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airdog

fossilfranv@good.franv.site

Joined 3 years, 4 months ago

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HHhH (French language, 2009, Bernard Grasset) 2 stars

Deux parachutistes tchécoslovaques envoyés par Londres sont chargés d’assassiner Reinhard Heydrich, chef de la Gestapo, …

Très intéressant mais aussi très irritant

2 stars

L'intrigue principale devrait, et nous raconte, les événements qui ont conduit à l'assinat de Heydrich en 1942.

Laurent Binet inclut les détails importants mais c'est dommage de voir qu'il inclut également ses propres commentaires sur ce qu'il devrait inclure et ne pas inclure pour finalement inclure ou exclure, peu importe ce qu'il en a dit auparavant.

Je suppose que ses réflexions personnelles, toujours présentes, sont censées alléger quelque peu le ton du roman, mais dans mon cas, elles n'ont réussi qu'à rendre très irritante une histoire qui autrement m'aurait beaucoup intéressé.

Heart of Darkness 2 stars

Heart of Darkness (1899) is a novella by Polish-English novelist Joseph Conrad about a narrated …

For those who like metaphors

2 stars

This is a 110 pages book of metaphors, long metaphors, short ones, tortured ones and blistered ones.

Disappointing, I've been to Africa in the 60s and it's a beautiful but sometimes really hard world that is certainly worth much more than obscure metaphors.

For those interested in gaining a more insightful vision I highly recommend Romain Gary's Les racines du ciel.

Bonavia (2017, Impedimenta) No rating

The novel's going nowhere but roughly it takes us on many character's journeys through their …

Personally I like it very much but since the plot doesn't have a goal it might not appeal to everyone.

No rating

Reading the German translation of a not simple text. Just to give you an idea, tried translating the translation to English. Take it with a grain of salt:

"Marko observed her beloved face, it had barely any wrinkles. The past would only gradually be written into the white void, he thought. The area around the eyes will become darker, vision blurred by thick glasses. Yet, he was filled with quiet anticipation. The wisdom of dusk(Dämmerung). No fear of morning. He had said something to her about accompanying oneself with oneself. She reacted with a bon mot and did not further comment on the incidentally mentioned fact that not only his father but also his five-year-old son lived in Vienna. He had left empty-handed. They built their game there at the table in the Café Miró in Buda, each with their own combinations."

Hopefully this gives you an idea of the …

The salesman (1999, Picador USA) 3 stars

It's Dublin, June 1995, the hottest summer since records began. But Billy Sweeney, a middle-aged …

Not a thriller!

3 stars

Reading the blurb on the cover, one has the impression that this is going to be a revenge thriller or at least some kind of thriller. But not at all, this is a novel. For the first half of the book, one is intrigued, wondering where this is going to lead to. Then one becomes clear that this is not a revenge book, it's something else. Interesting nevertheless...

Stalker (Hardcover, 2016, Alfred A. Knopf) 2 stars

The much-anticipated fifth thriller in Lars Kepler's bestselling series featuring Joona Linna. Perfect for fans …

Fill the form thriller

2 stars

One has the feeling that this was, for the author, an assignment. Long stretches of text which seem obviously to be written to fill space, to reach the number of pages required by the teacher.

Not really my type.

No time for goodbye (2008, Charnwood) 3 stars

The house was deathly quiet. That was the first sign that something was terribly wrong. …

Could have been interesting

3 stars

the premise of the story should make for interesting reading, but in my opinion the author uses such a casual and plain writing style that it quickly becomes somewhat boring. He catches up a bit on the ending that is quicker paced but a bit too late for me.

La Protégée 3 stars

ON L’A PROTÉGÉE, ON L’A CACHÉE. MAIS SI LE DANGER ÉTAIT EN ELLE ?À la …

Bonne lecture de plage pour cet éte

3 stars

Rien de transcendant mais bien écrit avec une intrigue qui se défend bien.  Tous les clichés du genre y sont, y compris la finale pendant l'orage mais on pardonne volontiers à l'auteure car elle nous a fait passer un bon moment.

Birnam Wood (EBook, 2023, Farrar, Straus & Giroux) 4 stars

Birnam Wood is on the move . . .

Five years ago, Mira Bunting founded …

Plain title but surprising book

4 stars

Very good book. It manages to make a good thriller out of an interesting discussion about our present ecological conundrum. We follow 2 female lead characters (good job to portray 2 women in very believable center roles) and get in the process a very good insight of their detailed reflection journey.

reviewed The Twyford Code by Janice Hallett

The Twyford Code (Hardcover, 2023, Atria Books) 4 stars

Forty years ago, Steven “Smithy” Smith found a copy of a famous children’s book by …

Astonishing book by astonishing author

4 stars

The author renders the traditional thriller with a very original twist in this novel where the story unfolds be reading one's way though a series of transcriptions of audio files. She plays with the fact that it is a machine transcription where words can easily get misspellt, for instance "mustard" instead of "must have", and all this while the dictator of the files getting transcribed is hunting for something by unraveling a code.

You can already see the complications, transcription mistakes, code to decipher based only on said transcription.

A pleasure to read!

Cutting for Stone (2010, Vintage Books) 3 stars

Marion and Shiva Stone are twin brothers born of a secret union between a beautiful …

Interesting story of how an African Indian ended up a very respected doctor in the US

3 stars

Written by a doctor, this book takes you to Addis Ababa in the early 60's and ends up there as well, not without a long stay in America.

The story certainly brings us out of the usual European or North Ameican settings. Very touching, although the story is claimed to be fictional, being written by a famous doctor, you cannot help but think that there might be quite a few autobiographic elements included. As many books written by technical experts, this one tends to lean heavely on sentimental lyricism but given the nature of the intrigue you easily forgive the author for it.

Glacé (French language, 2012) 3 stars

Dans une vallée encaissée des Pyrénées, au petit matin d'une journée glaciale de décembre, les …

Pour ceux qui aiment les thrillers avec beacoup de descriptions.

3 stars

Pas mal, le décor est grandiose, pour ne pas dire grandiloquent, mais vraiment on a souvent du mal à ne pas s'endormir...

The Secret Hours (2023, Murray Press, John) 5 stars

Two years ago, the Monochrome inquiry was set up to investigate the British secret service. …

Even if you don't like spy stories read this one

5 stars

Even if it was only for the language. The way Herron sets the scene and looks at the world have no equivalents. English is not my native language but it seems to me that he pushes it to its limits to make it say something that normal usage cannot carry.

And for those who do like a spy story this is even better than Le Carre.