Books Read in 2012 | oh-alien’s version. Title: The Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite  Real title: The Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite Authors: Gabriel Bà & Gerard Way Rating: 10 / 10 Short Summary:  Issue #1: “The Day The Eiffel Tower Went Berserk” The first issue, “The Day the Eiffel Tower Went Berserk”, was released on September 19, 2007. The inside front cover features notes made by Sir Reginald Hargreeves on his seven adopted children, numbered by usefulness. Plot After a brief background is given on The Umbrella Academy, the plot jumps ten years ahead and tells of an event when The Umbrella Academy (aged ten) saved Paris, resulting in The Eiffel Tower flying into space. The story then jumps ahead another 20 years and sets the scene for future issues. Spaceboy is on the moon when he receives a call that The Monocle is dead. Vanya (00.07) receives a mysterious phone call telling her to audition for the chair of a violin player. When Spaceboy arrives at the mansion he encounters 00.05, who has returned from the future. He states that “there is worse to come”. There are also pages of information; inside the front cover is a featured list of the members of The Umbrella Academy, from the “personal notes of Sir Reginal Hargreeves”. On the last page of the story (back to back with the letters page) is an excerpt from the Encyclopedia Umbrellica, offering more details and background information on their exploits in Paris Issue #2: “We Only See Each Other At Weddings And Funerals” The second issue, “We Only See Each Other At Weddings And Funerals”, was released on October 17, 2007. Plot Issue 2 starts the day after Issue 1. Spaceboy is told The Rumor is at the mansion and they greet each other at The Horror’s statue. It is revealed he is dead but the cause is unknown, at which point Seance arrives. At a carnival in the city robots cause destruction because of the apparent reformation of The Umbrella Academy. The Future then describes what happened when he left and how he returned. The Kraken turns up and has a small confrontation with Spaceboy. The funeral attracts media attention. The Monocle’s wife arrives at the funeral, and says a few words about the Monocle before her cloak is ripped off by The Kraken. She is revealed to be a talking mannequin of sorts, possibly a creation of Hargreeves’ to serve as a mother figure to the children. The Kraken then argues with Spaceboy. Meanwhile, in response to the phone call she received last issue, Vanya (00.07) arrives at the Icarus Theatre where she is told to play her violin by a figure obscured by a blinding light. When the light goes off she is in front of many spectators and a skeleton in a suit who calls himself ‘The Conductor’ of ‘The Orchestra Verdammten’. He claims that his new composition, ‘The Apocalypse Suite’, could destroy the world if played accurately. After hearing the plan, Vanya leaves but The Conductor anticipates her return. At the mansion Spaceboy and The Kraken have a violent conflict. Spaceboy has his laser up to The Kraken but they are broken up by the Rumor and 00.05 when he reveals that the world ended a mere three days after Hargreeve’s death. After a moment, the group of heroes realize that the carnival is on fire - Spaceboy reveals that the culprits are the Terminauts, created by the malicious Dr. Terminal (a villain from their past) that were to activate if the Umbrella Academy were ever to reform. The Kraken jumps into the water, and Spaceboy orders everyone to the Televator. The Umbrella Academy has been reformed. The issue ends with a quote from the Monocle at his acceptance speech at the National Thallium Awards. Issue #3: “Dr. Terminal’s Answer” The third issue, “Dr. Terminal’s Answer”, was released on November 21, 2007. Plot Issue three begins with a flashback from the Rumor, where she’s caught in a daze remembering a childhood moment, being held captive by Dr. Terminal. She’s snapped back to reality by Spaceboy, and she fades back to the current situation—a burning carnival. The Terminaunts which had activated last issue have been wreaking havoc upon a children’s fair, and Spaceboy, Rumor, and Seance are fighting to rescue the children. Meanwhile, number 00.05 is being tested by Doctor Pogo, watching the news on a television. Suggesting to begin searching for clues on how close the Apocalypse may be, he leaves Pogo and his “mother” and takes off. Vanya makes it to the fair and is nearly slain by a Terminaunt missile. She is saved by the Kraken, who took that opportunity to yell at her, to “get lost,” because she had left them once already. There is implication that the Terminaunts are destroyed, and the super-team agree that this is only a minor scratch compared to what is coming, ending the adventure. In the Icarus Theater, however, Vanya enters glumly and requests to join the Orchestra Verdammten. The book is finished with a small table of amusement park injuries, followed by the weekly Letters to the Editor section. Issue #4: “Baby, I’ll Be Your Frankenstein” The fourth issue, “Baby, I’ll Be Your Frankenstein”, was released on December 19, 2007. Plot The fourth issue begins with a flashback to eighteen years ago. Vanya runs through the Academy, shouting about how she hates everyone around her. She is consoled by Dr. Pogo and, when she states that there’s nothing special about her, Pogo tells her that she is indeed special because, unlike her siblings, she doesn’t need to destroy in order to be herself. We then jump to the present, where Vanya is being forcefully experimented on by The Conductor of the Orchestra Verdammten. The Conductor reveals that he killed several people to get copies of Hargreeves’ secret notes, one of which indicates that Vanya is the most dangerous member of the Umbrella Academy. The Conductor states that while the orchestra is powerful, they need one pure soul to lead them all. Vanya says she will kill him, but before she can move, The Conductor flips a switch and begins Vanya’s transformation. We transition to Number 00.05 and Dr. Pogo, who are flying around the city looking for signs of the apocalypse. As they survey the depravity around them, they discuss whether or not the earth is truly worth saving. Back at the Icarus Theatre, Vanya wakes up, now transformed into a pure white creature. At the Academy, The Kraken appears in the parlor (to the surprise of his siblings) and initiates a family fight over who their father loved the most before leaving the group. With The Kraken gone, the rest of the Academy decide to go out and patrol to make sure the city is still safe. Elsewhere, 00.05 and Pogo enjoy coffee at a diner until three men in red and black gas masks enter looking for 00.05. Again back at Icarus, the Conductor reveals Vanya, now dubbed ‘La Viole Blanche’ (The White Violin). Her entire body is now pure white and the design of a violin runs down her torso. She picks up her violin and plays a single note, ripping the Conductor in half and killing him instantly. She now stands in front of the group, triumphant, and declares that tonight they will kill the Umbrella Academy and tomorrow they will end the world. The book ends with a riddle: Two bodies have I, though both joined in one. The stiller I stand, the faster I run. The answer is ‘an hourglass’. Issue #5: “Thank You For The Coffee” The fifth issue, “Thank You For The Coffee” was released on January 21, 2008. Plot In this fifth installment, the story begins with Inspector Lupo investigating a crime scene where shortly before mysterious masked characters come looking for 00.05. Agnes, a waitress at the diner where it occurred, describes how 00.05 killed every last masked character (whose identity we are yet to find out) before stating that 00.05 last words to her were- “thank you for the coffee.” References to the beverage are frequent throughout the novel. The story then continues with 00.05 searching through Hargreeves room at the Umbrella Academy, looking for a gun to finish himself when the end of the world arrives, but comes instead across Hargreeves Monocle, which when worn, shows the wearer who someone really is. In this case 00.05 looks at Dr Pogo and sees how he was mistreated in the lab, before collapsing and passing out. Elsewhere, the Rumor and Spaceboy are standing on a building in the city, drinking coffee. They briefly discuss Rumor’s daughter, Claire, after which point Spaceboy inquires whether or not the Rumor has lost her powers. After this the White Violin pays a visit to the Umbrella Academy, promptly destroying the glass windows and the statue of the Horror in the grounds. This act results in the death of Dr. Pogo. The Rumor, Spaceboy and the Séance then arrive to the grounds, and the issue ends with a newspaper being delivered showing the same report on the cover, that was displayed on the day the world ended. The headline reads “Perfect Day- Nothing bad to report”. In the image where 00.05 is transported to the post-apocalypse future, a newspaper is shown with the same headline. Issue #6: “Finale” Or “Brothers And Sisters, I Am An Atomic Bomb” The sixth issue, “Finale” Or “Brothers And Sisters, I Am An Atomic Bomb” was released on February 20, 2008. Plot Following the death of Pogo, the Umbrella Academy sets out to foil The White Violin’s plans to end the world. Seance is sent to an unknown location via the Televator, while the team rushes to the Icarus Theatre. Kraken tries to kill Vanya but fails due to past emotions. Rumor tries to influence Vanya and suffers a slashed throat. Spaceboy takes Rumor to a nearby hospital. The orchestra continues playing, and Vanya claims that there’s no use fighting, since the world’s going to end anyway. Just then, the Seance arrives, along with Igor Stravinsky, the Manchester Children’s Orchestra, and a few members of the Ube tribe. Seance seems to be channeling The Monocle’s spirit, and tells Vanya that he plans to counter her apocalyptic song with Stravinsky’s ‘Rite of Spring’. The Kraken tries to tell Vanya not to listen to the Monocle because others love her when he didn’t, but she turns on him angrily. Number Five shoots Vanya in the head, though she survives. The act is then dropped, and the Kraken is surprised to find that it is not the Monocle at all, but the Séance displaying his acting talents. The apocalypse rolls on and a meteor (one of many) hits the theatre, but using his powers of telekinesis, the Séance stops it from killing anyone. In the epilogue, Number Five recounts the events following the night before. The meteors had shaken loose from the moon. The Rumor and Vanya both live, but neither will be able to use their talents anymore. Their old home is mostly demolished, the Eiffel Tower had crash-landed on top of it. The story then ends with Spaceboy and Kraken reconciling, and after resolving to rebuild, Spaceboy decides to make a sandwich. The group’s mother-figure sits in the background. On the table sits a milk carton that reads “MISSING” with the Boy’s face beneath… Links ↓ Bà’s biography: here. Way’s biography: here. Official Gabriel Bà’s website: /. Official Gerard Way’s [My Chemical Romance] website: here. Film adaptation: No  ×  I also have a virtual bookshelf on aNobii. If you have one, come and follow me here! :D

Books Read in 2012 | oh-alien’s version.

Title: The Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite 

Real title: The Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite

Authors: Gabriel Bà & Gerard Way

Rating: 10 / 10

Short Summary: 

Issue #1: “The Day The Eiffel Tower Went Berserk”

The first issue, “The Day the Eiffel Tower Went Berserk”, was released on September 19, 2007. The inside front cover features notes made by Sir Reginald Hargreeves on his seven adopted children, numbered by usefulness.

Plot

After a brief background is given on The Umbrella Academy, the plot jumps ten years ahead and tells of an event when The Umbrella Academy (aged ten) saved Paris, resulting in The Eiffel Tower flying into space. The story then jumps ahead another 20 years and sets the scene for future issues. Spaceboy is on the moon when he receives a call that The Monocle is dead. Vanya (00.07) receives a mysterious phone call telling her to audition for the chair of a violin player. When Spaceboy arrives at the mansion he encounters 00.05, who has returned from the future. He states that “there is worse to come”.

