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Are you interested in special books, not only bestsellers? See the New York Times list of 50 Notable books 2007 (fiction) |
No Country for Old Men, Cormac McCarthyNo Country for Old Men is a novel by American author Cormac McCarthy, published in 2005. In 2007 it was released as a film, directed by the Cohen-brothers. The film has, so far, been winning four Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
At the scene of the failed drug deal, a Vietnam veteran, Llewellyn Moss, finds $2 million. Moss takes the money and runs, thus setting in motion a chain of events involving both the country sheriff, Bell, and Anton Chigurh, a ruthless predator who really enjoys his work who is out to recover then money, and others. Moss soon finds that he can't hide from the killer that the dealers have sent after him. And Anton Chigurh is so bad, so bad, in fact, that even his employers are frantic to stop him when they realize the trouble they've set in motion. And Moss is in the thick of it, with no way to get out of the action. So he fights. < I think I liked No Country for Old Men. It is, of course, wonderfully written. It is written in a dense, enormously edited style for the most part. An sentences, spelling and sentence structure is used actively by McCarthy to convey a thick description of people and settings. That aspect of the book I loved. So I strongly advise you to read it in English rather than translated. But the book also has, at the same time, a cynical, distanced coldness to it that is, in a sense, frightening to read. It is describing heart shattering events, yet is chillingly distanced in its descriptions. Like others of McCarthy's stories, this one too paints a dispiriting picture. However, like other of his books, Blood Meridian, All the Pretty Horses, The Crossing, and The Road, this book too, of course, is a best-seller. Reading the book, I sympathized with sheriff Bell, who is losing any hope he has for humankind. He scowls and says, "I always thought when I got older that God would sort of come into my life in some way. He didn't." I do, of course, recommend No Country for Old Men. Highly, even. But it is a disturbing book to read, in all its strange beauty. You can also order No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy from Bokkilden! Brida, by Paulo CoelhoCoelho is one of the most gifted and beloved story tellers of our time. As well, he has a mind where, seemingly, fantasy is allowed to roam free of constraints. Thus The relatively short and delightful tale of Brida O’Fem is definitely such a book – a well crafted mind stretcher! Young, cute Brida is an Irish lass wishing to become a witch. Her tale, set in Ireland during the mid-80s, is fantastic, compelling and vividly told. In its own right, it’s an epic. Like the main characters in other Coelho books, she goes searching for the wisdom and crafts she will need. But is it magic she wants? Or love? Or wisdom? Does she really know? She meets people of great wisdom. She is taught about the other, spiritual world. She is taught to see and listen. She learns to overcome fears. She learns to hear the music of the world, and to dance to it. She learns to pray to the moon. She encounters the concept of the soul mate. But where in the multitude options in the many planed universe lies her destiny? And what is it? How and where is fulfillment to be found – in love, passion, mystery, witchcraft? And what is it she is learning on her strange journey – more, I think, self-discovery and self-acceptance than anything else. Brida is a book which transforms the reading experience into a journey of its own. A travel alongside Brida into the depths of the readers’ minds. Beautifully worded, marvelously told, stirring the senses and raising a desire to reach that which must be there, at the end of the journey. A mind-teaser of a book! Review of The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho The Money God, by Zena LivingstonThis novel about a woman who was driven by money, and her We follow Celia, her mother Sophie, and her two daughters, Estelle and Ann, as they travel through life and are impacted by the great depression, World War II and other events large and small. Celia married to a wonderful man, Henry, experienced love and great sex, mothered Estelle, and had a charmed life for a short time. Then she lost her companion, her one real love, to cancer. The rest of her life she struggled to stay floating and survive - concerned above all with The Money God. She seemingly lost the ability to love, abused the children of her next husband as well as the child she eventually had with him – Ann, and made people miserable left and right. Livingston’s story is unsettling, frank, explicit, and quite interesting. It is a tale of hurt and suffering, sex and lust, abuse, violence and guilt, told in a relatively quiet, neutral language. The Money God is not an exceptionally great book, but well enough written to be worthwhile reading. It deals with the problems of survival and daily life in the beginning and middle of the last century when women were not expected to take an education and support themselves, depended totally on their husbands, yet felt the need for security and responsible for providing for their children. It is a strong tale of the plight of women in a bygone era, and reminds us of the problems associated with that way of arranging life. |
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