Of magic, dreams and love. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.

“The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. The black sign, painted in white letters that hangs upon the gates, reads:
Opens at Nightfall
Closes at Dawn

As the sun disappears beyond the horizon, all over the tents small lights begin to flicker, as though the entirety of the circus is covered in particularly bright fireflies. When the tents are all aglow, sparkling against the night sky, the sign appears.
Le Cirque des Rêves
The Circus of Dreams.

Now the circus is open.
Now you may enter.”

Sometimes, you stumble upon a book that is truly magical. It draws you in from the very first page and you find it nigh on impossible to put it down, as if there was some special power to it. You are torn between devouring the book in one sitting and savouring each and every word. You try to pace yourself, but you’re so immersed in the story that you can barely think of anything else.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern is one of those books.

The circus is a magical place, a place that leaves visitors awestruck and wide-eyed. But the magic goes far beyond the contortionists, the acrobats, the carousels and the candied apples. Because the circus is a venue for a duel between two young, talented magicians, a duel that only one of them will survive.

Long before the circus was born, Celia and Marco were bound to this battle of imagination and will by their mentors. They were meant to be rivals, but, against all odds, they fall in love with each other. Will true love be enough to end the game, or will sacrifices need to be made? The fates of everyone, from the performers to the patrons, hang in balance until the duel plays out.

The Night Circus is like an exquisite meal for the reader’s imagination: beautifully written, inventive, witty and heartbreaking at the same time, its layers reveal themselves as you go deeper and deeper into the story. Pay close attention to the timeline, dear reader, because not everything is as obvious and linear as it may seem. As the story unveils and the characters develop, you will be drawn into a truly marvelous world. And, just like me, you might end up wishing Le Cirque des Rêves was real, and would come to your town, unexpectedly and without warning, at some point in the future.

The Night Circus was published in the UK by Vintage Books. It’s Erin Morgenstern’s debut novel and I really look forward to reading more of her work.

 

What lies beneath. Into the Water by Paula Hawkins.

A woman turns up dead at the bottom of the river running through town. Earlier in the summer, a vulnerable teenage girl met the same fate.

They are not the first women lost to these dark waters, but their deaths disturb the river and its history, dredging up secrets long submerged.

Left behind is a lonely fifteen-year-old girl. Parentless and friendless, she now finds herself in the care of her mother’s sister, a fearful stranger who has been dragged back to the place she deliberately ran from—a place to which she vowed she’d never return.

With her compelling, dark debut The Girl on the Train, Paula Hawkins has become a household name, next to Gillian Flynn and S. J. Watson. Her second book, Into the Water, is a dark, twisted mystery, but this is where comparisons to Hawkins’ debut novel end. It is by no means a carbon copy of the thrilling debut, it’s a story in and of itself.

Hawkins seems to have a talent for character building. Flawed and fragile, yet at the same time resilient and strong, they seem as real as the people around us. They make mistakes, they pay for them, they do terrible things and great things and cowardly things, and all the things in between. Maybe this is what makes them so relatable.

The story winds like the river, the twists and turns make the book hard to put down. Secrets are revealed gradually, and just when you think you’ve figured it all out, something happens that changes everything, leaving you guessing.

It’s not easy to write a second novel if your debut was a massive success. It’s not easy to escape comparisons. I think Paula Hawkins has managed to hold her own. Into the Water is by no means worse than The Girl on the Train; if anything, it’s even better, and I’m really looking forward to more.

Into the Water was published in the UK by Transworld Publishing.

Of sharing, social media and the death of privacy. The Circle by Dave Eggers

When Mae Holland, an average girl from a small town, is offered the chance to work for the Circle, the world’s most influential and powerful internet company, she feels like she’s been given the opportunity of a lifetime. As soon as she arrives at the company’s headquarters, called “the Campus”, and takes in the open spaces, the modern architecture and the ahead-of-time technologies the employees have access to, she knows her life’s about to change.

Soon she finds out that working for the Circle is not like working for any other company. Parties that run through the night, performances by famous musicians, all sorts of sports activities, clubs and brunches are, in theory, not obligatory. But participation and building a strong online presence is essential to a Circler’s life, so Mae soon finds herself drawn into a vibrant, vast social network that demands constant attention…

Bit by bit, Mae’s life becomes increasingly public. Will she get sucked in, or will she finally see that nor everything is meant to be shared?

Somehow, I missed the hype around The Circle by Dave Eggers when the book came out, and I’ve only discovered it thanks to this year’s Popsugar Reading Challenge. There’s a film coming out in April, starring Tom Hanks and Emma Watson, and I’m really looking forward to seeing how it turns out. The Circle is great film material, but with so many books butchered by their screen adaptations, despite big names being involved, you never know. Guess we’ll just wait and see.

