Books Archives - Opine Away

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind– Book Review

OpineAway — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 04:09:44 +0000

The form of art in this book is not just writing a great story that keeps you on your toes and sucks you into it – it’s the description of the smells that makes you actually smell the scenes while reading, and writing in a way that instead of making you throw away the book before finishing it because of the disturbing characteristics of the main character, makes you want to keep reading it with no interruption all the way through the end….

The book is mesmerizing in that way, and when the author describes a scene like the fish market, you can smell the disgusting fish stand and feel the slime, fish scales, blood and dirt, and when it is a scene with a beautiful girl, your whole senses are working with the description…

A great book that will keep you reading through it, not light reading by any way as the twisted mind of the main character will twist your mind, but easy to read as it needs no effort to stay with the story.

Definitely a great read….

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The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (5 books series) by Douglas Adams – Book Review

OpineAway — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 12:22:09 +0000

For a long time I was pretty sure that everyone read these books. Didn’t you?

Don’t Panic!

This is what’s written on the cover of the “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”. Not the book you’ll read, but the “real guide”.

HHGTTG (As the geeky fans call it…) is first of a five books series by the same name that consists of:

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

Life, the Universe and Everything

So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish

Mostly Harmless

Originally a radio cast, the five books were called the five books trilogy and that reflects on the books’ mindset. Funny and smart, the books are a hilarious look at how we live, taking ridicules situation into grand levels at times, and to very personal level at others, in what I could only describe as British humor.

The movie in my opinion, although having some excellent scenes, was not that great and was not to the books’ level at all. If you saw the movie, don’t let it keep you from reading the books…

If your sense of humor is a little flexible, and smart-silly writing (told you, British Humor is the only good way to describe it) make you think and laugh, check these out. You’ll have quoting material that fits many situations for the rest of your life. And when someone tells you that the answer is 42, you’ll understand what they mean.

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Footfall by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle – Book Review

OpineAway — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 17:04:49 +0000

There are a zillion alien invasion stories, so making one that is good became a challenge. It seems that Niven and Pournelle took that challenge seriously with this book, and came out with a refreshing novel that packs many in-depth look at how an alien race will think and act, and at the same time how humans will react and think.

For most of it, the plot holds real good, and the characters are built nice, you get to know them and their behavior and quirks.

There’s a bit of an old Russia element in the story, which didn’t bother me, and at first the book is a little slow, but it’s worth reading past it to get to the invasion and on.

Personally, I would prefer some more descriptions of technology, and would prefer the book to be a little shorter, but this was a great read and kept me taking it with me everywhere I went…

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The first Immortal by James L. Halperin – Book Review

OpineAway — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 20:10:03 +0000

This book makes you think. The way it is written is interesting by itself, with news clips that sets you in the current time the chapter is written at. The book spans a long time period, and have many intriguing technology ideas, many based on existing technologies.

Te books starts at 1925, and goes a couple of hundred years into the future. Though the thread that holds the book together is longevity, the human factor, family and love relationships and their connection to new situations that arise from the longevity quest, even financial issue relating to the situation, all play a role in an ever developing story line.

The book is good reading, but more than anything else I find it fascinating in the ideas about technology as related to longevity and immortality the real bonus.

Highly recommended.

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Ringworld by Larry Niven – Book Review

OpineAway — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 06:00:54 +0000

A lot has been written about Ringworld – it is like a cult book, with people analyzing it from all aspects, looking for scientific contradictions, plot inconsistencies….
I just like the book very much. It’s an adventure, with twists and turns, cool character and amazing ideas of technology, devices, tools, Aliens and their behavior and psychology…. Animals and plants, grand planning of stars and constellations – tons of stuff that will keep your brain working, imagining even further into Niven’s wonderful ideas.
I’m avoiding from giving away anything about the plot, to not spoil any of it if you didn’t read it yet. I highly recommend it, and it is an intriguing piece of work.

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