BOOKS

The way u mentioned that Em it really sends chills down my spine. Thanks 4 telling us about this.

Dear Friends,

I finished reading of another Twin Peaks novel last night, it was around 2 a.m. when I read the last lines of the book and turned off the lights. The Autobiography of FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper: My Life, My Tapes by Scott Frost. Is a fictional autobiograph which is based on the tapes of Dale Cooper (performed by Kyle McLachlan in the series). It's a story of how Dale Cooper became to who he is. It tells a story about a boy who at the age of 12 had desided to become a FBI's special agent. This guy is quite a personality who even as a kid has supernational accounterings and visions. The book starts from the childhood years of Dale Cooper, telling the story of the neighbourhood he was growing up and describing couple dramatic losses that Cooper has to face as a child. It guides the reader through his years as a boy scout, as an adventure, as a college student and as the FBI agent.

It tells unhappy lovestories that comes into his way and also search the secrets of a human psyche. If Laura Palmer's secret diary was a tragic story to read, this fictional autobiography of Dale Cooper is quite amusing book. There were many great moments along the story when I was laughing outloud or sitting in a bus with a huge smile on my face. The book paints really interesting portrait of a boy who has a dream, a young man who is looking for himself and professional FBI agent who after a long long life's journey ends up into little town called Twin Peaks to investigate the murder of a young woman - Laura Palmer.
The book is at the same time mystic, exciting, amusing and partly tragic story, which is enjoyable reading experience and easy to follow. Those who have watched Twin Peaks will surely get a better insight to this personality and the story, than those who don't know anything about the story. But if you want to read it anyhow, you can also watch the series afterwards. Cause the book ends into where the Tv show begun from.

xoxo

Emilia

I recently bought four books by the author Aidan Chambers, and I've had a chance to read two of them so far. He's written six books called the Dance Sequence - they aren't a series, per se. They just focus on the same theme ("teenage love and self-discovery"). I read the sixth book in the series, This Is All, and didn't like it, but I gave him another chance anyway, since I like his writing style.

I recently finished Dance On My Grave, the second of the six books. Surprisingly, I really liked it. I didn't expect that from Aidan Chambers, since I although I like his writing style, I don't like his characters or stories - if that makes any sense. Dance On My Grave is written in a more standard format, though. It also happens to be the most ... safe for younger readers. All of the books in the Dance Sequence come with a warning on the back cover that says Not suitable for younger readers, despite the fact that you'll find them in the young reader section of the bookstore - adolescent fiction for adults, really.

For Dance On My Grave, I think it's because it was written thirty years ago and deals with homosexuality. Although it does focus more on best friendship. The characters Barry and Hal were, romantically, more than friends, although I wouldn't go as far as to say lovers. The book deals largely with Hal's search for a best friend and his need to make desicions about his future (university, careers, "what are you going to do with your life", etc).

The book begins with a newspaper clipping about a boy that was charged with grave damage. The court doesn't know if he needs help or if he needs to be punished for his actions. The rest of the book is mostly Hal writing what happened over the course of the seven weeks that he knew Barry up until his death, divided into 'bits'. During the course of their seven weeks together, Barry makes Hal swear an oath that whoever dies first, the other will dance on his grave.

The story also goes into the notes of the social worker who is working on the case and trying to determine what should be done with Hal for 'damaging' Barry's grave. The novel ends with another newspaper clipping.

I would've liked for the book to be longer, with more of their seven weeks together. The story goes from their first meeting with a little summary of their time together, and then immediately fast-forwards to Barry's death. It probably would've been more emotional had the author developed their relationship further.

I did like it, though, and I think it definitely belongs on my list of favourite books.

Ty Em and Jenna 4 telling us what u guys read there along with a summary about it.

