Recently in Books Category

Orhan Pamuk, Istanbul: Memories and the City - A Nobel Prize laureate Turkish novelist Pamuk presents a beautifully written portrait of an ancient city, a memoir of his childhood and his fractured family all living in a single apartment building in Istanbul, Turkey.

Niall Ferguson, The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World - Books about finance, economics and global markets generally bore me to death, but this is one of the more interesting ones.

Roberto Bolaño, The Savage Detectives - I read it twice. Even though 2666 has made him famous and commercially successful, The Savage Detectives remains Bolaño's best novel. Long, complex and captivating. Highly recommended!

Bret Easton Ellis, Less Than Zero - Set in Los Angeles in the early 80s, this novel captures the lives of wealthy teenagers who experienced sex, drugs and relentless partying at too early an age. Disturbing, raw and depressing at the same time.

I stumbled upon this novel while killing time at the Barnes & Noble in Union Square last week... and am so glad I did! What a cracker of a novel! I just couldn't put this book down.

Set in Los Angeles, the story follows the lives of several characters using four main narratives: Dylan & Maddie - a young Midwestern couple trying to escape the nonsense and cruelty of their families; Old Man Joe - a homeless man living in a public toilet in Venice attempting to do something meaningful and heroic by helping a struggling teenager; Esperanza - a housekeeper from low-class Mexican-American family struggling to find happiness and self-worth; Amberton Parker - happily married (and closeted) movie star with perfect public image, beautiful wife, kids and enormous wealth, willing to do almost anything in his power to get the man he secretly loves.

Loaded with dozens of short stories, minor characters and plenty of historical and political facts concerning the county of Los Angeles, Bright Shiny Morning could be the definitive novel of contemporary LA. Brilliant!

Bright Shiny Morning [Amazon]

Out Stealing Horses (Ut og stjæle hester) is a 2003 novel by Norwegian novelist Per Petterson. It was translated into English in 2005 and published in the US in 2007.

The book tells the story of Trond Sander, an elderly man who has moved from the turbulence and craziness of the city to a remote riverside cabin, only to have all the beauty and troubles of his youth come back to him one nigh while he's out on a walk.

In the original language the novel won the Bookseller's Prize, and in English it won the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize and the 2007 Dublin IMPAC Award.

Brilliant book! A page-turner from start to finish... will read it again very soon.

Out Stealing Horses: A Novel [Amazon]

Just finished reading this great debut novel, The White Tiger, by a young Indian/Australian novelist Aravind Adiga.

Smart, funny and fast-paced, The White Tiger tells a transfixing story of Balram Halwai - an ordinary Indian man from an ordinary Indian village - who after series of events becomes an entrepreneur and a member of high society in Bangalore, India.

Definitely one of the best books of 2008 and a pleasure to read from start to finish. Recommended!

The White Tiger: A Novel (Man Booker Prize) [Amazon]

Sad news for the literary world today: Jurassic Park author Michael Crichton died "unexpectedly" after a private battle with cancer on November 4, 2008 in Los Angeles:

Jurassic Park author Michael Crichton has died in Los Angeles at the age of 66, according to his website. The creator of the popular TV drama ER died "unexpectedly" after a private battle with cancer, his family said. Crichton, a medical doctor turned novelist, has sold than 150 million of his books worldwide.

Jurassic Park author dies [Yahoo!News]

Here's a list of books I read in last few months. It's mostly fiction, however, there's a couple of nonfiction books which I strongly recommend: Elephant and the Dragon: The Rise of India and China and What It means for All of Us by Robyn Meredith and The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism by Naomi Klein. Also The Human Story by John C. Davis is worth mentioning.

Fiction: Continental Drift by Russell Banks, Wild Fire by Nelson DeMille, Empire by Orson Scott Card, Parallel Lies by Ridley Pearson, Hell's Kitchen by Ridley Pearson, Treasure Of Khan by Clive Cussler, The Summons by John Grisham, The Blue Zone by Andrew Gross, The Alexandria Link by Steve Berry, The Romanov Prophecy by Steve Berry.

Currently I'm reading The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More by Chris Andersson and Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal by Ayn Rand.

The Alexandria Link is Steve Berry's fifth novel, published in 2007.

On the heels of Berry's New York Times best seller The Templar Legacy, this the second fact-based novel to feature Cotton Malone, a former employee of the covert branch of the U.S. Justice Department. The plot is based on the mystery of the ancient Library of Alexandria, once the largest library in the world, which mysteriously vanished 1,500 years ago.

According to Wikipedia, the book received mixed responses from viewers; mostly positive responses about the plot and the style of writing, but critical responses about the way the 1948 Arab-Israeli War is portrayed.

The book is full of twists and turns, very fast-paced and well written.

The Alexandria Link: A Novel [Amazon]