I've read quite a few books lately and since I started my summer holidays this weekend, I finally have time to write reviews.
The latest one is
The Reader by Bernhard Schlink. As you might know this book has been made into a movie, starring Kate Winslet. I'm amazed it's such a popular and acclaimed movie because this book was downright boring. It was a very quick read but had me yawning from start to finish. One third of the book is used up in describing the very physical love affair beween 15 year old Michael and an older woman, Hanna. It really didn't convice me. Later on in life, they meet again but in a very different setting - in the courtroom. Hanna is being accused of a crime but why is she acting so strangely? The book never managed to entice me, so I can't really recommend it.
The Heart of Darfur by Lisa French Blaker was an other matter entirely. It's a true story about Lisa, who travels form New Zealand to Darfur, Sudan to work as a nurse for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). She writes very truthfully about the hardships of the work and the horrors the people of Darfur encounter. I love the way she manages to potray the warm relationship she has with her Sudanese co-workers and how she can bring to life the desparate situations when hundreds of people turn up needing urgent medical attention. The humanitarian crisis in Darfur has never been one to get a lot of media coverage and the people of Darfur deserve to be heard, so please take some time to read this book.
The third book is a very sympathetic tale
The Art of Love by Elizabeth Edmondson. I came upon this book from a review in an Australian women's magazine. What a lovely read! This book is set in the 1930s and the main character is ordinary Polly Smith. Polly is a struggling penniless artist engaged to an even more ordinary doctor. But is Polly really as ordinary as it seems? Is she set for a life as a doctor's wife? Polly is soon to be married and needs a passport for the honeymoon. But when she goes to get her birth certificate no-one with the name Polly Smith is found. Who is she exactly? Suddenly she's on a train to Nice where she finds herself in the midst of scandals and secrets! I don't want to reveal more.
The Art of Love was a refreshing change to the books I've read lately and if you're looking for a summer read you should try to get your hands on this book.
The latest one is The Reader by Bernhard Schlink. As you might know this book has been made into a movie, starring Kate Winslet. I'm amazed it's such a popular and acclaimed movie because this book was downright boring. It was a very quick read but had me yawning from start to finish. One third of the book is used up in describing the very physical love affair beween 15 year old Michael and an older woman, Hanna. It really didn't convice me. Later on in life, they meet again but in a very different setting - in the courtroom. Hanna is being accused of a crime but why is she acting so strangely? The book never managed to entice me, so I can't really recommend it.
The Heart of Darfur by Lisa French Blaker was an other matter entirely. It's a true story about Lisa, who travels form New Zealand to Darfur, Sudan to work as a nurse for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). She writes very truthfully about the hardships of the work and the horrors the people of Darfur encounter. I love the way she manages to potray the warm relationship she has with her Sudanese co-workers and how she can bring to life the desparate situations when hundreds of people turn up needing urgent medical attention. The humanitarian crisis in Darfur has never been one to get a lot of media coverage and the people of Darfur deserve to be heard, so please take some time to read this book.
The third book is a very sympathetic tale The Art of Love by Elizabeth Edmondson. I came upon this book from a review in an Australian women's magazine. What a lovely read! This book is set in the 1930s and the main character is ordinary Polly Smith. Polly is a struggling penniless artist engaged to an even more ordinary doctor. But is Polly really as ordinary as it seems? Is she set for a life as a doctor's wife? Polly is soon to be married and needs a passport for the honeymoon. But when she goes to get her birth certificate no-one with the name Polly Smith is found. Who is she exactly? Suddenly she's on a train to Nice where she finds herself in the midst of scandals and secrets! I don't want to reveal more. The Art of Love was a refreshing change to the books I've read lately and if you're looking for a summer read you should try to get your hands on this book.
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