The book gripped me from the very beginning. Fast-paced, well written, with interesting (albeit not always likeable) characters, it is very hard to put down. It makes you wonder how close we are to the dystopian world pictured in The Circle. Our obsession with social networking, our tendency to share everything, including the most personal facts, with everyone online, and the fact that we have more and more online “friends” yet fewer real and meaningful relationships, is more than a little bit disconcerting. And although the concept of the book is by no means completely new, the timing couldn’t be better – or worse. With all the subtle (and not so subtle) hints towards the various social networks we use today, the multinational tech giants gathering information about us, and the fact that many of us live most of their lives online, it makes you take a step back and rethink your activity on the web.

(Ironically, I’m posting this on my online blog, which is nothing but a diary shared online, and it will appear in my social network feed as soon as it is published. I don’t think sharing things or expressing opinions online is the road to destruction. But I do believe there’s more to life than the light of the computer screen.)

The Circle was published by Penguin Books in 2014.

Of murder, lust and dangerous liaisons. Second Life by S. J. Watson

Psychological thrillers have become quite a thing recently, thanks to Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl and Paula Hawkins’ Girl On the Train. Most of them are mediocre and easy to forget; some are gripping and good, and then there are some that are really, really great and simply unputdownable.

S. J. Watson’s Second Life is definitely one of those.

Julia lives a comfortable, if unremarkable, life: a loving husband, a teenage son, a nice house. But her world is smashed into pieces when her beloved younger sister is murdered. When the investigation into Kate’s death fails to bring any results, Julia decides to take matters into her own hands. When she finds out her sister had been using internet sites to indulge in sex with strangers, she decides to follow that lead and delves deeper and deeper into a dark and dangerous world…

Soon enough, Julia is living two lives. And she could lose both.

S. J. Watson’s second novel is every bit as good as his debut, Before I Go To Sleep, which was made into a (somewhat less interesting) film in 2014. With its gripping story, a great, if not entirely unpredictable, plot twist, and well developed characters (so much so that you occasionally feel like shaking them to make them see the truth), this is a must-read for fans of the genre. Sure, some may find it a bit too like other books, but, to be fair, it’s not easy to come up with a completely innovative idea, especially in a genre that is often one-upped by life when it comes to the dark and the gritty.

I found Second Life a captivating read.  if you’re a fan of psychological thrillers, there’s a chance that you will, too.

The book was published in the UK in July 2016 by Black Swan.

Choices, multiverses and possibilities.

“Are you happy with your life?”

Those are the last words Jason Dessen hears before he is knocked unconscious by a masked abductor. When he wakes up, he’s surrounded by people in hazmat suits, and a man he’s never seen before smiles down at him and says: “Welcome back, my friend.”

Soon, Jason finds this world he’s woken up to is not his world. His wife is not his wife, his son was never born, and Jason is not an ordinary college professor, but a celebrated genius who has achieved something humanity thought was impossible.

Which world is real? Are there more than just the two? What if every choice we make creates another one, where things have taken a different turn?

And if you’re lost among an infinite number of worlds out there, how to find the one that is yours?

I picked up “Dark Matter” by Blake Crouch accidentally, but I’m really glad I did. Fast-paced, gripping and thought-provoking, this book makes you wonder about the decisions you make and how they shape reality. It makes you think about all the possibilities still ahead of you, and the way your life might have gone if you’d made different decisions in the past. But, most of all, it makes you appreciate what you have. Because who knows, your world could have been different, more glossy, more perfect – but would it still be yours, then?

Sometimes, it’s not perfection we want, it’s the familiar feeling of being home.

The concept of multiverses is as old as science fiction, but Crouch has found an interesting and comprehensible way to describe it. Part sci-fi, part thriller, part love story, “Dark Matter” is a gripping read, intense and hard to put down. And although people have complained about it, I think the author’s tendency to use short sentences suits the story very well.

“Dark Matter” was published in the UK by PanMacMillan in August 2016 and is available in paperback, hardback, e-book and audiobook format. If you’re looking for a suspenseful, thrilling and sometimes poignant read, put this one on your to-read list.

A new shade of magic

I’ve read tons of fantasy books in my life, so I’m not easily impressed by them anymore. Truth is, it’s hard to create something fresh and new and interesting in this genre, and some authors’ style leaves a lot to be desired (I’m looking at you, Mr. Goodkind). Add to that the fact that many fantasy books are also YA, so they’re bound to be a bit naive, and that there’s a worrying tendency to write long series of books, and the further you go, the worse they become.

So I was not expecting much from “A Darker Shade of Magic” by V. E. Schwab.

I was pleasantly surprised. I haven’t read a fantasy novel this good since “The Gentleman Bastards” books by Scott Lynch. And if you know me, you also know how much I love those, so that means something.

The story is based in London, or rather, Londons. There are four: magic-less Grey; lively and flourishing Red; White, cold and exhausted by war. And Black London, lost forever and no longer mentioned by anyone.

Kell is one of the last living mages called antari, with a gift of travelling between worlds. Officially, he’s a messenger from Red London’s royal court to other places, carrying letters from one noble house to the other. Unofficially, he occasionally smuggles something between the Londons for his clients. One day, unexpectedly, he happens upon an item that will become a seed of something sinister…

Chance has it that Kell’s paths cross with Lila Bard’s. The talented thief dreaming of owning a ship and seeing the world beyond Grey London will aid him in his fight agains something neither of them ever thought possible.

