It took me a long while to find this book second hand, because I found it new to be a bit too dear for me. But it was worth the wait, I loved it, like I have loved all Le Guin books I have read so far.
This is the story of Genly Ai, a convoi from the Ekumen, a eighty-plus collective of worlds of mankind, all descendants from the Hain. He is on the planet Winter, where it is indeed very cold. He is by himself, and is trying to convince the people of Gethen (as they call their own planet) to join the Ekumen to facilitate cultural and scientific exchange. The book covers a lot about Gethen, about the two main countries (Karhide and Orgoreyn), the attitude towards politics, patriotism, sexuality, communication, love and friendship. The Gethen-people have no set gender. They enter their fertile period every 26 days, and depending on the proximity of those set in the opposite gender in their own fertile period they are either male of female. Everyone can become both father and mother in their life times. Another strange thing is that the world doesn’t know the concept of war. Genly Ai wonders if this is because of the gender-neutrality on Gethen. Genly has a tough time on Gethen, in Karhide a paranoid king rules a very traditional society, and in Orgoreyn it is a very totalitarian regime. Slowly, because of all that happens to him and around him he starts to understand the world and advances his cause, but by then he is changed himself.
This is one of those books that stays with you. Even while reading it I knew that there is a lot behind the main story. The way Gethen world works with regards to national feelings, politics, communication, sexuality, war, advancements… There is a lot to learn here, and I find myself still thinking about it. Four out five stars.

After reading the first Adrian Mole book a while ago, I couldn’t resist when I saw this one, the second one, for a few cents in a second hand shop. In the case of this series, I think if you like the first, you’ll like the rest, and if you don’t you won’t.
This book comes right after the first one ended. His parents are trying it together again, he is with his girlfriend Pandora, he is hitting puberty. For a seemingly smart boy he can be pretty far from the real world sometimes. He always tries his best, but the assumptions he makes are not quite real. This leads to some humorous and cringe-worthy situations. I really likes the first book, and liked this one too. Four out of five stars.

After a long wait (a couple years for most, only 6 months for me) this is the fifth part in the fantastic A Song of Ice and Fire series. There is not much new to say about this book, if you have read the other four parts, you know how this one is. These are the characters you know and loathe.
This part takes place at pretty much the same time as part four, A Feast for Crows, but contains the characters that were missed there. As always with George R. R. Martin, you can’t be sure that the dead people are dead, and the living people are actually alive. It took me a bit to get into this book, both due to the size and the depressing story (a lot of bad stuff happens, and not a whole lot of good). Another reason I couldn’t get started was because I knew that after nearly a 1000 pages, there still wouldn’t be a conclusion to any of the story lines, and there would be a long wait ahead for new material
But then the story and the characters gripped me again. I think the brilliant TV show helped me, those characters were cast so well, especially Tyrion. In this book I would say that Tyrion, Daenarys and Jon are the main characters, but we also hear about Arya, Cersei, Jayme, the Freys, Dorne and almost all of the Seven Kingdoms and the Free Cities. It was so great to ‘see’ them all again. There are some big twists and turns, nothing is certain, and I can’t wait for part six. Four out five stars.

Out of all the short-listed novels nominated for the Booker Prize this year, I think that The Sisters Brothers has the most beautiful cover. Very simple, and yet so much more when you keep looking at it.
This is the story of Eli and Charlie Sisters, brothers living in the 1850s in the United States. They work for the Commodore as assassins, killing those who supposedly wronged him. The story, told by Eli, is the story of their latest job, to kill Hermann Kermit Warm. To do this, they travel from Oregon to California, getting into trouble along the way, and experiencing a bit of the gold rush.
The story is many things at once. It is mainly the story of how Eli experiences his life as a killer. He doesn’t want to be one, but he looks up to his brother Charlie, and he does have a temper-problem. The experiences themselves are pretty funny and also very touching most of the time, I could see how they would work in a movie. The transition from drunk Charlie stumbling to ruthless killers without regard for human life was pretty sudden (and graphic), but it worked for me. And most of all, I loved Eli, his voice seemed very real, the way he describes his internal struggles and his outlook on life. I am not a reader of western novels (nor do I watch westerns) so I had no preconceived notions of what this book should have been to fit into the genre, for me this was just a nice story that happened to take place in the US in the 1850s. Four out of five stars.