booksaremydrugs

20 Jul 2011

on the hillside by markus werner (2004)

thomas clarin goes to his weekend-apartment in agra, to write an article about divorce-law. on the first evening he eats dinner in the hotel bellevue, where he takes place at the table of an older single man. he begins a conversation and soon is fascinated by this man, loos. what is it about this man?

this book is mainly a dialogue between the two men, but what a dialogue, full of interesting thoughts, visions and ideas. it's really stimulating to read. and the ending of the book is very cool, even though i have to admit that i knew how it would end, because someone once told me, and that was exactly the reason why i wanted to read the book in the first place.

markus werner is a swiss author by the way. i don't think the book was translated in english, i didn't find it anyway. will definitively check out his other works.

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1 Jul 2011

against the grain by karl-joris huysman (1884)

jean des essaintes is the last of a dynasty. after an extreme and unconventional life he's now a lonely, eccentric and nerves-sick man, who tries to replace reality with an artificial reality, a dream of reality, which thus becomes reality for him.

really this is novel without a plot, it was the intention of huysman to write about his thoughts, about history and art and poetry and science and not to tell a story. that's sometimes very interesting and other times annoying.

the reason that i wanted to read this book in the first place was because it's said to be the one that inspired dorian gray in oscar wilde's masterpiece the picture of dorian gray, which is one of my favourite books.

nowadays it's not such a shocker anymore but i guess it was at the time.

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hamlet by william shakespeare (1603)

hamlet's father, the king of denmark is insidiously murdered by his brother, who then becomes king and marries hamlet's mother. the old king's ghost seeks hamlet, who swears to take revenge. as he is acting very strange, everyone thinks he's gone mad over his father's dead. but he wants to know first if the ghost has only been a temptation of the devil who whants him to go bad. he therefore creates a play which reflects the deed and exposes the guilty king.

to be honest i was not that impressed by this piece, not like i was with a midsummernight's dream, the merchant of venice and macbeth, but yeah it's good of course.

ma favourite line (from ophelia's monologue o what a noble ming is here o'erthrown):

"o, woe is me

t' have seen what i have seen, see what i see!"

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26 May 2011

steampunk chronicles - the girl in the steel corset by kady cross (2011)

this is the first book of kady cross' new series, the steampunk chronicles. this is my first (knowingly) steampunk-book, so i was really curious whether i would like it or not...

finley jane has two personalities insider her, her own self and a dark one, and the dark one has nearly killed her employee, a rich but abusive lord. when she flights from the scene, she bumps into the carriage of a young duke, who takes her to his home to cure her injuries. there she meets other people that have special talents, like her.

attention: there are two love-triangles!

the book is a cross of the strange case of dr. jekyll and mr. hyde, x-men and some jane austen... the writing is good but the story was slightly predictable but entertaining.

there is a prequel, the strange case of finley jane, i will definitively read that and look out for the sequel.

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the book will be released in may 2011.

arc provided by publisher

17 May 2011

anansi boys by neil gaiman (2005)

neil gaiman is one of my favourite authors. i loved american gods, and was really excited to read this book.

fat charlie has always been embarrassed by his father. they didn't have any contact until he hears that the old man died. after the funeral he learns, that he has a brother. when chalie invites his brother into his life, everythnig goes out of control...

i was a little bit dissapointed because i think it cannot live up with american gods... but it was good of course, and sometimes i really had to laugh out loud! =)

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16 May 2011

godess test - the godess test by aimee carter (2011)

this is aimee carter's debut novel, the first book of a greek-mythology-trilogy. i absolutely loved the percy-jackson-series, and was really cusious about the greek legend of persephone.

kate's mom is dying from cancer and wishes to stay in her childhood-village eden for her last days. there strange encounters begin at school. kate promises henry, a boy she just met, to do anything if he brings back to life ava, a girl that has died while playing a horrible prank on kate. henry does his duty and tells kate to wait for the winter. when she asks him what he wants he tells her to read the story of persephone.

the story was ok, but i think the plot was not realy fantastic, i did expect something a little bit deeper... what really annoyed me is the whole dying and ressurrection-thing, what are you supposed to learn from that? well, i wont say anything else about that, i don't want to spoil it... anyway the writing was really good and i will read the next book, because i'm curious what will happen in summer.

the book has been released in april 2011.

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arc provided by publisher

5 May 2011

movie adaptions

thor, based upon the marvel-comic-series. (i think there will be a sequel)

thor is being exiled by his father odin, after he reaks the truce between asgard and the ice-giants. odin takes his hammer mjölnir and sends thor to earth. meanwhile thor's brother loki (the god of chaos, yay!) takes over the kingdom, when their father falls into a coma. thor meets jane, a scientist, who thinks thor flying to earth to be some kind of storm, a bridge into a wormhole...

a fantastic sci-fi-mythology-mix with a superhot hammer-wielding hero... and funny =)

comic ?

movie * * * *

water for elephants, a circus-tale based upon the bestseller by sara gruen.

jacob is in the middle of his vet-exam, when he learns that his parents have died. he's lost everything and leaves his home to find work in a larger city. he stows away on a circus-train, but soon is discovered and almost thrown off the traveling train. but then he gets a job as vet and befriends ringmaster august and his wife marlena...

a stuning, visual masterpiece starring robert pattinson, reese witherspoon and christopher waltz.

book ?

movie * * * * *

4 May 2011

city of bones movie

lily collins (the blind side - great movie by the way) has been casted to play clary in the city of bones-movie and alex pettyfer (beastly, i am number four) is romoured to be casted as jace...