There are also pages of information; inside the front cover is a featured list of the members of The Umbrella Academy, from the “personal notes of Sir Reginal Hargreeves”. On the last page of the story (back to back with the letters page) is an excerpt from the Encyclopedia Umbrellica, offering more details and background information on their exploits in Paris

Issue #2: “We Only See Each Other At Weddings And Funerals”

The second issue, “We Only See Each Other At Weddings And Funerals”, was released on October 17, 2007.

Plot

Issue 2 starts the day after Issue 1. Spaceboy is told The Rumor is at the mansion and they greet each other at The Horror’s statue. It is revealed he is dead but the cause is unknown, at which point Seance arrives. At a carnival in the city robots cause destruction because of the apparent reformation of The Umbrella Academy. The Future then describes what happened when he left and how he returned. The Kraken turns up and has a small confrontation with Spaceboy. The funeral attracts media attention. The Monocle’s wife arrives at the funeral, and says a few words about the Monocle before her cloak is ripped off by The Kraken. She is revealed to be a talking mannequin of sorts, possibly a creation of Hargreeves’ to serve as a mother figure to the children. The Kraken then argues with Spaceboy. Meanwhile, in response to the phone call she received last issue, Vanya (00.07) arrives at the Icarus Theatre where she is told to play her violin by a figure obscured by a blinding light. When the light goes off she is in front of many spectators and a skeleton in a suit who calls himself ‘The Conductor’ of ‘The Orchestra Verdammten’. He claims that his new composition, ‘The Apocalypse Suite’, could destroy the world if played accurately. After hearing the plan, Vanya leaves but The Conductor anticipates her return. At the mansion Spaceboy and The Kraken have a violent conflict. Spaceboy has his laser up to The Kraken but they are broken up by the Rumor and 00.05 when he reveals that the world ended a mere three days after Hargreeve’s death. After a moment, the group of heroes realize that the carnival is on fire - Spaceboy reveals that the culprits are the Terminauts, created by the malicious Dr. Terminal (a villain from their past) that were to activate if the Umbrella Academy were ever to reform. The Kraken jumps into the water, and Spaceboy orders everyone to the Televator. The Umbrella Academy has been reformed. The issue ends with a quote from the Monocle at his acceptance speech at the National Thallium Awards.

Issue #3: “Dr. Terminal’s Answer”

The third issue, “Dr. Terminal’s Answer”, was released on November 21, 2007.

Plot

Issue three begins with a flashback from the Rumor, where she’s caught in a daze remembering a childhood moment, being held captive by Dr. Terminal. She’s snapped back to reality by Spaceboy, and she fades back to the current situation—a burning carnival. The Terminaunts which had activated last issue have been wreaking havoc upon a children’s fair, and Spaceboy, Rumor, and Seance are fighting to rescue the children. Meanwhile, number 00.05 is being tested by Doctor Pogo, watching the news on a television. Suggesting to begin searching for clues on how close the Apocalypse may be, he leaves Pogo and his “mother” and takes off. Vanya makes it to the fair and is nearly slain by a Terminaunt missile. She is saved by the Kraken, who took that opportunity to yell at her, to “get lost,” because she had left them once already. There is implication that the Terminaunts are destroyed, and the super-team agree that this is only a minor scratch compared to what is coming, ending the adventure. In the Icarus Theater, however, Vanya enters glumly and requests to join the Orchestra Verdammten.

The book is finished with a small table of amusement park injuries, followed by the weekly Letters to the Editor section.

Issue #4: “Baby, I’ll Be Your Frankenstein”

The fourth issue, “Baby, I’ll Be Your Frankenstein”, was released on December 19, 2007.

Plot

The fourth issue begins with a flashback to eighteen years ago. Vanya runs through the Academy, shouting about how she hates everyone around her. She is consoled by Dr. Pogo and, when she states that there’s nothing special about her, Pogo tells her that she is indeed special because, unlike her siblings, she doesn’t need to destroy in order to be herself. We then jump to the present, where Vanya is being forcefully experimented on by The Conductor of the Orchestra Verdammten. The Conductor reveals that he killed several people to get copies of Hargreeves’ secret notes, one of which indicates that Vanya is the most dangerous member of the Umbrella Academy. The Conductor states that while the orchestra is powerful, they need one pure soul to lead them all. Vanya says she will kill him, but before she can move, The Conductor flips a switch and begins Vanya’s transformation. We transition to Number 00.05 and Dr. Pogo, who are flying around the city looking for signs of the apocalypse. As they survey the depravity around them, they discuss whether or not the earth is truly worth saving. Back at the Icarus Theatre, Vanya wakes up, now transformed into a pure white creature. At the Academy, The Kraken appears in the parlor (to the surprise of his siblings) and initiates a family fight over who their father loved the most before leaving the group. With The Kraken gone, the rest of the Academy decide to go out and patrol to make sure the city is still safe. Elsewhere, 00.05 and Pogo enjoy coffee at a diner until three men in red and black gas masks enter looking for 00.05. Again back at Icarus, the Conductor reveals Vanya, now dubbed ‘La Viole Blanche’ (The White Violin). Her entire body is now pure white and the design of a violin runs down her torso. She picks up her violin and plays a single note, ripping the Conductor in half and killing him instantly. She now stands in front of the group, triumphant, and declares that tonight they will kill the Umbrella Academy and tomorrow they will end the world.

The book ends with a riddle: Two bodies have I, though both joined in one. The stiller I stand, the faster I run. The answer is ‘an hourglass’.

Issue #5: “Thank You For The Coffee”

The fifth issue, “Thank You For The Coffee” was released on January 21, 2008.

Plot

In this fifth installment, the story begins with Inspector Lupo investigating a crime scene where shortly before mysterious masked characters come looking for 00.05. Agnes, a waitress at the diner where it occurred, describes how 00.05 killed every last masked character (whose identity we are yet to find out) before stating that 00.05 last words to her were- “thank you for the coffee.” References to the beverage are frequent throughout the novel.

The story then continues with 00.05 searching through Hargreeves room at the Umbrella Academy, looking for a gun to finish himself when the end of the world arrives, but comes instead across Hargreeves Monocle, which when worn, shows the wearer who someone really is. In this case 00.05 looks at Dr Pogo and sees how he was mistreated in the lab, before collapsing and passing out.

Elsewhere, the Rumor and Spaceboy are standing on a building in the city, drinking coffee. They briefly discuss Rumor’s daughter, Claire, after which point Spaceboy inquires whether or not the Rumor has lost her powers.

After this the White Violin pays a visit to the Umbrella Academy, promptly destroying the glass windows and the statue of the Horror in the grounds. This act results in the death of Dr. Pogo. The Rumor, Spaceboy and the Séance then arrive to the grounds, and the issue ends with a newspaper being delivered showing the same report on the cover, that was displayed on the day the world ended. The headline reads “Perfect Day- Nothing bad to report”. In the image where 00.05 is transported to the post-apocalypse future, a newspaper is shown with the same headline.

Issue #6: “Finale” Or “Brothers And Sisters, I Am An Atomic Bomb”

The sixth issue, “Finale” Or “Brothers And Sisters, I Am An Atomic Bomb” was released on February 20, 2008.

Plot

Following the death of Pogo, the Umbrella Academy sets out to foil The White Violin’s plans to end the world. Seance is sent to an unknown location via the Televator, while the team rushes to the Icarus Theatre. Kraken tries to kill Vanya but fails due to past emotions. Rumor tries to influence Vanya and suffers a slashed throat. Spaceboy takes Rumor to a nearby hospital.

The orchestra continues playing, and Vanya claims that there’s no use fighting, since the world’s going to end anyway. Just then, the Seance arrives, along with Igor Stravinsky, the Manchester Children’s Orchestra, and a few members of the Ube tribe. Seance seems to be channeling The Monocle’s spirit, and tells Vanya that he plans to counter her apocalyptic song with Stravinsky’s ‘Rite of Spring’. The Kraken tries to tell Vanya not to listen to the Monocle because others love her when he didn’t, but she turns on him angrily. Number Five shoots Vanya in the head, though she survives. The act is then dropped, and the Kraken is surprised to find that it is not the Monocle at all, but the Séance displaying his acting talents. The apocalypse rolls on and a meteor (one of many) hits the theatre, but using his powers of telekinesis, the Séance stops it from killing anyone.

In the epilogue, Number Five recounts the events following the night before. The meteors had shaken loose from the moon. The Rumor and Vanya both live, but neither will be able to use their talents anymore. Their old home is mostly demolished, the Eiffel Tower had crash-landed on top of it. The story then ends with Spaceboy and Kraken reconciling, and after resolving to rebuild, Spaceboy decides to make a sandwich. The group’s mother-figure sits in the background. On the table sits a milk carton that reads “MISSING” with the Boy’s face beneath…

Links ↓

Bà’s biography: here.

Way’s biography: here.

Official Gabriel Bà’s website: /.

Official Gerard Way’s [My Chemical Romance] website: here.

Film adaptation: No  × 

I also have a virtual bookshelf on aNobii. If you have one, come and follow me here! :D