This is just the beginning of a series of books, published by Titan Books.The second installment, “A Gathering of Shadows”, is out now and the third one, “A Conjuring of Light”, will be out in February.

So if you’re after a fresh, gripping series of fantasy books, look no further and give “Shades of Magic” a try!

 

On books and the pleasures of reading.

Ever since I remember, I hunger for words. My family claim that I was four when I learned how to read fluently, and I have no reasons to doubt it. Apparently, I practiced using children’s books and… German fashion  catalogues that my Nan used to collect. Whenever I was going somewhere with my Mum, I would read every shop front sign and every graffiti, including the obscene ones. I guess it must have been funny for the passers-by and embarrasing for my Mum, who must have wanted the earth to swallow her more than once.

I would frequently visit the school library, but soon, it stopped being enough, so I signed up for two local ones. I could easily read 3-4 books a week. Come to think of it, I still can.

I read almost all kinds of books, from science fiction to biographies, from mystery to contemporary fiction, from horror to historical romance. To me, words and the way they are entwined and tangled together are nearly as important as the plot. There are great books out there written with such skill that they’re twice as good because of it. And  there are ones that are based on a good idea, but lose a lot because of the author’s poor penmanship. I still manage to finish those. There was just one exception so far: “Twilight”, recommended by a friend. I only managed about 60 pages and gave up, and I still can’t see where the phenomenon is coming from and how it became so popular.

I know reading is a choice, so I shouldn’t really be sorry for people who don’t, but I just can’t help it. They will never get to visit all those fantastical worlds, get to know the amazing characters, get carried away by the stories. I wonder if they even know how much they’re missing out on.

I feed on words and need them to live like I need air. And it wouldn’t surprise me if I died, holding a book.

That wouldn’t be such a bad way to go, right?

Of Larsson, money and the ugly “F” word

I don’t normally read books deemed a must-read or book of the moment. When I see everyone and their dog reading something, I get all contrary and avoid it. I made the mistake of trying to get into Coelho at some point when he was at the peak of his popularity. Needless to say I still can’t understand how exactly he got there.

I first reached for Stieg Larsson’s books thanks to my Dad. We were talking on the phone once and he got all excited and gushing about some book that I really must read, because it’s so awesome, and there’s this girl there who reminds him of me. (Thanks, Dad! I wish I was as badass as the girl in question.) Not surprisingly, I was intrigued. Let it be known that my Dad is not even remotely excitable, and he normally falls asleep while reading, so I figured it had to be something extra special.

It was. I literally inhaled all three books in a week. I’ve never been one to enjoy crime and mystery novels, always veering more towards contemporary fiction, but I thoroughly enjoyed Stieg Larsson’s trilogy. I didn’t know back then that it’s the beginning of my adventure with Scandi crime (and that Larsson is just the tip of the iceberg). But I digress.

Objecitvely speaking, the Millennium trilogy, when compared to other novels of the same genre, is nothing special. Larsson is a good and consistent writer, although it’s easy to tell (mainly by his attention to detail, from sociopolitical situation in Sweden to Ikea shopping lists) he’s a journalist by trade. The story itself is interesting, gripping and engaging,  but that’s not really enough for a book to become an international bestseller, is it?

And that’s when Lisbeth Salander comes in, a chatacter like no other. The antisocial, black-clad waif of a girl with metal-spiked face, a photographic memory and extraordinary hacking skills has her own moral code and deals out justice to sadistic pigs. She trusts no one. And I think she’s the key to the popularity of the books.

I saw the Swedish film not long after having read the books. Sure, there were gaping holes in the plot, but overall, I did enjoy it. When I found out that Hollywood is making their own version, I was far from delighted. I was actually planning to boycott the film, but then I found out David Fincher was directing (and I do have a soft spot for David Fincher) and my favourite duo Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross were making the music, convinced me to go and see it.

I got 2 hours and 38 minutes of good, honest cinema. The film is a pleasure to watch, yet it seems like something’s amiss. The question is: why has it even been made? Was it all about the money?

Stieg Larsson wanted Hollywood to turn his books into movies. He thought this will put violence against women in the spotlight, start a wave of discussions and debates. Instead, the result is a heightened demand for leather jackets. One Swedish clothing retailer even released a limited edition collection inspired by “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo”. It seems that being like Salander is now trendy.

Such a shame.

Is Hollywood so afraid of the ugly “F” word? Is it trying to avoid showing a bit of feminism? Perhaps. After all, feminism doesn’t sell. What sells is sex and violence. The more, the better, because the average cinema goer has seen it all already, so you really need some heavy guns to shake him. And no matter how heavy they are, they don’t always work.

It’s a sad world where there’s more talk about the fact that the leading actress had her nipple pierced for the role than about the message the character delivers.