The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Synopsis :

The unforgettable, heartbreaking story of the unlikely friendship between a wealthy boy and the son of his father’s servant, The Kite Runner is a beautifully crafted novel set in a country that is in the process of being destroyed. It is about the power of reading, the price of betrayal, and the possibility of redemption; and an exploration of the power of fathers over sons—their love, their sacrifices, their lies.

A sweeping story of family, love, and friendship told against the devastating backdrop of the history of Afghanistan over the last thirty years, The Kite Runner is an unusual and powerful novel that has become a beloved, one-of-a-kind classic.


This is what I say :

I read The Kite Runner in two days.  Initially, I planned to read it within a week but it's the is a 'thief'. Why do I say that? Because this book steals my sleep and my time!

It's been a while since I come across a book that made me read late into the night bearing in mind that I normally have be be up around 5.30 am the next day.  Well, this book did just that.  We share the joy and innocence friendship of the two young boys until the day their innocence was robbed from them.  We share the love and care between father and son even though each have their secrets and guilt.  We share the pride and sorrow of a culture and tradition perhaps unlike our own.

The writing is smooth and beautiful and the story was captivating, compelling and sad at times and joyful at time too.  To think that this title has been on my bookshelf for about six years.  What other treasures do I have on my shelf?  I must go and excavate them out.

I seems to remember having A Thousand Splendid Sun on my shelf too. Let me go and do some treasure hunting.

The Last Good Man by A.J. Kazinski

Synopsis :

In Jewish scripture, there is a legend: There are thirty-six righteous people on earth. The thirty-six protect us. Without them, humanity would perish. But the thirty-six do not know they are the chosen ones.

In Beijing, a monk collapses in his chamber, dead. A fiery mark—a tattoo? a burn?—spreads across his back and down his spine. In Mumbai, a beloved economist, a man who served the poor, dies suddenly. His corpse reveals the same symbol. Similar deaths are reported around the world—the victims all humanitarians, all with the same death mark. In Venice, an enterprising Italian policeman links the deaths, tracing the evidence. Who is killing good people around the world?

In Copenhagen, police are preparing for a world climate summit when they receive the Interpol alert. The task falls to veteran detective Niels Bentzon: Find the “good people” of Denmark and warn them. But Bentzon is a man who is trained to see the worst in humanity, not the good. One by one, people are crossed off his list. He senses their secrets and wrongdoings.

Just as Bentzon is ready to give up, he meets Hannah Lund, a brilliant astrophysicist mourning the death of her son and the implosion of her marriage. With Hannah’s help, Bentzon begins to piece together the puzzle of these far-flung deaths. A pattern emerges. It is, they realize, a perfectly executed plan of murder. There have been thirty-four deaths—two more to come if the legend is true. According to the pattern, Bentzon and Hannah can predict the time and place of the final two murders. The deaths will occur in Venice and Copenhagen. And the time is now.


This is what I say :

This is not the first time I read a book with such storyline.  Sam Bourne wrote about it in The Righteous Men.  There's another title with the same storyline that I read before but I can't remember the title.  If I remember it, I shall update the title here.

The Last Good Man was pretty thrilling.  How the investigation came about was not that original but nontheless, it sets the tone and pace for the book which was written by two different authors under the name A.J. Kazinski.  The ending was unexpected and a bit confusing for me but I think get it...

I read this over the recent festive holidays utilising my '50 pages a day system of reading'.  The system works quite well.  Do you want to know more about my system? hehe..

Disgrace by Jussi Adler-Olsen

Synopsis :

Detective Carl Mørck is a deeply flawed, brilliant detective newly assigned to run Department Q, the home of Copenhagen’s coldest cases. The result wasn’t what Mørck—or readers—expected, but by the opening of Adler-Olsen’s shocking, fast-paced follow-up, Mørck is satisfied with the notion of picking up long-cold leads. 

So he’s naturally intrigued when a closed case lands on his desk: A brother and sister were brutally murdered two decades earlier, and one of the suspects—part of a group of privileged boarding-school students—confessed and was convicted. But once Mørck reopens the files, it becomes clear that all is not what it seems. 