tagged as:  Gabriel Bà    Gerard Way    books 2012    i read    personal    
Books Read in 2012 | oh-alien’s version. Title: Uomini che odiano le donne Real title: Män som hatar kvinnor [in english: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo] Author: Stieg Larsson Rating: 10 / 10 Short Summary: In December 2002, Mikael Blomkvist, publisher of the Swedish political magazine Millennium, loses a libel case involving allegations about billionaire industrialist Hans-Erik Wennerström. He is sentenced to three months in prison, and ordered to pay hefty damages and costs. Soon afterwards, he is invited to meet Henrik Vanger, the retired CEO of the Vanger Corporation, unaware that Vanger has checked into his personal and professional history; the investigation of Blomkvist’s circumstances has been carried out by Lisbeth Salander, a brilliant but deeply troubled young woman who works as a surveillance agent with Milton Security. Vanger promises Blomkvist considerable financial reward and solid evidence against Wennerström, in exchange for writing the Vanger family history. Vanger believes that his great-niece, Harriet, was murdered by a member of the family 36 years earlier, and has been trying to find out what happened ever since. Harriet disappeared during a family gathering at the Vanger estate on Hedeby Island, when the island was temporarily cut off from the mainland by a traffic accident. Blomkvist moves to the island and begins his research into the history of the Vanger family and Harriet’s disappearance. Lisbeth Salander is under the care of a legal guardian, Holger Palmgren, the only person she trusts. When he suffers a stroke, he is replaced by lawyer Nils Bjurman, who takes advantage of his position to sexually abuse her. After using a hidden camera to record Bjurman raping her, she takes her revenge, torturing him and threatening to ruin him unless he gives her full control of her life and finances. She also brands him with a tattoo identifying him as a rapist to make sure he never harms anyone again. While searching through the evidence, Blomkvist decides that he needs a research assistant, and Vanger’s lawyer mentions Salander. When he sees the report she prepared for Vanger, Blomkvist realises that Salander has hacked into his computer. Salander agrees to assist in the investigation, and eventually becomes his lover. Blomkvist and Salander soon realise that they are on the trail of a serial killer who has been preying on women for decades. When looking through old photographs, Blomkvist realises that they contain a clue to the murderer’s identity. After an unseen assailant tries to kill him, Blomkvist becomes suspicious of Harriet’s brother, Martin, and goes to his house. Martin has expected him, however, and takes him prisoner. Martin reveals that he was “initiated” as a teenager into rape and murder by his late father, Gottfried, who had also molested him. Martin brags about murdering dozens of women, but denies killing his sister. Martin tries to kill Blomkvist, but Salander arrives just in time and saves Blomkvist’s life. Martin flees in his car, and commits suicide by driving head-on into a truck. By following a trail that leads first to Cecilia’s sister Anita, who now lives in London, Blomkvist and Salander find out that Harriet is still alive and living in Australia. Blomkvist flies over and meets Harriet, who tells him that her father had repeatedly raped her until she killed him in self-defense; Martin saw her do it, and began sexually abusing her until he was sent away to boarding school. She saw him on the day of the accident, and asked Anita to smuggle her out of Sweden in order to get away from him. Blomkvist persuades Harriet to return to Sweden, where she reunites with her uncle, who makes plans for her to take the position of CEO of the Vanger Corporation. Blomkvist accompanies Salander at the funeral of her mother, who has just died. Salander also tells him that, as a child, she had tried to kill her father by setting him on fire. Henrik Vanger gives Blomkvist the promised evidence, which turns out to be useless. However, Salander has already hacked Wennerström’s computer and has discovered that his crimes go far beyond what Blomkvist documented. Using her evidence, Blomkvist prints an exposé and book which ruins Wennerström and catapults Millennium to national prominence. Meanwhile, Salander steals more than 2.4 billion US dollars from Wennerström’s secret bank account. Blomkvist and Salander spend Christmas together in his holiday retreat, and Salander admits to herself that she is in love. She goes to Blomkvist’s house with a present for him, but retreats on seeing Blomkvist with his longtime lover and business partner, Erika Berger. Heartbroken, she throws the gift into a skip and leaves the country. As a postscript, Salander continues to monitor Wennerström, and after six months anonymously informs a lawyer in Miami of his whereabouts. He is found in Marbella, dead, shot three times in the head. Links ↓ Larsson’s biography: here. Official Stieg Larsson’s website: here and here. Film adaptation: Yes ✓  Watch the trailer here and here.  I also have a virtual bookshelf on aNobii. If you have one, come and follow me here! :D

Books Read in 2012 | oh-alien’s version.

Title: Uomini che odiano le donne

Real title: Män som hatar kvinnor [in english: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo]

Author: Stieg Larsson

Rating: 10 / 10

Short Summary: In December 2002, Mikael Blomkvist, publisher of the Swedish political magazine Millennium, loses a libel case involving allegations about billionaire industrialist Hans-Erik Wennerström. He is sentenced to three months in prison, and ordered to pay hefty damages and costs. Soon afterwards, he is invited to meet Henrik Vanger, the retired CEO of the Vanger Corporation, unaware that Vanger has checked into his personal and professional history; the investigation of Blomkvist’s circumstances has been carried out by Lisbeth Salander, a brilliant but deeply troubled young woman who works as a surveillance agent with Milton Security.

Vanger promises Blomkvist considerable financial reward and solid evidence against Wennerström, in exchange for writing the Vanger family history. Vanger believes that his great-niece, Harriet, was murdered by a member of the family 36 years earlier, and has been trying to find out what happened ever since. Harriet disappeared during a family gathering at the Vanger estate on Hedeby Island, when the island was temporarily cut off from the mainland by a traffic accident. Blomkvist moves to the island and begins his research into the history of the Vanger family and Harriet’s disappearance.

Lisbeth Salander is under the care of a legal guardian, Holger Palmgren, the only person she trusts. When he suffers a stroke, he is replaced by lawyer Nils Bjurman, who takes advantage of his position to sexually abuse her. After using a hidden camera to record Bjurman raping her, she takes her revenge, torturing him and threatening to ruin him unless he gives her full control of her life and finances. She also brands him with a tattoo identifying him as a rapist to make sure he never harms anyone again.

While searching through the evidence, Blomkvist decides that he needs a research assistant, and Vanger’s lawyer mentions Salander. When he sees the report she prepared for Vanger, Blomkvist realises that Salander has hacked into his computer. Salander agrees to assist in the investigation, and eventually becomes his lover. Blomkvist and Salander soon realise that they are on the trail of a serial killer who has been preying on women for decades. When looking through old photographs, Blomkvist realises that they contain a clue to the murderer’s identity.

After an unseen assailant tries to kill him, Blomkvist becomes suspicious of Harriet’s brother, Martin, and goes to his house. Martin has expected him, however, and takes him prisoner. Martin reveals that he was “initiated” as a teenager into rape and murder by his late father, Gottfried, who had also molested him. Martin brags about murdering dozens of women, but denies killing his sister. Martin tries to kill Blomkvist, but Salander arrives just in time and saves Blomkvist’s life. Martin flees in his car, and commits suicide by driving head-on into a truck.

By following a trail that leads first to Cecilia’s sister Anita, who now lives in London, Blomkvist and Salander find out that Harriet is still alive and living in Australia. Blomkvist flies over and meets Harriet, who tells him that her father had repeatedly raped her until she killed him in self-defense; Martin saw her do it, and began sexually abusing her until he was sent away to boarding school. She saw him on the day of the accident, and asked Anita to smuggle her out of Sweden in order to get away from him.

Blomkvist persuades Harriet to return to Sweden, where she reunites with her uncle, who makes plans for her to take the position of CEO of the Vanger Corporation. Blomkvist accompanies Salander at the funeral of her mother, who has just died. Salander also tells him that, as a child, she had tried to kill her father by setting him on fire.

Henrik Vanger gives Blomkvist the promised evidence, which turns out to be useless. However, Salander has already hacked Wennerström’s computer and has discovered that his crimes go far beyond what Blomkvist documented. Using her evidence, Blomkvist prints an exposé and book which ruins Wennerström and catapults Millennium to national prominence. Meanwhile, Salander steals more than 2.4 billion US dollars from Wennerström’s secret bank account.

Blomkvist and Salander spend Christmas together in his holiday retreat, and Salander admits to herself that she is in love. She goes to Blomkvist’s house with a present for him, but retreats on seeing Blomkvist with his longtime lover and business partner, Erika Berger. Heartbroken, she throws the gift into a skip and leaves the country.

As a postscript, Salander continues to monitor Wennerström, and after six months anonymously informs a lawyer in Miami of his whereabouts. He is found in Marbella, dead, shot three times in the head.

Links ↓

Larsson’s biography: here.

Official Stieg Larsson’s website: here and here.

Film adaptation: Yes ✓  Watch the trailer here and here. 

I also have a virtual bookshelf on aNobii. If you have one, come and follow me here! :D


tagged as:  Stieg Larsson    books 2012    i read    personal    
Books Read in 2012 | oh-alien’s version. Title: Ragazzo da parete  Real title: The perks of being a wallflower Author: Stephen Chbosky Rating: 10 / 10 Short Summary: “Charlie” is the alias of the adolescent narrator of the novel, who is about to begin his first year of high school. The novel is presented through letters that Charlie writes to an anonymous friend, who is just someone he heard about and decided he could confide in. Charlie begins the year shy and awkward, but he soon makes friends with two seniors, Sam, and her step-brother Patrick. Throughout the story, Sam, Patrick, and Charlie’s teacher Bill introduce him to many new experiences and the letters he writes show his growth. Bill gives Charlie many books to read, which influence the way he thinks greatly. Sam and Patrick introduce Charlie to friends, music, and drugs. Charlie soon falls in love with Sam, but feels guilty whenever he has romantic or sexual thoughts about her. He begins dating Mary Elizabeth instead, but ruins their relationship when he kisses Sam. Patrick advises Charlie to stay away from their friends for a bit, while everyone is angry with him. Charlie is very upset with himself, and feels like an outcast once again. The only connection he has to his friends is Bob, who sells Charlie marijuana. Bob reveals that Patrick had a falling out with his secret boyfriend Brad after Brad’s father caught them together. Soon afterwards, Charlie witnesses Brad calling Patrick a faggot at lunch, Patrick loses his temper and attacks Brad. Brad’s friends then team up on Patrick, and Charlie comes to his defense. Using a chair, Charlie manages to fend off the mob. Charlie is forgiven by all his friends after this. Near the end of the school year, Charlie grows depressed because all his friends are graduating. The night before Sam leaves for school, she and Charlie begin having sex, but Charlie suddenly has a panic attack and has to stop. His state of mind grows worse, and he is checked into a mental hospital. In the hospital, Charlie realizes that he was molested by his Aunt Helen, and that he had been suppressing the memory. The novel ends with Charlie writing his last letter to his friend, saying that he hopes to be less of a “wallflower” in the next school year, and plans on being more outgoing. Links ↓ Chbosky’s biography: here. Official Stephen Chbosky’s website: here. Film adaptation: Yes ✓  Watch the trailer here.  I also have a virtual bookshelf on aNobii. If you have one, come and follow me here! :D

Books Read in 2012 | oh-alien’s version.

Title: Ragazzo da parete 

Real title: The perks of being a wallflower

Author: Stephen Chbosky

Rating: 10 / 10

Short Summary: “Charlie” is the alias of the adolescent narrator of the novel, who is about to begin his first year of high school. The novel is presented through letters that Charlie writes to an anonymous friend, who is just someone he heard about and decided he could confide in. Charlie begins the year shy and awkward, but he soon makes friends with two seniors, Sam, and her step-brother Patrick. Throughout the story, Sam, Patrick, and Charlie’s teacher Bill introduce him to many new experiences and the letters he writes show his growth. Bill gives Charlie many books to read, which influence the way he thinks greatly. Sam and Patrick introduce Charlie to friends, music, and drugs. Charlie soon falls in love with Sam, but feels guilty whenever he has romantic or sexual thoughts about her. He begins dating Mary Elizabeth instead, but ruins their relationship when he kisses Sam. Patrick advises Charlie to stay away from their friends for a bit, while everyone is angry with him. Charlie is very upset with himself, and feels like an outcast once again. The only connection he has to his friends is Bob, who sells Charlie marijuana. Bob reveals that Patrick had a falling out with his secret boyfriend Brad after Brad’s father caught them together. Soon afterwards, Charlie witnesses Brad calling Patrick a faggot at lunch, Patrick loses his temper and attacks Brad. Brad’s friends then team up on Patrick, and Charlie comes to his defense. Using a chair, Charlie manages to fend off the mob. Charlie is forgiven by all his friends after this. Near the end of the school year, Charlie grows depressed because all his friends are graduating. The night before Sam leaves for school, she and Charlie begin having sex, but Charlie suddenly has a panic attack and has to stop. His state of mind grows worse, and he is checked into a mental hospital. In the hospital, Charlie realizes that he was molested by his Aunt Helen, and that he had been suppressing the memory. The novel ends with Charlie writing his last letter to his friend, saying that he hopes to be less of a “wallflower” in the next school year, and plans on being more outgoing.

