Marlena de Blasi - A thousand days in Venice

A love story about a middle-aged, divorced American chef and writer that goes to Venice once again and falls in love with a middle-aged banker.

She abandons her life in America, moves to Venice and marries the man. It is a grown-up fairytale where girl meets boy. She writes about her move to Venice, the immense difficulty she has to adapt to the strange way of Venetians. Stranger in a strange land, she has to overcome all of these hurdles. But she also gets accustom to the foreign rituals and ways of living. She makes friends and she takes the reader on a journey not to be forgotten.

A love story that is an alternative travel guide of Venice. It was an easy read and also includes delicious recipes and tips on travelling this water city.

Elizabeth Gilbert - Eat, Pray, Love

Elizabeth Gilbert, the author, goes on a journey of self-discovery.

She is a women who seemingly has everything - a husband, a big house, a successful job, caring friends, and yet she feels that something is missing. She wants to give up all of this to set out on a spiritual journey. The book is divided into four sections describing her growth. She travels through Italy (where she eats), Indonesia (where she prays), and Bali (where she finds a new love). She describes her spiritual growth with reference to various meditations and rituals. Although I did not regard this book as a spiritual book, but raher a story about a spiritual journey.

It is an easy book to read. I liked the way the author argues with herself and her monologues. I think that it can be easy to relate to the situations that she finds herself in. I fully enjoyed every aspect of the book and would recommend it to anyone interested in personal journeys.

Paulo Coelho - The Pilgrimage

This is a recollection of Paulo's experiences as he made his way across northern Spain on a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela.

It begins where he undertakes his Regnus Agnus Mundi (RAM) initiation which he fails and then needs to undertake the Strange Road to Santiago. On this road he has to find his sword and then would be accepted into the the ranks of RAM.

He travels on the road to Santiago with another member of RAM, whom acts as his guide. His guide teaches him many meditation exercises and philosophies on love.

Through the journey he must gain insight into the simplicity of life and he is subsequently transformed.

The deeper meaning is finding one's own path and the discovery that the extraordinary is always found in the ordinary and simple ways of everyday people.

Paulo Coelho - Eleven Minutes

A modern day fable about Maria, a Brazilian girl, going through many awakening experiences from childhood through adolescence and womanhood. She muses about her philosophy on life, happiness, sex, pain, pleasure, morality and love. Above all, she wants to find love, but something always goes wrong in her relationships. The book tells her story, but there are the diary inscriptions in Maria's own words, which are very naive but also mature at the same time. Maria gets on a plane with a man from Switzerland to become a samba dancer, but then eventually she gets involved in prostitution in order to save money to go back to Brazil and buy a farm. Will she realise her dream of finding true love and going back to Brazil or will she choose the soul destroying path of sadomasochistic acts. Will she ever be happy? There are many graphic sex scenes which the reader must decide if this is really necessary. I found the storyline interesting. Some people could even find the book informative, although I don't think that was the intention.

Suzanne Collins - Mockingjay

Continuing to the final book of this trilogy "The Hunger Games", and "Catching Fire", the main characters find themselves midst a revolution and full blown war effort between the Districts and The Capital. Both sides tries to manipulate the thoughts of the public as means to hang onto power. The war draws Katniss Everdeen and Peter Malark into the fight, and their thoughts are clearly reflecting them being "damaged goods" after the arena and the war. Katniss is the source, and the revolution - she does not fit into normal life at all, and has to find a way to live with that, and herself.

The book closes the story completely, in a good manner. I was left to ponder the acceptance of government, and how we create perception about our own reality. How people are manipulated to serve the good of those in power.

Burke Huges - Read & Get Rich

The author puts forward a very simple proposition - Read and get rich. He explains how the simple action grows knowledge in whatever field the reader attempts to grow his knowledge base, and especially the promise that self help books will advance knowledge through action. It is also a shock to realize through his calculation that reading for 15 minutes a day, i.e. 2 books a month, any person can read 24 books a year with no effort. Despite this very little people take up this challenge.

I found the book very interesting and enlightening. Since reading it some months ago, the list of books I read, entertainment I had, and the knowledge I gathered is unbelievable. It is a must read for all people.

Suzanne Collins - Catching Fire

Catching fire is the second book in the trilogy from Suzanne Collins. The Story picks up where it stopped in "The Hunger Games" with the victors requiring to go for a tour of the districts. The true significance of Katniss Everdeen's betrayal of the Capital in the games are made know to her, and the tour throws her and Peter Mallark into the thick of understanding the fragile grip the Capital holds over the Districts. The mood changes in the Districts as the Capital clamps down on the uneasiness.

In a bizarre twist of faith, the two lovers find themselves in the arena of another Hunger Games. Things however does not appear normal as the contestants are very open in their criticism of the Capital, and their desperate attempts to enslave the Districts. Katniss struggles with her inner fears and her desperate concerns that she is the source of the disastrous outcome of events. The Games however seeming continues, and she cannot believe how right she actually is.

At times the book was moving slow with the uninterrupted misunderstanding of Katniss' being frustrating. After the improbable introduction of setting the landscape and rules in the first book, the story does not need to over explain the bizarre situation. The book ends suddenly, and the third book in the series, "Mockingjay", has to be read to see how things pan out.

Dan Brown - Inferno

Harvard history professor, Robert Langdon, wakes in a Hospital in Florance and finds himself running for his life. He is tracing the steps of a genetic engineer in Florance, who aims to reduce the world population in order to save the human race. His adventure tracks through ancient cities where his history knowledge allows him to progress as he suffered short term memory loss, and the deception around the adventure unravels as the book progresses to test his trust of others.


The book highlights a serious problem facing the human race, I.e. overpopulation, and the solution presented in this book seems very understandable as the facts are explained. It presents some interesting questions to the intellectual mind, which allows for afterthought and further investigation. The book refers to the poem of the Italian poet, Dante Alighieri, with the same name.

I found it a very interesting book, requiring me to form opinions as I was drawn into the adventure, about overpopulation as well as the presented solution. The plot is masterfully created, protecting the hidden surprises.

Suzanne Collins - The hunger games

In a future society, life is a struggle for survival where 12 districts are controlled by a Capital. As punishment for a past rebellion against the Capital, each district is required to sent two children as tributes to participate against each other like gladiators till one survives. The story is about a girl from district 12, Katniss Everdeen, and the boy from the same district, Peeta Mellark,competing in the games. The games takes the form of a game show, televised live in the districts, with the game makers influencing events to improve the excitement for the audience. The event and her chosen strategy influence her performance. The final revelation of rebellion is a clever twist in the tale.

It is a strange story which changes direction, but is somewhat predictable at some stages. The life she had before drives the girl, and her actions makes sense, considering her predicament. Despite the potential to turn the book into a gruesome horror, the focus remains on the actions of survival rather than the eventual murders. This is the first book in the triology, with the story being taken forward in "Catching Fire".