Last night I finished reading Viktor Pelevin's novel The helmet of Horror. Describing of the book is hard, cause it was so complcated. How ever I try my best. The novel is based on the ancient Greek myth about Theseus and Minotaur, but Pelevin has turned it into a modern version. The book ítself has multiple dimensions and it's written in a form of a chat conversation. Pelevin's interpretation of this ancient myth is a combination of science fiction, psychology and philosophy. And the book is a huge labyrinth itself. At first the storyline might seem to the reader hard to follow but the image becomes clearer towards the end. However to understand authors text and characters you really have to concentrate and read not only each line and word carefully, but a reader has to read between the lines also. The book has 7 main characters who communicate together through the chat and each of them is in one way or the other got lost into a labyrinth. The characters themself are from present time, but there seems to be somesort of paradox in time and space that has thrown them to a place which at first seems like the labyrinth of Minos. They have no idea how they have ended there and they have no idea of how to get away from there. They can't see eachother, but somehow they seem to be at the same place...or are they. The novel is all about questions and answers, labyrinths, reality and imagination. And btw one of the main characters is a girl called Ariadne, who seems to know most about minotaur and the labyrinth - In the original Greek myth Ariadne was the princess who helped Theseus to beat the Minotaur and find his way out from the labyrinth. But who is Minotaur and who is Theseus ?
I can't reviele that for you, you have to read the book and find it out yourselves. It's good book and teaches some great lessons for the reader.

xoxo

Emilia

I think u did a good job of describing it Em. Thanks 4 this.

I just finished reading Dan Brown's Da Vinci-code this morning. The fictional plot is full of mysteries and surprises and when you start reading the book, you can never expect what's going to happen in the end.

The book starts from a scene were the intendent of Louvre is shot at the grand gallery of his museum by a albino monk. Before the intendent dies he leaves a mystic note and police picks up professor Robert Langdon from his hotel in the middle of night. Soon to the crime scene also appears young female cryptologist Sophie Neveu. At first Langdon assumes that police picked him up, cause they need his specialist skills to solve the murder, but soon he realizes that he's infact the main suspect of the ambitious police commander Fache. From this moment starts a chain reaction of events that moves on multiple levels.

It's story full of conspires and murders, mysteries and riddles. And what I liked about this book even more than its fictional storyline were the art- and church historical facts plus lots of information about symbolism and secret cults, that went side by side with the fictional plot itself.

'Though at the first the story seems to be going into nowhere the book gets better and better towards the end. When the murder mystery starts to reviele and the real mastermind comes into the daylight reader will be surprised. The book is fine combination of fact and fiction and it's no wonder that it has become one of the modern classics.

I usually dont have the patience for reading but I have read this book and seen the film and have to agree... fabulous!

Move on to the next book now Em.... that's another interesting read.

Jxxx

The way u describe it Em it just gets 2 u and that u're wanting 4 more! Thanks 4 sharing it with us here.

Currently I'm reading Flora by Finnish author Nina Banerjee-Louhíja. It's a fairytale that's been written for adults and it tells about a small village of Flora that's located in the Cote d'Azur. The life of the village rotates around perfume factory and florist garden. And the atmosphere in the village is intarnationally aristographic. The book and its events reminds a lot of a soap opera and the characters include for instance Italian gangster, English primadonna, Andalusian gardener etc. The book is easy to read and brings a smile on the lips. The characters are like birds and bees among the flowers and perfume essences.

After I get this book finished I'll start Samuel Richardson's Pamela which I'm gonna read in its original language, I namely found it in English as a paperback from Academic bookstore in Helsinki.

Thanks 4 telling us this as well as the next book u're reading Em.

Okay, I finally reached the end of Samuel Richardson's Pamela or virtue rewarded at 1.30 a.m. last night. I read it in its original language which was English and cause the book was first published allready in 1740, the language was time to time quite oldish, but yet it was totally understandable to me. The story is quite contraversial and it's no wonder that it got lot of attention when it was first published. It's written completely in the shape of letters and the story is told by its main character 15 yrs old Pamela Andrews who comes from a poor but virtuos family and is brought to a noble house to serve as the old mistresses waiting maid. How ever after her beloved mistress passes away she's got under the power of her late misstress' son Mr. B. Who turns out to be quite determined to ruin this young waiting maid. And does all he can to get the poor girl into his hands. The story is quite vivid and the character's have such a personalities and the book is really a pleasure to read. It's a story about a viscious master who abductsyoung innocent girl and plots continuosly to get her alone with him and even trys to rape her. But Pamela is determined to do anything she can to save herself from the miserable faith and keep her virtue.
Eventually this cat and mouse play will of course lead into a pleasent change in their relationship. And the love conquers all the difficulties that they have faced, but even after they are legally married - the noble man and his mother's waiting made. They must face some difficulties, before the young bride is entitled to take her place as the mistress of the house where she once used to serve as a waiting maid.

