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June 18, 2013

You Review: Maya’s Notebook by Isabel Allende

Reviewed by Eefje Koppers

Isabel Allende makes me want to be a better writer. The Chilean author is in my opinion one of the finest storytellers of the moment. It doesn’t matter if she writes a book for young adults, a memoir or a novel; her stories are always original and always filled with beautiful prose, descriptive imagery and interesting and unexpected twists and turns. Her latest work, Maya’s Notebook, is no exception. It is the story of a young woman whose life goes completely off the rails after the death of her popo (her grandfather, but just Allende’s use of the word popo throughout the book makes the man somehow closer to the reader).

Maya’s Notebook has two storylines. The one in the recent past tells how Maya becomes involved in Las Vegas’s seedy underworld of drugs, sex trade and violence. The present story line tells how she has fled to the Chilean island Chiloe away from the men in her past who are hunting her down. Why they are still searching for her stays a mystery for the better part of the book and that in itself is the strength of Allende’s writing. She interweaves both storylines with such skill that at each transition from one to the other, you can’t wait to read on, because you simply need to find out what happens next. Both storylines are so interesting but totally contrasting. There is the violence of Vegas and the serenity of Chiloe, but they both have this strong but damaged young woman at the centre of things. And you can’t help but read on. It is a story of redemption, hope, love and action like only Isabel Allende can write and I can wholeheartedly recommend it. It will make you fall in love with Chiloe, the wonderful Maya and most of all with Allende’s prose.

You Review: The latest releases, reviewed by ABC customers.


June 14, 2013

Prize Draw Winners for Books That Made Us Cry

Many thanks to everyone who entered our Books That Made Us Cry prize draw!  Hopefully the following three people can stanch the flow of their tears with our gift certificate:

Henry Kloostra

Sabine Poiesz

David Swatling

As usual, you had many wonderful book suggestions.  See the list below, and every entrant’s reason for crying (warning, some spoilers ahead!).

The Catcher in the Rye – J. D. Salinger

The Cry Lines: One page before the end of Chapter 25, at the carrousel, in the pouring rain. “Then what she did-it damn near killed me-she reached in my coat pocket and took out my red hunting hat and put it on my head”.
Reason: In the gesture that Phoebe makes here, Holden sees, in a flash, how to love, and what to do with the rest of his life. The rain all around is in fact his heart crying. And mine too.

The Time Traveler’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger

It tells a story of boy meets girl, but in such an unconventional escape from time-and-space that you feel the full brunt of the heartache: the sense of inevitability behind what is a beautiful love story but one riddled with impossibilities. The skin of the story is down-to-earth but the book beats with such a romantic heart.

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At his birthday party, the protagonist knows he’s going to die soon, yet he couldn’t prevent it and he couldn’t bear to tell his loved ones about it.

Flowers for Algernon – Daniel Keyes

Of Mice And Men is downright comic compared to this tender cautionary tale (no pun intended). Sobbed at 16 and at 60, for the mouse, the man – oh no, I’m tearing up again…

Tuesdays with Morrie – Mitch Albom

I’ve never been so touched by a book. It made me feel so grateful for all the beautiful things in life, even though everything goes by and changes constantly.

A Street Cat Named Bob – James Bowen

It made me bawl like a baby. It’s a story of a man and a cat, both stranded in the streets of London, who one lucky day find each other and become companions. Together these two strays become the Two Musketeers, and life is so much better for it.

The God of Small Things – Arundhati Roy

She uses breathtaking images to paint a terribly strategic story in the most colorful way. It makes you reflect on all the injustice/cruelty out there, yet at the same time, you start appreciating and looking at the smaller things in life.

Bookbits for June 14th, 2013

Ah, finally found time for a Bookbits again…

  • R. I. P. …and we can start right away with the loss of three iconic writers.  Jack Vance, Tom Sharpe and Iain Banks all died within the past two weeks.  :-(   Obituaries can be found all over the web.  It seems like only last week when I reported Banks’s cancer.
  • Authors, NaNoWriMo heroes, scribblers, heed this call: Quirk Books has a “Looking for Love” fiction contest, open to all nationalities!  See all the info right here.  The deadline is October 1st, 2013.  And please thank us in your acknowledgements when your book is published.  :-)
  • Looking for a new home for your old books? Or is your other half refusing to let you buy a new bookcase and you need to thin out the ranks a little? Why not set your friends up with a literary blind date!  I just love this idea.

Thanks to Tom, Simone, Karin, Nicki, Joke, JeroenW and Rick for various of the above links.  If you have literary tips for us, please mail social@abc.nl!

You Review: Love Minus Eighty by Will McIntosh

Reviewed by Odylle Dis

Love Minus Eighty by Will McIntosh is a sci-fi story set in the near future. In 2100 we do not only date in real life, or on the internet, but we can go to special dating centres where people – frozen at minus eighty – wait for another shot at love. But these people are not frozen by choice. They died and either have insurance to be revived or are brought back by the company because their original looks will make money.

In Love Minus Eighty you follow the characters Rob, Mira and Veronika, who all have – in one way or another – a connection with the frozen dates, or better, brides. Veronika, a dating coach, helps her clients find love. Rob accidentally runs over a woman and starts visiting her frozen body. Mira is in the dating centre and desperately tries to get out.

McIntosh’s book really sketches a world that is different from the one we know today, but filled with emotions we can all relate to. Yet there are a lot of elements in Love Minus Eighty that make the story hard to believe. Screens that allow you to view any person at any time, which magically pop-up wherever that person is and gives someone the ability to watch you live. Also the fact that the “dead” bodies can be partially revived over and over again seems to be far-fetched. In addition the characters seem a bit blank and unrealistic. In fact the feelings of the humans that are not in the tanks seem to be colder than the ones who are actually “dead”.

All in all Love Minus Eighty is a good read for everyone who is into sci-fi and has a wild imagination.

You Review: The latest releases, reviewed by ABC customers.


June 13, 2013

This Just In: Romance

Filed under: Romance, Sophie, This Just In — Tags: , , , — Sophie @ 5:00 pm

Seven Recently-Arrived Titles from the Romance Section:

Please be sure to contact our stores for an exact stock check!

(more…)

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