Links ↓

Chbosky’s biography: here.

Official Stephen Chbosky’s website: here.

Film adaptation: Yes ✓  Watch the trailer here. 

I also have a virtual bookshelf on aNobii. If you have one, come and follow me here! :D


tagged as:  Stephen Chbosky    books 2012    i read    personal    
Books Read in 2012 | oh-alien’s version. Title: Elegie Duinesi  Real title: Duineser Elegien Author: Rainer Maria Rilke Rating: 10 / 10 Short Summary: Rilke had been visiting Princess Marie von Thurn und Taxis in the Duino castle near Trieste in January 1912 and, according to his own recounting, had taken a stroll near the castle, atop the steep cliffs that dropped down to the beach. Rilke said later he had heard a voice calling to him as he walked near the cliffs, and he had used its words as the opening of the first Elegy: “Wer, wenn ich schriee, hörte mich denn aus der Engel Ordnungen?” (Who, if I cried out, would hear me among the angelic orders?). A cycle of major poems had been in Rilke’s mind already before this moment of inspiration, and within days he produced the first two elegies and some fragments which would find their way into the others, including the opening section of the tenth. After this, inspiration for the cycle stopped abruptly and could not be recaptured, although he continued with other poetic drafts. The completion of the elegies was delayed by Rilke’s battle with depression, and also by the First World War which shook the foundations of his beliefs and his way of life; the German-speaking aristocracy among which he had moved and his native country, the Austrian Empire, were among the prime casualties of the war. The cycle was completed only in February 1922, when Rilke was staying at the Muzot castle in Veyras, Rhone Valley, Switzerland. It was also during this time that Rilke wrote the Sonnets to Orpheus. Rilke described the sudden return of inspiration in a letter at this time as “a savage creative storm”, and claimed that he had dropped meals because the poetic spirit took hold of him for many hours on end, but his host denied that he had ever appeared disorderly or untidy, or missed out on a meal, and the few surviving manuscript drafts do not look as if written in frantic haste. Links ↓ Rilke’s biography: here. Official Rainer Maria Rilke’s website: /. Film adaptation: No  ×  I also have a virtual bookshelf on aNobii. If you have one, come and follow me here! :D

Books Read in 2012 | oh-alien’s version.

Title: Elegie Duinesi 

Real title: Duineser Elegien

Author: Rainer Maria Rilke

Rating: 10 / 10

Short Summary: Rilke had been visiting Princess Marie von Thurn und Taxis in the Duino castle near Trieste in January 1912 and, according to his own recounting, had taken a stroll near the castle, atop the steep cliffs that dropped down to the beach.

Rilke said later he had heard a voice calling to him as he walked near the cliffs, and he had used its words as the opening of the first Elegy: “Wer, wenn ich schriee, hörte mich denn aus der Engel Ordnungen?” (Who, if I cried out, would hear me among the angelic orders?).

A cycle of major poems had been in Rilke’s mind already before this moment of inspiration, and within days he produced the first two elegies and some fragments which would find their way into the others, including the opening section of the tenth. After this, inspiration for the cycle stopped abruptly and could not be recaptured, although he continued with other poetic drafts.

The completion of the elegies was delayed by Rilke’s battle with depression, and also by the First World War which shook the foundations of his beliefs and his way of life; the German-speaking aristocracy among which he had moved and his native country, the Austrian Empire, were among the prime casualties of the war. The cycle was completed only in February 1922, when Rilke was staying at the Muzot castle in Veyras, Rhone Valley, Switzerland. It was also during this time that Rilke wrote the Sonnets to Orpheus. Rilke described the sudden return of inspiration in a letter at this time as “a savage creative storm”, and claimed that he had dropped meals because the poetic spirit took hold of him for many hours on end, but his host denied that he had ever appeared disorderly or untidy, or missed out on a meal, and the few surviving manuscript drafts do not look as if written in frantic haste.

Links ↓

Rilke’s biography: here.

Official Rainer Maria Rilke’s website: /.

Film adaptation: No  × 

I also have a virtual bookshelf on aNobii. If you have one, come and follow me here! :D


tagged as:  Rainer Maria Rilke    books 2012    i read    personal    
Books Read in 2012 | oh-alien’s version. Title: Pane e Tempesta  Real title: Pane e Tempesta Author: Stefano Benni Rating: 10 / 10 Short Summary: As only he can do, once again Stefano Benni creates a world populated by characters and the absurd. To an absurd level of absurdity that can make real and genuine. This peculiarity of books (some, not all, of course) of Benni, is even more in Pane e tempesta book in which he paints a little village like many of those villages which, because of their being small and detached from the world, end up being all unique and special, and with a personality that, in large cities, seems to have been lost in too many layers of asphalt. In this enchanted place enough to be able to be true, here Stefano Benni begins to spread portraits of people and personalities. Some are described by summarizing the story that led them to be who they are. Others have nicknames exhilarating, and hilarious stories behind them, explaining the why and wherefore of those nicknames (and if someone had never lived in a village, I can assure you that is really so that things work: a live their lives quietly. Then one day, is a diminished, and the country saddled him a nickname that ridiculous, if all goes well, will die with him. If not survive, resulting in hereditary nicknames such as “son of …”, the “daughter of …” and so on). There are passages of the book in which even the characters are all in a name, and that name is all their history, their humor, and their meaning. Obviously, since the village is even cats and dogs, far from pets, people are active in the community. They have names, and their descendants, and also sung the deeds of their… To upset this picture of provincial intact and healthy, full of reality and magic, the bulldozers will come, progress, and news. And people will be affectionate to human relationships, and suffering (now old-fashioned way) to have to fight the modern impersonal and money-centric… A warning to those who loved Bar Sport know that it is spoken here and, amid the laughter, it is impossible not to feel a hint of melancholy. Why reading this book you laugh to tears, yes. One might also notice that some of these tears may be sad, not only of joy… Links ↓ Benni’s biography: here. Official Stefano Benni’s website: here. Film adaptation: No  ×  I also have a virtual bookshelf on aNobii. If you have one, come and follow me here! :D

Books Read in 2012 | oh-alien’s version.

Title: Pane e Tempesta 

Real title: Pane e Tempesta

Author: Stefano Benni

Rating: 10 / 10

Short Summary: As only he can do, once again Stefano Benni creates a world populated by characters and the absurd. To an absurd level of absurdity that can make real and genuine. This peculiarity of books (some, not all, of course) of Benni, is even more in Pane e tempesta book in which he paints a little village like many of those villages which, because of their being small and detached from the world, end up being all unique and special, and with a personality that, in large cities, seems to have been lost in too many layers of asphalt.

In this enchanted place enough to be able to be true, here Stefano Benni begins to spread portraits of people and personalities. Some are described by summarizing the story that led them to be who they are. Others have nicknames exhilarating, and hilarious stories behind them, explaining the why and wherefore of those nicknames (and if someone had never lived in a village, I can assure you that is really so that things work: a live their lives quietly. Then one day, is a diminished, and the country saddled him a nickname that ridiculous, if all goes well, will die with him. If not survive, resulting in hereditary nicknames such as “son of …”, the “daughter of …” and so on).

There are passages of the book in which even the characters are all in a name, and that name is all their history, their humor, and their meaning. Obviously, since the village is even cats and dogs, far from pets, people are active in the community. They have names, and their descendants, and also sung the deeds of their…

To upset this picture of provincial intact and healthy, full of reality and magic, the bulldozers will come, progress, and news. And people will be affectionate to human relationships, and suffering (now old-fashioned way) to have to fight the modern impersonal and money-centric…

A warning to those who loved Bar Sport know that it is spoken here and, amid the laughter, it is impossible not to feel a hint of melancholy. Why reading this book you laugh to tears, yes. One might also notice that some of these tears may be sad, not only of joy…

Links ↓

Benni’s biography: here.

Official Stefano Benni’s website: here.

Film adaptation: No  × 

I also have a virtual bookshelf on aNobii. If you have one, come and follow me here! :D


tagged as:  Stefano Benni    books 2012    i read    personal    
Books Read in 2012 | oh-alien’s version. Title: Forever  Real title: Forever Author: Maggie Stiefvater Rating: 10 / 10 Short Summary: Forever is the final book of the trilogy of Shiver. It was published on July 12, 2011. In Forever, the stakes are even higher than before. Wolves are being hunted. Lives are being threatened. And love is harder and harder to hold on to as death comes closing in. On February 14, 2011, Stiefvater read a two-page excerpt of Forever in which Shelby was confirmed as being a narrator. Links ↓ Stiefvater’s biography: here. Official Maggie Stiefvater’s website: here. Film adaptation: No  ×  I also have a virtual bookshelf on aNobii. If you have one, come and follow me here! :D

Books Read in 2012 | oh-alien’s version.

Title: Forever 

Real title: Forever

Author: Maggie Stiefvater

Rating: 10 / 10

Short Summary: Forever is the final book of the trilogy of Shiver. It was published on July 12, 2011.

In Forever, the stakes are even higher than before. Wolves are being hunted. Lives are being threatened. And love is harder and harder to hold on to as death comes closing in.

On February 14, 2011, Stiefvater read a two-page excerpt of Forever in which Shelby was confirmed as being a narrator.

Links ↓

Stiefvater’s biography: here.

Official Maggie Stiefvater’s website: here.

