As 2018 slowly comes to an end, it’s time to sum up our reading year. There had been numerous books I read and carefully perused. Some of them excited me, some made me shiver and scare, some left me baffled and stunned, some totally captured me, and I still seriously struggle to let them go. Below you can find my Top Ten of books I’ve read during 2018. I based my list on a simple judgment: what I have felt while I was reading them and which emotions they triggered in me. I also preferred to include only works of fiction – although I read a few amazing books about politics and history. I didn’t divide them by genre – I have come to the conclusion that dividing them would have complicated my listing a little bit. The following Top Ten, therefore, represents the best fiction readings I’ve had. Now, it’s time to make yourselves comfortable and scroll down the list of amazing novels I came across. 10 – “Covenant” by Dean Crawford Conspiring plans, secret organisations, governmental agencies, a mysterious finding in Israel’s desert, and a kidnapping. I forgot: a very troubled main character, Ethan Warner. The novel has the whole set of characteristics which make a mystery-action book good. Crawford perfectly combines these ingredients to serve a pleasant and enjoyable story, suitable for a good deal of readers. 9 – “The perfect murder” by Peter James How can a marriage go wrong? What can happen if husband and wife both plan to kill each other at the same time? Peter James provides us with all the answers to these questions in this lovely – and unfortunately too short – novella. Mind-blowing and with a totally unexpected end. 8 – “Leviathan” by Scott Westerfeld My first experience with the steampunk is an incredible success. Since the first page, “Leviathan” grabs your hand and accompanies you into an astounding world in which huge genetical modified steam-powered creatures can fly and carry people, and the steam energy supplies power to metallic giant walking machines. A very good and pleasant story which has to be read if you’ve never come across this sci-fi subgenre. 7 – “The Irregulars – a different class of spy” by H.B. Lyle I’m a traditionalist. I love Sherlock Holmes and I’ve always been loath to read something invoking his world but written by someone else. I decided to give Lyle’s work a go, and, honestly, it was not a waste of time. The story is compelling, and the original narrative point of view undoubtedly satisfy the readers. 6 – “If I die before I wake” by Emily Koch Another great thriller. Emily Koch’s debut novel especially strikes for the unusual point of view the writer chose; the main character is in a vegetative state coma. But he has to discover who tried to kill him. It seems impossible he could do that, but his conscious/unconscious condition and a backward analysis of his professional life as a journalist reveal the necessary answers to this intricate puzzle. 5 – “The Court of Broken Knives” by Anna Smith Spark Anna Smith Spark brought me back to read fantasy; a genre that I’ve always been into, but I had momentarily put on the side. Merith, the main character, has a twisted morality which completely overturns the usual idea of the brave and predestined hero. He is a dark anti-hero with a terrible past to forget, but the same past came back to him and it wants to be sorted. Beautiful and engaging novel. 4 – “Guess who” by Chris McGeorge This book was a surprised. I’m always careful when I read intriguing blurbs because they sometimes don’t meet the expectations. This didn’t happen to McGeorge’s novel. The story is beautifully written and contains the right, breath-taking amount of unexpected twists. We are slowly reaching the hot zone, the top three positions; these amazing authors delightedly stunned, surprised, and entertained me. 3 – “Rosewater” by Tade Thompson “Rosewater” by Tade Thompson definitely deserves the position number three. The novel is an entertaining example of how sci-fi can be innovative. The story is an intriguing mixture of mystery, paranormal events, and psychological connection between humans and a strange invading alien. Very well done, Tade! 2 – “Ready Player One” by Ernest Cline Ka-boom! The Eighties and Nighties fiercely come back in this astonishing novel. Cline’s story is a huge step back to an age in which gaming, computers, and, partially, role-playing games were triumphally appearing on the scene. If you grew up in this age, turning the last page of this book would make a tear slowly roll down your cheek. If you didn’t, well, reading this novel would enlighten you about the sweet birth of the video games and the dawn of pop-culture. Absolutely brilliant, Ernest! 1 – “The Chalk Man” by C.J. Tudor Drum roll, please! Ladies and gentlemen, the number One has finally arrived! “The Chalk Man” by C.J. Tudor is the best book I read in 2018. The novel has everything a thriller-horror story must have. It contains plot-twists, unexpected twists, expected twists, logical twists, and illogical twists. It’s scary, dark, mysterious, tremendously beautiful! Congratulations, C.J. Tudor, the top position is all yours!
