I picked up this book mainly because my copy was published in the SF Masterworks series, and I am trying to read more classic SF. I had also heard about this book here on LT, or at least I seem to remember hearing about it. The story itself isn’t hard SF, but more about medical advances that could be made in the not so distant future, or maybe even today. The main character is Charlie Gordon, a mentally challenged man who is selected for a medical experiment to make him smarter. Algernon is the mouse who they have experimented on before, and who became very smart (for a mouse). The book is a collection of the progress reports written by Charlie, and in his writing we can see the effects of the experiment on him, both with regards to his ‘smartness’ and his emotional development.
Especially when Charlie realizes how people have been treating him, thinking people were his friends that were actually making fun of him, made me so sad. He seemed like such a nice guy and nobody understood him. The book was a great read, and I couldn’t put it down. Highly recommended, also for people who don’t like science fiction. Five out of five stars.

This is the first book by Ishiguro, and because I read and loved some of his other works, I picked up this one. Reading it, it seems pretty straight forward, the story of a Japanese woman living in the UK, remembering a summer just after the war in Nagasaki. But the friend she describes is very strange, antisocial almost, and the child too. And in the end, just a few lines, a few words make you doubt all you read and see the story in a whole new light. Wow. Another one I loved very much. Four out of five stars.

Part four in the Song of Ice and Fire series. It all goes on in the same manner, only this book focuses on just half the characters/locations. I did miss some of my favorites (Jon Snow, Daenerys), but really liked (as much as you can like) the parts about Cersei and those about Dorne. The book has many surprising twists and turns, those on top are not secure, and those at the bottom needn’t stay there. I liked this book as much as the others, and continue to look forward to part 5. I guess I am lucky I just discovered the series and didn’t have to wait as long as most fans. Four out of four stars.

This years ‘week of the book’ is about writer (auto-)biographies, and the gift is written by Dutch-Iranian writer Kader Abdolah. The story of De kraai (The Crow) is about a refugee from Iran who lives in Amsterdam and tells about his life and how he became a writer, first in Persian, later in Dutch.
The book is short, only 91 pages (all bookweek gifts are) but the story doesn’t feel rushed. It is a very nicely written story, describing the beauty of Iran, the hardships of the flight and the life in The Netherlands well without being able to go into detail. Four out of four stars.

The third part of the “Het Bureau” series about the working life of the writer. He hates his work more and more, and he hates himself and how he is at work and in work-social situations. I loved this book even more than the first two, because of the humor in the book. At several points the main character (Voskuil himself) refers to writing a book about his work-life and colleagues, and reassures them that he never would, because they are too boring. I do feel sorry for him sometimes, because no matter what he does, he doesn’t seem to do it right (he feels, or if he thinks he is right, others disagree). The ending is a sad transition to the next part. Four out of four stars.

One of the more weird Murakami’s I have read, this book is more science fiction than surrealism/magic realism. The concept is very theoretical, very fantastical, but the story was very enjoyable. The book contains two stories, told in alternating chapters. In one story the main character is working with data, encrypting it with his mind. He meets a professor and the assignment he is one turns out to be the strangest and most life changing yet. In the other, the main character is trapped in a town, and he doesn’t really know what happened and how he got there. In the end, the two stories meet.
A very cool and unique story, I really liked it all, the writing, the premise, the characters. Another great book by Murakami. Four out of five stars.

This book is very popular at the moment here in the Netherlands. It tells the dual story of a girl who gets deported from Paris in 1942, and the American woman in 2002 who is moving into the apartment where the girl lived and is researching what happened during that razzia (of Vel’ d’Hiv’) and afterwards, while her marriage is on the rocks.
I thought the two stories were interwoven very well, and even though it isn’t logical I can see why Sarah’s story gripped Julia so much. Despite the tragedy a wonderful book. Four out of five stars.

I read this book purely because it is so popular and I see it for sale everywhere. I have had success reading popular and hyped books in the past, so I tried this one. I enjoyed it, but the subject matter isn’t quite my cup of tea. I expected it to be more a description of her life and experiences in Italy, India and Indonesia, than a description of her own spiritual journey of healing. It didn’t speak to me as it did to most, I suspect, but all in all it was a nice book. It also reminded me of Julie and Julia by Julie Powell, it had the same tone and way of speaking to the reader. Three out of five stars.