The story seems to be quite ahead of its and it's quite cntraversial and modern, despite of the fact that it was written in 1740. The book is also nicely depicting the era when the rules were quite srtict between different social classes and yet Richardson haven't been afraid of braking the rules and shooking the society he was living in with his writings about young woman who had her independent will and inner life, which was not so common those days. And despcribing her master as a man with two different sides - one side he is a vicious villain and on the other a man of honour. The book is also full of delightfull secondary characters that give their own spice to this story.

In anycase it's really great book.

Next on my list will be a classic of modern Greek literature namely Nikos Kasanzakis' Zorba the Greek

Thanks 2 telling us Em. Gl on reading Zorba The Greek. It's not the best message I sent u but u know what I mean.

I've now finished Nikos Kazantzakis' Zorba the Greek. And I really enjoyed each moment reading it. Kazantzakis' book is like a bottle of sparkling wine. The book is a story about Friendship, an ode to Greek life philosophy and nature. And the way Kazantzaki's writes is very poetic. As a writer Nikos Kazantzakis is almost like a painter he paints infront of the reader's eyes, the Pireus harbour, the island of Crete with the indigo blue ocean, olive sanctuaries, orange-and lemon tree's, the old village men, widows etc. Evrything comes alive so vivid infront of your eyes while reading the book, that you become one with the characters and the places. Zorba the Greek is a sparkling story full of joy of living, it's like the Greek blood itself. It tells a story about two strangers who suddenly meet in Pireus harbour and began an adventure together. They leave evrything behind and head to an isolent beach at Crete to run a coalmine. One of these two is the narrator a writer who's in his 30's and the other is Antonis Zorbas, little crazy Greek guy in his 60's who has travelled the world and calls himself as the Sinbad. Zorba lives in the moment and evry day is to him like a miracle. These guys spend a year in Crete together running the mine and the younger learns a lot about life from his friend Zorbas.

The book is also full of colorfull secondary charactors also. But also the Crete and its small villages play leading role in Kazanzakis' story. The village sees moments of joy and sorrow, celebrations of Christmas, Easter and 1st of May, murder, suicide and blood revenge etc. And also the history of Crete is present in the story, while the Zorba tells to his young friend about his adventures as a young rebel during the wars of Crete.

I recommend this book from the bottom of my heart to all the lovers of Greece. Reading the book helps alot when it comes to understanding the Greeks and their nature. And it's also a cheap option for a trip to Greece, cause the moment you start reading the book your mind will take you there.

i agree emilia i read it when i was 15 years old. have you ever tried menelaos loundemis? or antonis samarakis?

I read "The Deception Point" by Dan Brown and i highly recommend it. A lot of scientific language which, however, is very understandable. The plot is complicated (like the one in "The Da Vinci Code"). My whole family has already read it and we liked the book. Nice psychological moments and very interesting political game.

actually, i'm reading "La mort de l'amour" ( love's death) by Thomas Suinot, a french, young author. he was 19 years old and he is a journalist, this book is his first.

His personal myspace page :
http://www.myspace.com/sanjipink


Thomas Suinot :

The author has a gothic look about him.

yes Moldie, i know. he's amazing beautiful and very nice.
i speak with him by myspace

Yeah kind of reminds me of Jane's son Michael 4 some reason. Em I could feel it already with the way that u describe it there! Thanks a lot 4 this. Helen thanks 4 ur review on the book u've read there. And thanks chief 4 telling us what book u're reading.

wpghi5 wrote:

Yeah kind of reminds me of Jane's son Michael 4 some reason.

Oh yes, good thinking Jessie, I never thought of that.

Moldienut wrote:

wpghi5 wrote:

Yeah kind of reminds me of Jane's son Michael 4 some reason.

Oh yes, good thinking Jessie, I never thought of that.

Well now u know Mo!

Right now I'm reading a book by italian writer Francesca Duranti called House by the lake of the moon

Thanks 4 telling us what u're reading there Em.