Review - Everything is Illuminated

I don't know where to begin with this one. Maybe here: I love it!

It all started when I made a list of the movies the four Hobbits and Legolas (that being Elijah Wood, Dominic Monaghan, Billy Boyd, Sean Astin and Orlando Bloom) stared in after The Lord of the Rings.
Some time later I was in a multimedia shop and there the DVDs were marked down. I went looking of course. And found the movie "Everything is Illuminated" for about 5€. OK so far. I didn't know anything about this one, exept that the cover was Elijah nerdy looking, standing in a field of sunflowers.
Brought it home, watched it, loved it. My mom said "It's so typical of you to like a strange movie like this. With so many layers of meaning and so much to think about."
Well, the book is the same.

The story is about a young man (Jonathan Safran Foer) in search of the woman that saved his grandfather's life in WWII. He's an American Jew and traveling to the Ukraine to find her. He hires a Heritage Tour Guide (Alex, about the same age - the surname beats me right now - and his "blind" grandfather, who's driver. Ah. Not to forget the Officious Seeing Eye Bitch. A dog named Sammy Davis Jr. Jr.)
The book alternates between letters from Alex to Jonathan, Alex's "travelogue" and the history of Jonathan's ancestors (this part is a bit strange, so I won't talk about it here).
Alex's use of words is funny and rather tragic at times. Over the course of the story you learn that Jonathan told him to use a Thesaurus to broaden his vocabulary. And he does. All the time. Like "It was hard to climb the steps" (I'm making that up here), he'd say "It was rigid to climb the steps". As I said, this sometimes effects greatly what he’s talking about and I was close to tears not only once.
Alex first tries to give off the impression that he’s this very cool person from this very cool city, Odessa. Both nothing short of any cool guy and city in America. But by and by you see that not all is cool in his world and that Jonathan seems to have had some impact on his way of thinking about his life. And I was surprised sometimes (though I really shouldn’t have been) by the depth of some of his thoughts.
I haven’t mentioned Grandfather. And I won’t, because I don’t want to give anything away.


Rent or buy? Buy!

Review - The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters

Three people meet by chance and try to solve a riddle and to not lose their life.

How's that for a one sentence synopsis? ;)

I must admit, I don't like writing reviews very much. But I want to try and learn, and that's why I will anyhow. Although this one will be brief.

The story was like the finale of the European World Cup. Analogy: the first five minutes where great, then there was nothing going on really, around the 60th minute there came another great 5 minutes but a disappointing finish followed.
I couldn't really relate to the characters, and I don't understand Ms Temple at all. Doctor Svenson and Cardinal Chang being the other people of the trio had their moments where you could get a gimpse at what keeps them going. But that woman was just ridiculous.

And maybe I'm just stupid, but I didn't understand the whole business with the glassbooks. I of course understood the righout explanations but beside that...


Rent or buy? Rent, if you're curious still.

Review: Tintenblut / Ink Spell

I don't know what happened between 2003 and 2005, but something obviously did, because this book is muuuuuch better.

There are still things that get on my nerves, like repetitions (the same phrase repeated thrice on one! page) or the POV hopping. But overall the story is compelling enough that I don't mind, or only pause for a second or so.

I definitively didn't want to throw it against the next wall like I did the first one.

So I guess my endurance paid off.

Review: Tintenherz / Ink Heart

I finished reading Ink Heart yesterday.

As this is a series and as I already have all three boks at home, I will read the other two.

But really, the plot in itself is interesting/good. The carrying out is not.
Maybe I'm just over-critical at the moment because of the workshop, but some things bugged me a lot. For example: Mrs Funke switches POVs all the time, sometimes even in a sentence. That would be something I'd notice even without having learned lot of craft stuff over at the forum.
Sometimes the suspence is building but comes to nothing.

This is a huge bestseller and a lot of people are veeery excited about the book/the series, but honestly, I was bored most of the time...

I didn't find immediate access to The Lord of the Rings as well, but after about 100 pages (latest), the story sucked me in. Ink Heart has about 570 pages and I'm still waiting.

Spymaster's Lady

Woho! SL arrived yesterday!

I know I said I wouldn't stop reading until finished, but... I had been cleaning my flat and was planning on making dinner, when the book arrived. Such joy! (immediately had to call my mom, because we didn't know if it would arrive here or there - long story)
I read the first three chapters. And I really DIDN'T want to stop. But... I still hadn't made lunch and hadn't eaten all day (I'm never hungry when I have a cold; but I though I needed to eat at least a bit). So I got me something to eat and that strained me so much, I was dead tired and slept for two hours. Then I read for another hour and then I had to leave for the gym (new year's resolution and all that)
After that I was too tired again.

Today I've been up and about all day, so no reading. (I admit I squeezed some writing in - I had to decide...)

Tomorow I have to do some shopping and am at the gym again. BUT between and after that I will be reading.
So, tomorrow evening, expect my first ever (on this blog at least) review.

I should probably add another resolution: review more