Film adaptation: No  × 

I also have a virtual bookshelf on aNobii. If you have one, come and follow me here! :D


tagged as:  Maggie Stiefvater    books 2012    i read    personal    
Books Read in 2012 | oh-alien’s version. Title: La bambina che salvava i libri  Real title: The Book Thief Author: Markus Zusak Rating: 10 / 10 Short Summary: “The dictionary says my identity should be all about being separate or distinct, and yet it feel like it is so wrapped up in others.” The narrator of the book is Death. Death is omniscient. Markus Zusak begins the book by introducing Death as a benign and sympathetic entity with a tendency to define moments by their colour (for example a sky turned red after a bombing raid). Death describes his first encounter with a nine-year-old girl named Liesel Meminger in the late 1930’s in a graveyard shortly after the death of her younger brother on a train taking them to Molching, Germany, where their mother is to leave them with a foster family. It is revealed that the reason for the fostering is to distance the children from their parents’ past communist sympathies. The death of the boy forces Liesel and her mother to make a stopover for a burial. It is just after this tearful and unceremonious burial that Liesel steals her first book, The Grave Digger’s Handbook, after it is dropped in the snow by a gravedigger’s apprentice. Despite being uneducated for her age and unable to read the book, she keeps it as a final memento of her brother. Death continues to narrate, but as a second-hand account of Liesel’s own writing from years later. Upon arriving at the home of her foster parents, Hans and Rosa Hubermann, Liesel finds it hard to adjust. She is haunted by nightmares about her mother and, most of all, her dead brother. It is through Hans Hubermann’s unfailing comfort throughout the middle of the night that the two come to share a bond. Noticing The Grave Digger’s Handbook tucked under Liesel’s mattress one night when Leisel wets the bed, Hans, who is a painter by trade and by this time is known to Liesel as “Papa”, decides to teach her how to read and write. And so the midnight lessons begin. Rosa Hubermann, whose personality is much coarser than Hans’, takes Liesel under her wing in her own way, by having her help with her job of washing and delivering laundry for other households. Shortly after the start of World War II, Rosa makes it Liesel’s job to pick up and deliver the laundry in the hopes that penny-pinched customers will feel guilty about telling a child that they cannot afford to enlist her mother’s services any longer. For Christmas, Liesel is gifted two used books, paid for in cigarettes by Hans Hubermann. The Hubermanns have a son and a daughter of their own, both of whom are grown and live elsewhere, but visit at Christmas-time. Their son is a staunch Hitlerite and, after an intense argument with Hans about his failure to obtain membership in the Nazi party (due in most part to a much earlier incident in which he painted over anti-Semitic graffiti on a Jewish shopkeeper’s door), leaves angrily, but not before suggesting that Liesel should be reading Mein Kampf rather than the sort of books that the Hubermanns have given her. Meanwhile, Liesel befriends a neighbour boy of the same age by the name of Rudy Steiner who often asks Liesel for kisses, only to be rejected each time. The pair eventually takes to stealing as an occasional pastime, usually fuelled by Rudy’s constant hunger. At a rally on Hitler’s birthday, April 20, 1940, during a public book burning, Liesel steals a book for a second time. The only witness is the mayor’s wife, who is also a customer of Rosa Hubermann’s. When Hans Hubermann is contacted by Max Vandenburg, the son of a Jew who saved his life in the First World War, he takes his son’s advice and buys a copy of Mein Kampf. In it he hides the train tickets and forged documentation necessary to get Max to the Hubermann residence, arranging for him to arrive under cover of night. Max takes up residence in the Hubermanns’ basement, hidden underneath the steps by hanged sheets and stacked paint cans. Having seen Liesel take the book at the rally, the mayor’s wife, Ilsa Hermann, eventually invites Liesel to read from the books in her extensive library. Doing so with each pick-up and delivery, Liesel eventually learns of Ilsa Hermann’s crippling self-pity over the death of her only son during the First World War. Liesel quickly befriends Max. For having kept watch over the fugitive Jew for many nights as he recovered from his wearisome journey to find the Hubermanns, Max writes a short illustrated story called The Standover Man for Liesel and gives it to her as a birthday gift. The title refers to the people in one’s life who will stay comfortingly at one’s bedside in times of need, just as Liesel did for Max and as Hans had done for Liesel. So as not to appear hypocritical after urging townspeople to be as economical as possible in order to support the war effort, the mayor and his wife discontinue their use of Rosa Hubermann’s laundering services. As Ilsa Hermann gives Liesel a letter explaining that they will be doing their own washing from then on, she tells her that she is still free to read from her library at any time and gives her a book to take home with her. Knowing that this will exacerbate her family’s financial woes, Liesel reacts angrily, attacking Ilsa’s state of self-pity for her son’s death, informing her “it’s pathetic that you sit here shivering in your own house to suffer for it” as she throws the offered book back to the woman’s feet. Liesel returns to the mayor’s home at a later date with Rudy and steals the book by climbing in through the window. A short time later, the pair encounter a group of older boys who have it out for Rudy and they throw Liesel’s stolen book into a river. Always seeking ways to earn a kiss, Rudy retrieves the book from the ice cold water. Upon Winter’s arrival in 1942, Max falls gravely ill. Even more so than upon his first arrival at their home, Liesel keeps a relentless vigil over Max as he sleeps without waking for days stretching into weeks. Periodically she leaves small presents by his side – found trinkets, usually, such as ribbons, buttons and the like – and reads to him daily. Max eventually wakes from his sickness and has no sooner gotten back to normal than the party sends a man without warning to check basements for suitability as bomb shelters. Max is miraculously able to hide in the basement right under the nose of the party man, who concludes that their basement is too shallow to serve as an adequate shelter. The Hubermanns’ fortunes improve with the growing danger of air raids as Hans is employed to paint over windows so that bombers cannot see the lights on inside the homes. In the meantime, Liesel has continued to steal books from the Hermanns’ library and even food for Rudy from their kitchen. One day, they find that a book, a dictionary in fact, has been placed on the sill. Liesel steals it and as they are leaving, looks back and sees Ilsa Hermann as she stands behind the window and raises a hand to wave. Inside the dictionary, Liesel and Rudy discover a letter addressed to Liesel, informing her that the mayor’s wife has known all along that they have been stealing books and that she only hopes that Liesel will one day choose to knock on the front door rather than sneak through the window. When the air raid sirens begin sounding with regularity, Liesel helps maintain calm in the designated shelter by reading to the others from one of her books. The Hubermanns’ next door neighbour, with whom Rosa has been feuding for years, proposes that Liesel read to her on a regular basis in exchange for her coffee ration; the deal is struck. Two weeks later, a group of Jews are marched through Molching toward Dachau. As they are paraded through the town in front of a crowd of onlookers, Hans Hubermann takes pity on an enfeebled old Jewish man and steps forward to hand him a piece of bread. A soldier takes notice and whips both Hans and the elderly Jew. Regretting his actions for the attention they will surely draw to them from the Nazis, Hans has Max leave for his own safety shortly after the incident. Before leaving, Max tells Liesel that he has left a gift for her that she will only receive when she is ready. With each day that passes without a visit from the Gestapo, however, Hans begins to regret sending Max away, believing he may have needlessly sent him away from a danger that wasn’t coming. When two “coat men” finally approach the Hubermanns’ house, Hans is relieved to think that he didn’t send him away for nothing. In fact, they have come to the wrong house, and proceed down the street to the Steiner residence. They are interested in taking Rudy to a special Nazi-run school based on his academic and athletic performance. His parents decline. The punishment that Hans Hubermann has been waiting for finally comes when he is conscripted for military service. Alex Steiner, Rudy’s father, is also drafted for having refused to send Rudy to the special school. They leave by train and that night Liesel wakes to discover Rosa Hubermann crying herself to sleep in the living room with Hans’ accordion clutched to her chest, a nightly occurrence from then on. Upset with the fact that their parents were taken away. When another group of Jews is shepherded through Molching, Liesel and Rudy decide to run ahead of the pack, leave pieces of bread lying along the path, and then hide in some nearby trees. Liesel compromises her hiding spot while trying to tell if Max is among the group, and is spotted after a soldier notices prisoners bending down to pick up pieces of bread. The children are chased through the woods but manage to get away. Rosa, deciding that Liesel is ready for Max’s parting gift, reveals a bundle of papers, not unlike that on which The Standover Man was written, hidden within her mattress. During his stay with the Hubermanns, Max had used the scraps of paper as a sort of journal and sketchbook to pass the time. The journal is titled The Word Shaker, after its most significant entry, a short illustrated fable that serves as an allegory for Nazi Germany and the power of words. Ignoring Ilsa Hermann’s suggestion to use the front door, Liesel returns with Rudy to the mayor’s home to steal again. This time she finds that a plate of staling cookies has been left on the desk, but is intercepted by Ilsa before she can make her escape. Liesel takes comfort in the realization that the age of the cookies indicate that the library belongs to Ilsa (had her husband used the room, he would surely not have left cookies to go stale on the desk) and not the mayor. She awkwardly reconciles with Ilsa Hermann and quickly takes her leave. In early 1943, Liesel is greeted by a strange face when she makes her scheduled visit to read to her neighbour, Frau Holtzapfel. It is Holtzapfel’s son, returned from Stalingrad where he lost three fingers and a brother. After hearing the news of her second son’s death Frau Holtzapfel appears distant and depressed every time Liesel comes to read to her. When a truck that Hans is riding in the back of loses control and rolls over, he suffers from a broken leg and is sent back from the Eastern Front. Before he arrives, however, Molching receives another air raid warning. All but Frau Holtzapfel, who is still under the hold of crippling depression, make their way to the bomb shelter. Her son, Liesel, and Rosa all try to convince her to proceed to the shelter, but to no avail. Before leaving for the shelter themselves, Liesel tells her that if she does not come, Liesel will stop reading to her and she will have lost her only friend. A short time after they arrive at the shelter, Frau Holtzapfel finally removes herself from her kitchen and joins them. When the sirens signal that it is okay to leave the shelter, the townspeople’s attention is drawn to a bomber plane that has been downed on the banks of a nearby river. Rudy and Liesel are the first to arrive on the scene, where Rudy comforts the dying pilot. He places a teddy bear on the shoulder of the pilot, who thanks him with his dying breath. Three months later, two more groups of Jews are marched through Molching and, like the last time, Liesel watches to see if Max is among them. She is unsure whether to hope that he is a part of the procession, in which case she at least knows that he is still alive, or that he is not, in which case he might still be free, or perhaps dead. Around the same time, Frau Holtzapfel’s only surviving son hangs himself one night from the rafters of a local laundry, devastating her further. A month later, more Jews are paraded by and this time Max Vandenburg is among them. When Liesel runs in among the crowd of prisoners for a tearful reunion with her friend, they are finally pulled apart and each of them whipped by a soldier. Rudy runs to help Liesel and to get her off the street, but she breaks free and again runs toward the long line of Jews to find Max. Before she can do so, however, Rudy catches up to her and tackles her to the ground as Max is led away with the rest. After keeping to herself for three days after the incident, Liesel finally tells Rudy everything about the Jew they’d been hiding in their basement after forcing him to promise that he would never tell anyone. To cheer herself up, Liesel once more sneaks into the Hermann’s library, but instead becomes angry at what the power of words has done to Germany and tears up one of the books in frustration. Before leaving, she leaves an apologetic note of explanation for Ilsa Hermann, writing that she will no longer be returning there. Three days later, Ilsa arrives unexpectedly at Liesel’s home and gifts her with a small black book of lined pages for writing in, saying that she wrote well in the letter she’d left in the library. Over many weeks, Liesel writes the story of her life since arriving on Himmel Street in the little black book while sitting in the basement where she had first learned to read with her foster father and had later read with Max. Five nights after she finishes her story with the line “I have hated the words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right”, while she is reading over her story Himmel Street is bombed without warning. Despite having earlier been dismissed as unsuitable for a bomb shelter, the Hubermanns’ shallow basement is the only thing that helps make Liesel the only survivor on the whole street of the bombing. She is liberated from the rubble by the rescue squad and is distraught by the scene of destruction all around her. She finds Rudy first, and after tearfully trying to revive his lifeless body, at last gives him the kiss he’d always asked her for. Next she finds the bodies of Hans and Rosa Hubermann. Liesel retrieves Hans’ accordion for him and cries by their side until she is finally taken away by the emergency responders. Liesel’s little black book of reminiscences, titled The Book Thief, is picked up from the rubble and mistaken for trash. Death picks it up off the back of a garbage truck as he passes with the souls of the residents of Himmel Street in hand. Shortly after the bombing, Liesel is adopted by Ilsa Hermann and her husband, the mayor, and Alex Steiner returns from his military service and laments, “if only I’d let Rudy go to that school”. Rudy’s father reopens his tailoring business and Liesel passes the time by helping him in the store. After the war, Max is liberated from Dachau and returns to find Liesel at the store, where they share an emotional reunion. Many years later, Death comes for Liesel in Sydney, and reveals to her that he has carried her little black book, The Book Thief, with him for all these years. Astonished, she asks, “could you understand it?”, to which he simply notes, “I am haunted by humans.” Links ↓ Zusak’s biography: here. Official Markus Zusak’s website: here. Film adaptation: No  ×  I also have a virtual bookshelf on aNobii. If you have one, come and follow me here! :D