0 Comments
Christmas time is getting closer and closer; the shops adorn their windows with brightening lights, colourful and mesmerising decorations enrich the grey and austere streets, multi-sizes Christmas trees pop out in every corner of the city, music and cheering songs continuously resound in the passers-by’ ears.
Among the endless short-stories and novels celebrating this specific moment of the year, ‘A Christmas Carol’ by Charles Dickens is likely the most famous and significative literary work that express the meaning of Christmas. The Carol influenced the popular culture so intensely that a myriad of authors – and scriptwriters – claimed that it had deeply inspired them. Dickens published the novella in 1843, on 19th of December precisely, after six intense weeks working on it. It’s said that the writer composed the biggest part of the story at night, and he used to have long and enlightening walks to clear up his ideas. The novella was an immediate success. The magic of this story lays in the contraposition of its main characters – Ebenezer Scrooge and Tiny Tim – and in the powerful creation of a deep sympathetic feeling towards the poor and encouragement of benevolence. When Dickens wrote the Carol, the British were rediscovering the Christmas’s old traditions; Christmas card, trees, songs, and carols were becoming more and more popular after the harsh decline the Cromwell Puritans’ scrutiny had caused. The following Industrial Revolution had left no time to think about celebrating. This revival, however, was only one of the reasons which motivated Dickens to create a Christmas story. John Dickens, the writer’s father, was arrested and jailed for debt when Charles was only eleven. Although the family belonged to the middle-class, the author had to leave school and go to work in his father’s boot blackening factory to support the family. The experience showed Dickens the worst side of the industrialisation: the extreme and growing poverty of the working class, especially the dramatic situation of the children. Charles was completely shocked. During his entire career, Dickens visited ragged schools, mines, and participated in fundraising and public speech to point out the terrible condition of the working class and promote an educational reform. In 1843, a Parliamentary report exposed the condition of the working class’s children, and Dickens wrote a letter to Southwood Smith, a commissioner of the report, to point out the necessity of dealing with the situation. The author realised that that the most effective way to reach the public opinion out was to compose a deep-felt Christmas story instead of writing political leaflet. Dickens shared the belief that the nostalgic English Christmas would restore the social harmony on the modern world with the author Washington Irving. In ‘A Christmas Carol’ we had strong and meaningful descriptions of the reinvigorate tradition; the opulence of the festivity and the rich and pleasant scents of cinnamon, tea, pastries, candied fruit, and figs were used to point out the working-class condition. The transformation of Ebenezer Scrooge remained magical, but acquired a more political meaning, too. Numerous literary experts pointed out that the path Scrooge went through symbolised the redemption of a sinner. The historian Penne Restad preferred to identify the change happened to Scrooge as the “Carol philosophy”, in which the readers could perceive the victory of altruism and charity over individualism and patriarchy. Dickens criticised the British attitude towards poverty, but he aroused a strong feeling of charity which didn’t turn the attention of the middle-class away. The author wanted to create a charitable consciousness in the citizens who enjoyed a better condition and well-being. He deeply felt sorrow and shocked that the society was overlooking the country fellows who were struggling to survive. The Carol philosophy was exactly this: a deep intense feeling of sympathy for the less-lucky and a strong ‘call to arms’ to change the situation and create a more liveable society for its members. Charles Dickens has always had a lively interest in Christmas – the short-stories “A Christmas dinner” in Sketches by Boz and “The story of the Goblin who stole Sexton” in The Pickwick Papers, for example. “Great Expectations” began with the scene of a Christmas dinner, and, in 1851, the writer published “What Christmas is as we grow older”, a short story about the change of perception of Christmas. |
Archives
November 2020
Follow me on: |