The Ghost Writer by Robert Harris

One word comes to mind .."Scary". Bet you are wondering why I said scary when there is no ghost in the story.

I was finishing this book when my son asked me to change TV channels for him. While flipping through the tv channels, I came across this movie being aired.

Guess which part it was? Yup, it was very near the ending. Where the Adam Lang came down from the plane and subsequently the ghost writer figure out the truth.

Wondering what am blabbering about? Well, the story it's like this.

Adam Lang was former Prime Minister of Britain. After he stepped , down he was offered a large sum of monies to write his memoir.  A ghost writer, Mike McAra was hired to ghost write his memoir for him.

Then McAra died in a suspicious circumstances. Another Ghost writer was hired to replace McAra. But mysterious things start happening to this Ghost Writer when he decided to accept the assignment. He was mugged among other things. And the manuscript that McAra was working on before was held under unusually tight security.

More puzzling things crop up when the ghost writer researched. Things that might cost him his life.

It is a very fast paced book. There was enough suspense to keep the page turning and made me flip to the last page to read the ending.

This  book is indeed a good bargain for me. Got it from the Bargain Bin at BookXcess for RM5.

Airing Dirty Laundry by Ishmael Reed

Synopsis from Goodreads.com :

Nominated for both the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award, Ishmael Reed now returns with a boisterous and irreverent collection of nonfiction writing. "Always provocative, sometimes infuriating, this collection reminds us that the purpose of art is not to confirm and coddle but to provoke and confront."-- The New York Times Book Review.

My comments : 

I picked up this book from Paylessbook warehouse sale quite some time back. Only come to read it recently.

When I read this book  I feel that there is a lot of anger in this book. Anger aims to just about everyone from the black conservatives to the authorities, government, AIDS, drugs and etc.  


I can understand  the part black men being victimised as racism happens everywhere in the world. 

However, I am not living in the States nor am well verse on what happened over there during that period. I find it hard to relate on how legalising drug use would minimise lethal trade wars. Yes, outsider like me won't understand. 

Like what a friend of mine had said "There is two sides of one same story. Make sure you listen to both sides before passing judgement or taking sides."

Guess this book is not for me but this is just my personal opinion. I won't rate this book as this book stands on it's own. Either you will like it or you won't

The Family Way By Tony Parson

The story of three sisters.

Jessica, wants a baby but she can't have a baby no matter how hard she tried. Her husband, Paulo would do  anything and everything to please her.

Megan, does not want a baby but she finds herself pregnant after  one night stand. She was at a crossroad. She is now a trainee doctor. Would she be able to handle a demanding career on top of a baby which require her constant attention?

Cat, doesn't know what she wants. At first she thought she don't want a baby but when she discovered that the option is no longer available to her due to something that her older boyfriend had done, she thought she should have the option in the first place.

All these add on with the story from their respective spouse/boyfriends, makes this book a great big pot of mixed emotions.

It's a very balance plot. To me, it practically covers most reason why people have babies and why some don't. It's very perceptive.

My only grouse is that the flashing from one character to another was too frequent. At times, it made me loose my concentration.

Nevertheless, this book is for keeps.

The Vagrants by YiYun Li

It was 1970, a young woman, Gu Shan, was to be executed. Her crime? Loss of faith in Communism. She was a stout supporter of Chairman Mao's believes. So Strong was her believes till her father could barely recognised the person that she had become. But one day she start questioning those believes and foolish enough to let another person know of it.

She was sentenced to jail. For ten years she rot in jail. One day out of the blue, her case was re-trialed and she was sentenced to death.

Her father was sadden by the sentence. Her mother refused to let go. Most of the citizen of the town were united to protest over her death. The plan conceived by Gu Shan's former classmate, Kai and her male friends. Many came and join the protest. Among them were Nini the cripple, Bashi the idler, Gu Shan's mother.

This protest made the Central Government came down harshly against those who were involved in the protest.

It is amazing to read how the story unfolds. The author is brilliant in linking the life of all the characters together.  Story told were vivid and frank. It's interesting to see how the dominoes fell together. Yes, it's a brilliant stroke.

However, I feel there are parts where the story are tedious to read. For example, the part where Bashi's grandmother died and the hassle gone through to bury her.