Looking into the supposedly solved case leads him to Kimmie, a woman living on the streets, stealing to survive. Kimmie has mastered evading the police, but now they aren’t the only ones looking for her. Because Kimmie has secrets that certain influential individuals would kill to keep buried . . . as well as one of her own that could turn everything on its head. 


This is what I say :

It seems that there is another title for this book - The Absent One but the one I have is entitled disgrace.  Again, these are among the European crime authors that I have with me and I and selectively going through them one by one.  While my favourite was Camillia Lackberg that I read a lot of last year, this author, Jussi Adler-Olsen is not too bad.

I didn't quite like Detective Carl Morck but as it was stated that that he's 'deeply flawed' so I guess i wasn't expected to like him much anyway.  It took me quite a while to understand where the story is going but the difference that I noticed about this author is that the readers were told right from the start who the perpetrator is or are so there's noting much of a surprise there.  I also notice this from the second book by this author that I reading right now so I have a feeling that this is his writing method and the attraction to readers would be how he brings everything together.  Let's see if it's the same for book two of such is still a 'read-in-progress'.

Empire of Storms (Throne of Glass #5) by Sarah J Maas

Synopsis :

The long path to the throne has only just begun for Aelin Galathynius as war looms on the horizon. Loyalties have been broken and bought, friends have been lost and gained, and those who possess magic find themselves at odds with those who don't.

With her heart sworn to the warrior-prince by her side, and her fealty pledged to the people she is determined to save, Aelin will delve into the depths of her power to protect those she loves. But as monsters emerge from the horrors of the past, and dark forces become poised to claim her world, the only chance for salvation will lie in a desperate quest that may mark the end of everything Aelin holds dear.

In this breathtaking fifth installment of the New York Times' bestselling Throne of Glass series, Aelin will have to choose what—and who—to sacrifice if she's to keep the world of Erilea from breaking apart. 


This is what I say :

Book five of the Throne of Glass series can be considered the serious start for Aelin Galathynius in gathering up her army for the battle again the dark king.  It's nice to see the various characters coming together.  It's even more interesting to see unexpected characters pairing off with each other and changing the dynamics of all those in the book.

It's nice that the focus this time round is not just on Aelin but on the others as well especially on Lady Elide, the character that I am quite fond of.

The book ended with something unexpected and I am looking forward to seeing how it all play out.  Two more books to go.

Looking forward to book six, Tower of Dawn.

The Glass Lake by Maeve Binchy

Synopsis :

Kit McMahon lives in the small Irish town of Lough Glass, where everyone knows everyone; children who walk to school together grow up and become sweethearts and marry, people gossip and grumble and dream their lives away. For it is a place where change comes slowly. 

One day, Kit's mother disappears and the town gossips run wild with stories. The consequences for Helen's husband, her son, but above all for her daughter, Kit, are unimaginable and will leave not one of their lives unchanged. 


This is what I say :

I started this in mid 2019 and I only finish this towards the last day of 2019.  It certainly took me a while.

However, as any books by Maeve Binchy, reading The Glass Lake is rather relaxing and it's quite all right if you didn't read it at one go as reading it is like reading a letter from an aunt about her life and perhaps the lives of her friends.  Why the characters are generally normal people with normal lives and doing normal stuff like studying for exam and going to college, the author can draw readers into this normality and made it very cosy and you just want to know more about them!

However, I didn't like Kit, one of  the main character.  Why did she do what she did?  It's actually very 'kaypoh' of her as in busy-body as we say it as the letter was none of her business.  If  she didn't do what she did, the story line might go a different direction turn out to be different than what took place due to her 'kaypoh-ness'.  In that sense, she robbed her mother of her son and her brother of knowing his mother.  Is it for the better?  We won't know would we? due to what Kid did.

I think this is the last of my copy of titles by Maeve Binchy.  I seems to always say that but then a copy would then turn up somewhere in my shelf.  But seriously, I don't think I will be buying any of her titles as I am on a 'book-buying fast' this year.  hahah...