Books Read in 2012 | oh-alien’s version.

Title: La bambina che salvava i libri 

Real title: The Book Thief

Author: Markus Zusak

Rating: 10 / 10

Short Summary: “The dictionary says my identity should be all about being separate or distinct, and yet it feel like it is so wrapped up in others.”

The narrator of the book is Death. Death is omniscient. Markus Zusak begins the book by introducing Death as a benign and sympathetic entity with a tendency to define moments by their colour (for example a sky turned red after a bombing raid). Death describes his first encounter with a nine-year-old girl named Liesel Meminger in the late 1930’s in a graveyard shortly after the death of her younger brother on a train taking them to Molching, Germany, where their mother is to leave them with a foster family. It is revealed that the reason for the fostering is to distance the children from their parents’ past communist sympathies. The death of the boy forces Liesel and her mother to make a stopover for a burial. It is just after this tearful and unceremonious burial that Liesel steals her first book, The Grave Digger’s Handbook, after it is dropped in the snow by a gravedigger’s apprentice. Despite being uneducated for her age and unable to read the book, she keeps it as a final memento of her brother. Death continues to narrate, but as a second-hand account of Liesel’s own writing from years later. Upon arriving at the home of her foster parents, Hans and Rosa Hubermann, Liesel finds it hard to adjust. She is haunted by nightmares about her mother and, most of all, her dead brother. It is through Hans Hubermann’s unfailing comfort throughout the middle of the night that the two come to share a bond. Noticing The Grave Digger’s Handbook tucked under Liesel’s mattress one night when Leisel wets the bed, Hans, who is a painter by trade and by this time is known to Liesel as “Papa”, decides to teach her how to read and write. And so the midnight lessons begin.

Rosa Hubermann, whose personality is much coarser than Hans’, takes Liesel under her wing in her own way, by having her help with her job of washing and delivering laundry for other households. Shortly after the start of World War II, Rosa makes it Liesel’s job to pick up and deliver the laundry in the hopes that penny-pinched customers will feel guilty about telling a child that they cannot afford to enlist her mother’s services any longer.

For Christmas, Liesel is gifted two used books, paid for in cigarettes by Hans Hubermann. The Hubermanns have a son and a daughter of their own, both of whom are grown and live elsewhere, but visit at Christmas-time. Their son is a staunch Hitlerite and, after an intense argument with Hans about his failure to obtain membership in the Nazi party (due in most part to a much earlier incident in which he painted over anti-Semitic graffiti on a Jewish shopkeeper’s door), leaves angrily, but not before suggesting that Liesel should be reading Mein Kampf rather than the sort of books that the Hubermanns have given her.

Meanwhile, Liesel befriends a neighbour boy of the same age by the name of Rudy Steiner who often asks Liesel for kisses, only to be rejected each time. The pair eventually takes to stealing as an occasional pastime, usually fuelled by Rudy’s constant hunger. At a rally on Hitler’s birthday, April 20, 1940, during a public book burning, Liesel steals a book for a second time. The only witness is the mayor’s wife, who is also a customer of Rosa Hubermann’s. When Hans Hubermann is contacted by Max Vandenburg, the son of a Jew who saved his life in the First World War, he takes his son’s advice and buys a copy of Mein Kampf. In it he hides the train tickets and forged documentation necessary to get Max to the Hubermann residence, arranging for him to arrive under cover of night. Max takes up residence in the Hubermanns’ basement, hidden underneath the steps by hanged sheets and stacked paint cans.

Having seen Liesel take the book at the rally, the mayor’s wife, Ilsa Hermann, eventually invites Liesel to read from the books in her extensive library. Doing so with each pick-up and delivery, Liesel eventually learns of Ilsa Hermann’s crippling self-pity over the death of her only son during the First World War. Liesel quickly befriends Max. For having kept watch over the fugitive Jew for many nights as he recovered from his wearisome journey to find the Hubermanns, Max writes a short illustrated story called The Standover Man for Liesel and gives it to her as a birthday gift. The title refers to the people in one’s life who will stay comfortingly at one’s bedside in times of need, just as Liesel did for Max and as Hans had done for Liesel.

So as not to appear hypocritical after urging townspeople to be as economical as possible in order to support the war effort, the mayor and his wife discontinue their use of Rosa Hubermann’s laundering services. As Ilsa Hermann gives Liesel a letter explaining that they will be doing their own washing from then on, she tells her that she is still free to read from her library at any time and gives her a book to take home with her. Knowing that this will exacerbate her family’s financial woes, Liesel reacts angrily, attacking Ilsa’s state of self-pity for her son’s death, informing her “it’s pathetic that you sit here shivering in your own house to suffer for it” as she throws the offered book back to the woman’s feet.

Liesel returns to the mayor’s home at a later date with Rudy and steals the book by climbing in through the window. A short time later, the pair encounter a group of older boys who have it out for Rudy and they throw Liesel’s stolen book into a river. Always seeking ways to earn a kiss, Rudy retrieves the book from the ice cold water.

Upon Winter’s arrival in 1942, Max falls gravely ill. Even more so than upon his first arrival at their home, Liesel keeps a relentless vigil over Max as he sleeps without waking for days stretching into weeks. Periodically she leaves small presents by his side – found trinkets, usually, such as ribbons, buttons and the like – and reads to him daily.

Max eventually wakes from his sickness and has no sooner gotten back to normal than the party sends a man without warning to check basements for suitability as bomb shelters. Max is miraculously able to hide in the basement right under the nose of the party man, who concludes that their basement is too shallow to serve as an adequate shelter.

The Hubermanns’ fortunes improve with the growing danger of air raids as Hans is employed to paint over windows so that bombers cannot see the lights on inside the homes. In the meantime, Liesel has continued to steal books from the Hermanns’ library and even food for Rudy from their kitchen. One day, they find that a book, a dictionary in fact, has been placed on the sill. Liesel steals it and as they are leaving, looks back and sees Ilsa Hermann as she stands behind the window and raises a hand to wave. Inside the dictionary, Liesel and Rudy discover a letter addressed to Liesel, informing her that the mayor’s wife has known all along that they have been stealing books and that she only hopes that Liesel will one day choose to knock on the front door rather than sneak through the window. When the air raid sirens begin sounding with regularity, Liesel helps maintain calm in the designated shelter by reading to the others from one of her books. The Hubermanns’ next door neighbour, with whom Rosa has been feuding for years, proposes that Liesel read to her on a regular basis in exchange for her coffee ration; the deal is struck.

Two weeks later, a group of Jews are marched through Molching toward Dachau. As they are paraded through the town in front of a crowd of onlookers, Hans Hubermann takes pity on an enfeebled old Jewish man and steps forward to hand him a piece of bread. A soldier takes notice and whips both Hans and the elderly Jew.

Regretting his actions for the attention they will surely draw to them from the Nazis, Hans has Max leave for his own safety shortly after the incident. Before leaving, Max tells Liesel that he has left a gift for her that she will only receive when she is ready. With each day that passes without a visit from the Gestapo, however, Hans begins to regret sending Max away, believing he may have needlessly sent him away from a danger that wasn’t coming. When two “coat men” finally approach the Hubermanns’ house, Hans is relieved to think that he didn’t send him away for nothing. In fact, they have come to the wrong house, and proceed down the street to the Steiner residence. They are interested in taking Rudy to a special Nazi-run school based on his academic and athletic performance. His parents decline. The punishment that Hans Hubermann has been waiting for finally comes when he is conscripted for military service. Alex Steiner, Rudy’s father, is also drafted for having refused to send Rudy to the special school. They leave by train and that night Liesel wakes to discover Rosa Hubermann crying herself to sleep in the living room with Hans’ accordion clutched to her chest, a nightly occurrence from then on. Upset with the fact that their parents were taken away. When another group of Jews is shepherded through Molching, Liesel and Rudy decide to run ahead of the pack, leave pieces of bread lying along the path, and then hide in some nearby trees. Liesel compromises her hiding spot while trying to tell if Max is among the group, and is spotted after a soldier notices prisoners bending down to pick up pieces of bread. The children are chased through the woods but manage to get away.

Rosa, deciding that Liesel is ready for Max’s parting gift, reveals a bundle of papers, not unlike that on which The Standover Man was written, hidden within her mattress. During his stay with the Hubermanns, Max had used the scraps of paper as a sort of journal and sketchbook to pass the time. The journal is titled The Word Shaker, after its most significant entry, a short illustrated fable that serves as an allegory for Nazi Germany and the power of words.

Ignoring Ilsa Hermann’s suggestion to use the front door, Liesel returns with Rudy to the mayor’s home to steal again. This time she finds that a plate of staling cookies has been left on the desk, but is intercepted by Ilsa before she can make her escape. Liesel takes comfort in the realization that the age of the cookies indicate that the library belongs to Ilsa (had her husband used the room, he would surely not have left cookies to go stale on the desk) and not the mayor. She awkwardly reconciles with Ilsa Hermann and quickly takes her leave.

