on how to act properly and deal with dilemmas.

While quite interesting, and still pretty relevant at times, it was a struggle to get through. Not in the least because of the language used. I’d say it would be better to read this as part of a study of some sort, but not as casual reading.

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The Song of Achilles - Madeline Miller

The Song of Achilles has been hyped everywhere, and that always makes me a bit hesitant to pick it up. But I finally did, and boy do I understand it now!

We follow the young prince Patroclas as he is exiled to the court of King Peleus. Here he befriends Achilles. The two become inseperable and through Patroclas’ eyes we see the complicated figure our Greek hero was. The risks he took, his vanity, the sacrifices he made.

This book is a great and accessible way to enter Greek mythology, nothing short of epic and heart wrenching as the Greeks liked it best. (but by God, did I start to dislike Achilles!)

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How the García Girls Lost Their Accents – Julia Alvarez

Four girls and their wealthy Dominican family are forced to flee from the island to escape dictator Trujillo. Finding their way in American life, we trace their history back through their memories of time spent on the family estate. Key moments that made each girl the way they are now.

I’ve been struggling to find latin-american writers that are not the big ones which are difficult to read. I think I may have found one in Alvarez, eventhough it seems she mainly writes in English.

Her writing is easy to follow along with, light, I really enjoyed it. I don’t remember there being a lot of  description of the surroundings, but somehow I had no trouble picturing it.

Wonderful book.

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Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know about the People We Don't Know – Malcolm Gladwell

I didn’t really know what to expect from this book, but it’s been a very interesting read. Gladwell started on this book after the death of Sandra Bland. He sought to understand how a routine traffic stop turned so dramatic. His angle is the communication and interpretation between two strangers.

Through a series of examplary cases, we learn about a few key things the majority of us do when faced with a stranger, or even someone we know pretty well. And how that affects every interaction everyone has. And how all of that circles back to Sandra Bland and officer Encinia on a road in Texas.

Easy to read, and short, so there’s really no excuse. Definitely worth a read.

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Zorro – Isabel Allende

Zorro is my OG superhero so I just had to read this book at some point. Unfortunately, it took me a loooong time to pick it up and I can’t believe what I missed out on all these years!

Isabel Allende tells the story of how Zorro became Zorro. Starting from his very birth, through his childhood an adolescence. We learn where his friendship with Bernardo and Sergeant García came from, how his parents met, where he learned to fence like that. We follow him to Spain, and back again.

I grew up watching Disney’s Zorro series, I still have the only season that come out on dvd. It’s been such a delight to read the part of Diego’s life before he officially put on the costume, and to see the elements I know so well from the series show up in the book.

If you love this character as much as I do, be sure to pick this one up.

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The Eve Illusion – Giovanna & Tom Fletcher

Book number 2 in the trilogy came out last year. I got it for my birthday, it looks so pretty. You can find my review for the first one here and it turns out I was right to be a little cautious about this one.

Book 2: Eve manages to break out of the tower with Bram, is moved through the chaos and into the Freevers lair (which is the Parliament building in London). The real world is a bit of a shock to Eve, but she is finally living a real life. Sort of. She’s still kept in hiding as the Tower-people are searching for her and starts to question whether she wasn’t just moved from one cage to the another. And now that she’s supposedly free: what does she want to do with that freedom?

As expected maybe, The Eve Illusion is centred around the relationship between Eve and Bram (I have a very strong opinion about certain things happening, but I won’t do spoilers). Every other boy laying eyes on her, being absolutely captivated by her, is not helping to say the least.

I wasn’t thrilled about this book. Things felt rushed, forced, too cliché. I guess I’m not the target audience, as I think that really lies more with the teenagers and/or with people who really enjoy dystopian novels. I am, however, curious how the series is going to end.

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Abel Sánchez, una Historia de Pasión – Miguel de Unamuno

I’ll kick off by saying that this book was definitely written in another time and another culture from my own: first published in the 1940s in Spain.

The story isn’t so much about Abel Sánchez as it is about his best friend/enemy Joaquín Monegro; unrelated “brothers” since birth but, ofcourse, it all goes to hell when a girl is involved. Basically, Joaquín is madly in love with his cousin, who does not reciprocate in the slightest, which obvisouly makes her extremely cruel. Abel is going to art school and decides to paint her (why, I’m not sure) and ofcourse they fall in love. Joaquín feels deeply betrayed by his best friends and basically holds a grudge against the two of them for the rest of his life, then writes a confession about the whole thing to his daughter.

So when I say a different time, I mean a different time. Firstly, stating the obvious: falling in love with and actively pursuing your cousin is a big no these days. But also the importance of having a wife, her bearing a child (preferably a son), having a legacy.

I’m a bit torn on this book. Looking at it purely from the story and it’s metaphores, it’s a pretty good one and I quite enjoyed it. On the other hand, I just couldn’t get over Joaquín’s character and that his grudge was practically the entire story. It felt very childish and messed up.