Now a bad read

The Marriage Proposal by Célestine Hitiura Vaite

Synopsis from www.goodreads.com
 
Not since Precious Ramotswe made her first appearance in The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency has a novel's heroine so immediately and completely won readers' hearts. Materena Mahi, "the best listener in Tahiti," is warm and generous, a natural problem solver, versed in the folk wisdom of her native island home.

When a drunken Pito proposes to Materena, she initially thinks it's just the booze talking. But Materena can't help starting to plan for a fabulous wedding. Right away she's off making inquiries on behalf of "a friend of her boss." From Cousin Moeata, Materena learns that the cake is the most important part of the wedding. From Mama Teta, she's given to understand it's the ride to the church that really counts. Cousin Georgette insists that the real key to a wedding is the dancing. As Materena juggles all this helpful advice, she forges on with everyday life--her relatives, her new baby boy, church on Sunday, cleaning her boss's house...it never ends! Soon, though, Pito seems to have forgotten his proposal. Should Materena be fiu of this heartbreaker?

Célestine Vaite's latest tale of big dreams on a small island will leave readers cheering.





My Comments

I have spotted this book at BookXcess a few times but kept forgetting to get it. Then the other day I went to the Big Bookshop Clearance Sale and saw it again. I bought it.

My sister-in-law read a few chapters of this book and said it does not suit her. For a moment there, I thought 'oh no...'

I finally pick up this book to read yesterday. Finished this in a few hours. It's not a Must Read but it's not bad either.

I like the way it's written. It gives me a glimpse of the local life there. Things described was vivid for me.

The way the author give life to Materena is also very amusing. Materena is matured about some stuffs while seems to be very innocent on other stuffs. It was fun to read the  chapter titled "mussels", whereby she got in trouble with the law.

Each chapter is written as a story by itself and yet it's also connected to the next chapter.

I rate this book 3 stars out of 5 stars

While My Sister Sleeps by Barbara Delinsky

Molly Snow is the younger sister of a world class runner, Robin Snow. She is now in her late twenties. Since a baby, she was constantly overshadowed by the achievement of her elder sister.

One particular day, Molly did not accompany Robin for her usual training and Robin collapsed on the road side. A good Samaritan, David came to her rescue. But that was not enough. Robin was in a critical condition.

Subsequently, Molly was pushed into the lime-light. She had to takeover many things that should have been done but her parents and elder brother Chris.

 Is she capable of making the correct decision and inspire the others to do the same? What is the correct decision?. These questions are top off with the guilt of not being there when Robin collapsed and of discovering a family secret.

The first half of this book left me felt so frustrated. Nobody seems to want to make any decision. Her brother Chris, seems to be a pushover. A coward. Can't even communicate properly with the wife. Makes me wonder how in the world did these two got married?

Molly's mother, Katheryn, was portray as the prime force that inspire Robbin in her running. But when Robin collapsed, she seems to put the blame one everyone except for herself. Decisions that need to be made for Robin well being was pushed away and delayed by her 'grieve'

This 'personality' just does not make sense to me. For someone who can inspire Robin to run and is said to be the strong woman behind Robin;  what Kathryn did when Robin was hospitalise does not jibe well with what I imagine her to be. It leaves me with the impression that Kathryn was like an empty vase. All talks and no action. Decisions and blame was pushed to Molly and other people. Even the good Samaritan was not out of her "People to Blame List".

Yes, everyone are grieving but her grief portrayed here were a bit too over done.

I am also equally frustrated by the father figure in this story with his quote "I want what your mother, Kathryn wants."

Lucky for me as the author put in an unexpected twist in the middle of this book of which the mystery factor interest me to read more about it.

The ending was not bad. However, the 'reaction' of this character Kathryn was not convincing enough for me. But that is my personal opinion.

Three Weeks with My Brother by Nicholas Sparks and Micah Sparks

I didn't know what to expect when I bought this book. Bought it just because "Nicholas Sparks: name was there.

I guess, I expected it to be book about him travelling with his brother. However, this book have a more serious tone to it. In fact, only a small portion is about their trip around the world. Major part of this book is about their life from small till now. They are the only two remaining person in their family of 5.

After reading this book, I now saw the influence of his life in the books that he wrote.

To me this book is worth reading.