In early 1943, Liesel is greeted by a strange face when she makes her scheduled visit to read to her neighbour, Frau Holtzapfel. It is Holtzapfel’s son, returned from Stalingrad where he lost three fingers and a brother. After hearing the news of her second son’s death Frau Holtzapfel appears distant and depressed every time Liesel comes to read to her.

When a truck that Hans is riding in the back of loses control and rolls over, he suffers from a broken leg and is sent back from the Eastern Front. Before he arrives, however, Molching receives another air raid warning. All but Frau Holtzapfel, who is still under the hold of crippling depression, make their way to the bomb shelter. Her son, Liesel, and Rosa all try to convince her to proceed to the shelter, but to no avail. Before leaving for the shelter themselves, Liesel tells her that if she does not come, Liesel will stop reading to her and she will have lost her only friend. A short time after they arrive at the shelter, Frau Holtzapfel finally removes herself from her kitchen and joins them. When the sirens signal that it is okay to leave the shelter, the townspeople’s attention is drawn to a bomber plane that has been downed on the banks of a nearby river. Rudy and Liesel are the first to arrive on the scene, where Rudy comforts the dying pilot. He places a teddy bear on the shoulder of the pilot, who thanks him with his dying breath.

Three months later, two more groups of Jews are marched through Molching and, like the last time, Liesel watches to see if Max is among them. She is unsure whether to hope that he is a part of the procession, in which case she at least knows that he is still alive, or that he is not, in which case he might still be free, or perhaps dead. Around the same time, Frau Holtzapfel’s only surviving son hangs himself one night from the rafters of a local laundry, devastating her further.

A month later, more Jews are paraded by and this time Max Vandenburg is among them. When Liesel runs in among the crowd of prisoners for a tearful reunion with her friend, they are finally pulled apart and each of them whipped by a soldier. Rudy runs to help Liesel and to get her off the street, but she breaks free and again runs toward the long line of Jews to find Max. Before she can do so, however, Rudy catches up to her and tackles her to the ground as Max is led away with the rest.

After keeping to herself for three days after the incident, Liesel finally tells Rudy everything about the Jew they’d been hiding in their basement after forcing him to promise that he would never tell anyone.

To cheer herself up, Liesel once more sneaks into the Hermann’s library, but instead becomes angry at what the power of words has done to Germany and tears up one of the books in frustration. Before leaving, she leaves an apologetic note of explanation for Ilsa Hermann, writing that she will no longer be returning there. Three days later, Ilsa arrives unexpectedly at Liesel’s home and gifts her with a small black book of lined pages for writing in, saying that she wrote well in the letter she’d left in the library.

Over many weeks, Liesel writes the story of her life since arriving on Himmel Street in the little black book while sitting in the basement where she had first learned to read with her foster father and had later read with Max. Five nights after she finishes her story with the line “I have hated the words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right”, while she is reading over her story Himmel Street is bombed without warning.

Despite having earlier been dismissed as unsuitable for a bomb shelter, the Hubermanns’ shallow basement is the only thing that helps make Liesel the only survivor on the whole street of the bombing. She is liberated from the rubble by the rescue squad and is distraught by the scene of destruction all around her. She finds Rudy first, and after tearfully trying to revive his lifeless body, at last gives him the kiss he’d always asked her for.

Next she finds the bodies of Hans and Rosa Hubermann. Liesel retrieves Hans’ accordion for him and cries by their side until she is finally taken away by the emergency responders. Liesel’s little black book of reminiscences, titled The Book Thief, is picked up from the rubble and mistaken for trash. Death picks it up off the back of a garbage truck as he passes with the souls of the residents of Himmel Street in hand. Shortly after the bombing, Liesel is adopted by Ilsa Hermann and her husband, the mayor, and Alex Steiner returns from his military service and laments, “if only I’d let Rudy go to that school”. Rudy’s father reopens his tailoring business and Liesel passes the time by helping him in the store. After the war, Max is liberated from Dachau and returns to find Liesel at the store, where they share an emotional reunion.

Many years later, Death comes for Liesel in Sydney, and reveals to her that he has carried her little black book, The Book Thief, with him for all these years. Astonished, she asks, “could you understand it?”, to which he simply notes, “I am haunted by humans.”

Links ↓

Zusak’s biography: here.

Official Markus Zusak’s website: here.

Film adaptation: No  × 

I also have a virtual bookshelf on aNobii. If you have one, come and follow me here! :D


tagged as:  Markus Zusak    books 2012    i read    personal    
Books Read in 2012 | oh-alien’s version. Title: Dentro Jenna  Real title: The Adoration of Jenna Fox Author: Mary E. Pearson Rating: 10 / 10 Short Summary: “The dictionary says my identity should be all about being separate or distinct, and yet it feel like it is so wrapped up in others.” Jenna was left comatose after a tragic accident. One year later, she awakens to a life she can’t recall, a body she doesn’t recognize, two parents and a grandmother doesn’t really know, and a house she can’t leave. Her parents want her to stay at home for a while in order to make full recovery and avoid a relapse. Their smiles are cautious, wary; her grandmother’s smile is sad, almost bitter. When Jenna watches old home movies, she can’t help but think of herself as two people. (Since she narrates the story in first person, it’s easy to follow this train of thought: there’s “Jenna,” dancing and smiling away on the recordings, and there’s “I” or “me” watching them in the present day. Also, there are shaded pages, passages in which Jenna has mental confessions about the past, present, and future.) She knows she was a dancer, a daughter, a student, a friend, and that she was happy, but the most of this knowledge comes from outside sources rather than her own memories. She does not want to rely on what the videos show and what her family tells her - she wants to know herself, herself. Bits and pieces of her past begin tug at the edges of her mind, but they are not always happy and rarely are they clear. If anything, these blurry scenes and feelings only make her more confused about what happened to her, with her, around her. With the help of others - some forthcoming and some reluctant - things begin to clear up. The edges of her mind are still jagged and raw. Tidbits scraping there only serve to open up old wounds and leave new scars. Wanting to know who she was, why she is the way she is, and what happened the night of the accident, Jenna pushes her parents’ buttons as well as her own physical and mental limits. Her arms, hands, legs and feet, which once were “perfect,” don’t look, feel, or move the way they used to, her physical changes being as obvious and frustrating to her as her mental blocks. Though she is at first scared and tentative, Jenna keeps trying to get to the bottom of things until she gets through to others and dares to walk on a new path. “Are the details of our lives who we are, or is it owning those details that makes the difference?” This book brings up many questions, not only physiological and psychological but also philosophical: How much can you really trust your memories - and if you lose them, can you get them back? Can you get yourself back? “Maybe that is all any life is composed of, trivia that eventually adds up to a person, and maybe I just don’t have enough of it yet to be a whole one.” The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson is a stunning, fascinating novel. This eye-opening story which openly explores the concept of identity will stay on your mind for a long, long time. Links ↓ Pearson’s biography: here. Official Mary E. Pearson’s website: here. Film adaptation: No  ×  I also have a virtual bookshelf on aNobii. If you have one, come and follow me here! :D

Books Read in 2012 | oh-alien’s version.

Title: Dentro Jenna 

Real title: The Adoration of Jenna Fox

Author: Mary E. Pearson

Rating: 10 / 10

Short Summary: “The dictionary says my identity should be all about being separate or distinct, and yet it feel like it is so wrapped up in others.”

Jenna was left comatose after a tragic accident. One year later, she awakens to a life she can’t recall, a body she doesn’t recognize, two parents and a grandmother doesn’t really know, and a house she can’t leave. Her parents want her to stay at home for a while in order to make full recovery and avoid a relapse. Their smiles are cautious, wary; her grandmother’s smile is sad, almost bitter.

When Jenna watches old home movies, she can’t help but think of herself as two people. (Since she narrates the story in first person, it’s easy to follow this train of thought: there’s “Jenna,” dancing and smiling away on the recordings, and there’s “I” or “me” watching them in the present day. Also, there are shaded pages, passages in which Jenna has mental confessions about the past, present, and future.) She knows she was a dancer, a daughter, a student, a friend, and that she was happy, but the most of this knowledge comes from outside sources rather than her own memories. She does not want to rely on what the videos show and what her family tells her - she wants to know herself, herself.

Bits and pieces of her past begin tug at the edges of her mind, but they are not always happy and rarely are they clear. If anything, these blurry scenes and feelings only make her more confused about what happened to her, with her, around her. With the help of others - some forthcoming and some reluctant - things begin to clear up. The edges of her mind are still jagged and raw. Tidbits scraping there only serve to open up old wounds and leave new scars.

Wanting to know who she was, why she is the way she is, and what happened the night of the accident, Jenna pushes her parents’ buttons as well as her own physical and mental limits. Her arms, hands, legs and feet, which once were “perfect,” don’t look, feel, or move the way they used to, her physical changes being as obvious and frustrating to her as her mental blocks. Though she is at first scared and tentative, Jenna keeps trying to get to the bottom of things until she gets through to others and dares to walk on a new path.

“Are the details of our lives who we are, or is it owning those details that makes the difference?”

This book brings up many questions, not only physiological and psychological but also philosophical:

How much can you really trust your memories - and if you lose them, can you get them back? Can you get yourself back?

“Maybe that is all any life is composed of, trivia that eventually adds up to a person, and maybe I just don’t have enough of it yet to be a whole one.”

The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson is a stunning, fascinating novel. This eye-opening story which openly explores the concept of identity will stay on your mind for a long, long time.

Links ↓

Pearson’s biography: here.

Official Mary E. Pearson’s website: here.

Film adaptation: No  × 

I also have a virtual bookshelf on aNobii. If you have one, come and follow me here! :D


tagged as:  Mary E. Pearson    books 2012    i read    personal    
Books Read in 2012 | oh-alien’s version. Title: Orlando  Real title: Orlando. A Biography Author: Virginia Woolf Rating: 10 / 10 Short Summary: Orlando tells the story of a young man named Orlando, born in England during the reign of Elizabeth I, who decides not to grow old. He is briefly a lover to the elderly queen, but after her death has a brief, intense love affair with Sasha, a princess in the entourage of the Russian embassy. This episode, of love and excitement against the background of the Great Frost, is one of the best known, and is said to represent Vita Sackville-West’s affair with Violet Trefusis. Following Sasha’s sudden, unwarned departure and return to Russia, the desolate, heartbroken Orlando returns to writing The Oak Tree, a poem started and abandoned in his youth. He meets with Nicholas Greene, a famous poet and with whom he joyfully entertains, but who criticises Orlando’s writing, later making Orlando feel betrayed when he finds himself made the foolishly-depicted subject of one of Greene’s subsequent works. This period of contemplating love and life leads Orlando to appreciate the value of his ancestral stately home, which he proceeds to furnish lavishly and then plays host to the populace. Ennui sets in and the harassment of a persistent suitor, the Archduchess Harriet, leads to Orlando’s fleeing the country when appointed by King Charles II as British ambassador to Constantinople. Orlando performs his duties well, until a night of civil unrest and murderous riots. He falls asleep for a lengthy period of days while in Turkey, resistant to all efforts to rouse him. Upon awakening he finds, unsurprised, that he has metamorphosed into a woman—the same person, with the same personality and intellect, but in a woman’s body. The now Lady Orlando covertly escapes Constantinople in the company of a Gypsy clan, adopting their way of life until its essential conflict with her upbringing leads her to head home. Only on the ship back to England, with her constraining female clothes and an incident in which a flash of her ankle nearly results in a sailor’s falling to his death, does she realise the magnitude of becoming a woman; yet she concludes the overall advantages, declaring ‘Praise God I’m a woman!’ Back in England, Orlando is hounded once again by the archduchess, who now reveals herself in fact to be a man, the Archduke Harry. Orlando evades his marriage proposals, instead living a life switching between gender roles, dressing as both man and woman. Orlando soon becomes caught up in the life of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, holding court with the great poets (notably Alexander Pope), including Nick Greene who appears to be as timeless as she, now promoting her writing and promising to help her publish The Oak Tree. Orlando wins a lawsuit over her property and marries a sea captain, Marmaduke Bonthrop Shelmerdine. In 1928, she publishes The Oak Tree centuries after starting it, winning a prize. As her husband’s ship returns, in the aftermath of her success, she rushes to greet him. Links ↓ Woolf’s biography: here. Official Virginia Woolf’s website: here. Film adaptation: Yes ✓  Watch the trailer here.  I also have a virtual bookshelf on aNobii. If you have one, come and follow me here! :D

Books Read in 2012 | oh-alien’s version.

Title: Orlando 

Real title: Orlando. A Biography

Author: Virginia Woolf

Rating: 10 / 10

Short Summary: Orlando tells the story of a young man named Orlando, born in England during the reign of Elizabeth I, who decides not to grow old. He is briefly a lover to the elderly queen, but after her death has a brief, intense love affair with Sasha, a princess in the entourage of the Russian embassy. This episode, of love and excitement against the background of the Great Frost, is one of the best known, and is said to represent Vita Sackville-West’s affair with Violet Trefusis. Following Sasha’s sudden, unwarned departure and return to Russia, the desolate, heartbroken Orlando returns to writing The Oak Tree, a poem started and abandoned in his youth. He meets with Nicholas Greene, a famous poet and with whom he joyfully entertains, but who criticises Orlando’s writing, later making Orlando feel betrayed when he finds himself made the foolishly-depicted subject of one of Greene’s subsequent works. This period of contemplating love and life leads Orlando to appreciate the value of his ancestral stately home, which he proceeds to furnish lavishly and then plays host to the populace. Ennui sets in and the harassment of a persistent suitor, the Archduchess Harriet, leads to Orlando’s fleeing the country when appointed by King Charles II as British ambassador to Constantinople. Orlando performs his duties well, until a night of civil unrest and murderous riots. He falls asleep for a lengthy period of days while in Turkey, resistant to all efforts to rouse him. Upon awakening he finds, unsurprised, that he has metamorphosed into a woman—the same person, with the same personality and intellect, but in a woman’s body.

The now Lady Orlando covertly escapes Constantinople in the company of a Gypsy clan, adopting their way of life until its essential conflict with her upbringing leads her to head home. Only on the ship back to England, with her constraining female clothes and an incident in which a flash of her ankle nearly results in a sailor’s falling to his death, does she realise the magnitude of becoming a woman; yet she concludes the overall advantages, declaring ‘Praise God I’m a woman!’ Back in England, Orlando is hounded once again by the archduchess, who now reveals herself in fact to be a man, the Archduke Harry. Orlando evades his marriage proposals, instead living a life switching between gender roles, dressing as both man and woman. Orlando soon becomes caught up in the life of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, holding court with the great poets (notably Alexander Pope), including Nick Greene who appears to be as timeless as she, now promoting her writing and promising to help her publish The Oak Tree. Orlando wins a lawsuit over her property and marries a sea captain, Marmaduke Bonthrop Shelmerdine. In 1928, she publishes The Oak Tree centuries after starting it, winning a prize. As her husband’s ship returns, in the aftermath of her success, she rushes to greet him.

Links ↓

Woolf’s biography: here.

Official Virginia Woolf’s website: here.

Film adaptation: Yes ✓  Watch the trailer here. 

I also have a virtual bookshelf on aNobii. If you have one, come and follow me here! :D


tagged as:  Virginia Woolf    books 2012    i read    personal    
Books Read in 2012 | oh-alien’s version. Title: Il Canto della Rivolta  Real title: Mockingjay Author: Suzanne Collins Rating: 10 / 10 Short Summary: After her rescue by the rebels of District 13, Katniss is convinced to become “the Mockingjay”: a symbol of the rebellion against the ruling Capitol. As part of a deal, she demands that the leader of District 13, President Coin, grant immunity to all of the victors of the Hunger Games including Peeta. She also demands the right to kill President Snow, the leader of the Capitol, herself. Finally, the leaders of Thirteen decide to go rescue Peeta, after realizing the guilt Katniss feels is impeding her role in becoming “the Mockingjay.” After the rescue it is discovered that Peeta has been brainwashed into believing Katniss is the enemy and tries to strangle her upon their reunion in District 13. The rebels, including Katniss, take control of the districts and finally begin an assault on the Capitol itself. However, an assault on a “safe” Capitol neighborhood goes wrong, and Katniss and her team flee further into the Capitol with the intent of finding and killing President Snow. Many members of Katniss’ team are killed through intense urban warfare, including Finnick Odair. Eventually, Katniss finds herself pressing on alone towards Snow’s mansion, which has supposedly been opened to shelter Capitol children (but is actually intended to provide human shields for Snow). Afterwards, bombs placed in supply packages kill many of these children and a rebel medical team, including Katniss’ sister, Prim. President Snow is tried and found guilty, but he tells Katniss that the final assault that killed Prim was ordered by President Coin. Katniss realizes that if this is true, the bombing may have been the result of a plan originally developed by Gale, however, Gale denied his involvement. Katniss remembers a conversation with Snow, following the 74th Annual Hunger Games, in which they agreed not to lie to each other. When she is supposed to execute Snow, she realizes that he was telling the truth and kills Coin instead. A riot ensues and Snow is found dead, having possibly choked on his own blood (laughing) or been trampled in the crowd. Katniss then tries to commit suicide by swallowing the pill that was sewn onto her suit in case she was captured by the Capitol during one of her missions, but Peeta stops her. Katniss is acquitted due to her apparent insanity and returns to her home in District 12, along with others who are attempting to rebuild it. Peeta returns months after as well, having largely recovered from his brainwashing. Finally, Katniss surmises that falling in love with Peeta was inevitable, as he had always represented to her the promise of a better future, rather than the destruction she now associates with Gale. She says that she did not need Gale’s fire, as she already had it herself; she needed Peeta, who symbolized the hope she needed to survive. Together with Haymitch they create a book filled with the stories of the previous tributes and others who died in the war so that they will not be forgotten. In the epilogue, Katniss speaks as an adult, more than fifteen years later. She and Peeta are married and have two children. The Hunger Games are over, but she dreads the day her children learn the details of their parents’ involvement in both the Games and the war. When she feels distressed, Katniss plays a comforting but repetitive “game,” reminding herself of every good thing that she has ever seen someone do. The series ends with Katniss’ reflection that “there are much worse games to play.” Links ↓ Collins’ biography: here. Official Suzanne Collins’ website: here. Film adaptation:  No  × I also have a virtual bookshelf on aNobii. If you have one, come and follow me here! :D

Books Read in 2012 | oh-alien’s version.

Title: Il Canto della Rivolta 

Real title: Mockingjay

Author: Suzanne Collins

Rating: 10 / 10

Short Summary: After her rescue by the rebels of District 13, Katniss is convinced to become “the Mockingjay”: a symbol of the rebellion against the ruling Capitol. As part of a deal, she demands that the leader of District 13, President Coin, grant immunity to all of the victors of the Hunger Games including Peeta. She also demands the right to kill President Snow, the leader of the Capitol, herself. Finally, the leaders of Thirteen decide to go rescue Peeta, after realizing the guilt Katniss feels is impeding her role in becoming “the Mockingjay.” After the rescue it is discovered that Peeta has been brainwashed into believing Katniss is the enemy and tries to strangle her upon their reunion in District 13.

The rebels, including Katniss, take control of the districts and finally begin an assault on the Capitol itself. However, an assault on a “safe” Capitol neighborhood goes wrong, and Katniss and her team flee further into the Capitol with the intent of finding and killing President Snow. Many members of Katniss’ team are killed through intense urban warfare, including Finnick Odair. Eventually, Katniss finds herself pressing on alone towards Snow’s mansion, which has supposedly been opened to shelter Capitol children (but is actually intended to provide human shields for Snow). Afterwards, bombs placed in supply packages kill many of these children and a rebel medical team, including Katniss’ sister, Prim.

President Snow is tried and found guilty, but he tells Katniss that the final assault that killed Prim was ordered by President Coin. Katniss realizes that if this is true, the bombing may have been the result of a plan originally developed by Gale, however, Gale denied his involvement. Katniss remembers a conversation with Snow, following the 74th Annual Hunger Games, in which they agreed not to lie to each other. When she is supposed to execute Snow, she realizes that he was telling the truth and kills Coin instead. A riot ensues and Snow is found dead, having possibly choked on his own blood (laughing) or been trampled in the crowd. Katniss then tries to commit suicide by swallowing the pill that was sewn onto her suit in case she was captured by the Capitol during one of her missions, but Peeta stops her. Katniss is acquitted due to her apparent insanity and returns to her home in District 12, along with others who are attempting to rebuild it. Peeta returns months after as well, having largely recovered from his brainwashing. Finally, Katniss surmises that falling in love with Peeta was inevitable, as he had always represented to her the promise of a better future, rather than the destruction she now associates with Gale. She says that she did not need Gale’s fire, as she already had it herself; she needed Peeta, who symbolized the hope she needed to survive. Together with Haymitch they create a book filled with the stories of the previous tributes and others who died in the war so that they will not be forgotten.

In the epilogue, Katniss speaks as an adult, more than fifteen years later. She and Peeta are married and have two children. The Hunger Games are over, but she dreads the day her children learn the details of their parents’ involvement in both the Games and the war. When she feels distressed, Katniss plays a comforting but repetitive “game,” reminding herself of every good thing that she has ever seen someone do. The series ends with Katniss’ reflection that “there are much worse games to play.”

Links ↓

Collins’ biography: here.

Official Suzanne Collins’ website: here.

Film adaptation:  No  ×

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tagged as:  Suzanne Collins    books 2012    i read    personal