 | Title: Year of wonders
Author: Geraldine Brooks
First publication: 2001
Comments: It is really a good book. The characters are well-rounded, the plot original and intriguing but... the
most striking aspect of the book is how the feelings, emotions, fears of the characters are adroitly
described. I am looking forward the author next book!
Started: December 2002 Finished: February the 6th 2003, Berkeley |  | Title: The Two Towers (The lord of the rings volume II)
Author: J.R.R. Tolkien
First publication: 1954
Comments: Some parts of the first book are slow and boring. This second one is, on the contrary, fast paced and fun. It toke forever to finish it because I was studying and working hard: I've never read so little in my all life as during this semester.
Started: February 2003, Berkeley Finished: May the 15th 2003, Berkeley |  | Title: The pillars of the earth
Author: Ken Follett
First publication: 1989
Comments: In twelfth-century feudal England, a master builder plans to erect a towering cathedral. But, unfortunately, he lives in a world of rigid class structures where corrupt kings and queens rule, and the common man shows eternal promise. Around the construction site swirls a cast of characters in a story of betrayal, revenge, and love. This book was a present of my best friend Cristiano, I really appreciated it. I enjoyed the book a lot, even though I do not consider a masterpiece as Cristiano does.
Started: May 2003, Berkeley Finished: June the 26th 2003, 11:20 PM, during a warm summer night in Berkeley |  | Title: The Eve of the Maelstrom: Dragons of a New Age (Dragons of a New Age)
Author: Jean Rabe
First publication: 1997
Comments: I love fantasy; this is why I like this book. It is not a masterpiece, but it is original and entertaining enough. I enjoyed reading it. I was going through a bad break-up and it helped me to do not think about it.
Started: July 2003, Mestre (VE), Italy Finished: July 2003, Mestre (VE) Italy |  | Title: H/H
Author: Banana Yoshimoto
First publication: 2003
Comments: Due racconti lunghi che trattano della morte mostrando i diversi modi con cui la si puo' affrontare e mettendo a fuoco il contrasto tra la sofferenza della perdita,
la tentazione di sprofondare nel dolore e una inarrestabile voglia di rinascita. Come per il precedente, anche questo libro ha accompagnato un giorno triste, la fine di una relazione.
Started: 10 luglio 2003, Venezia Milano, in treno Finished: 11 luglio 2003, Milano Venezia, in treno, sperando di ricostruire una relazione ormai in frantumi |  | Title: Le rose di Atacama
Author: Luis Sepulveda
First publication: 2000
Comments: Il viaggio, il vagabondaggio per il mondo, e' il filo conduttore delle storie raccolte in questo libro. Lo scrittore narra le vicende di
personaggi anonimi e marginali incontrati per il mondo, uomini e donne che
hanno in comune l'aver fatto della propria vita una forma di resistenza. Un
amico cileno che ha diretto la rivista Analisis, prima barricata della
lotta contro Pinochet. Un cantante che ha partecipato alla Primavera di
Praga. Un cameraman olandese ucciso dall'esercito del Salvador. Uomini che
non hanno mai sperato di uscire dai margini, ma che per una volta sono
affiorati, con le loro storie, dal buio dell'oblio. Come le rose che, in un
solo giorno dell'anno, ricoprono il deserto di Atacama. Certi racconti non sono male, altri scivolano sul pateticamente melo'.
Started: luglio 2003, Venezia Milano, in treno, sperando di ricostruire una relazione ormai in frantumi Finished: 1 Agosto 2003, Berkeley |  | Title: Sense and Sensibility
Author: Jane Austen
First publication: 1811
Comments: I started this book back in June, but when my relationship was falling apart I decided to stop reading it. I wanted only light readings for a while. I could not read of the misfortune of Marianne and being at ease at
the same time since me and her were going through similar misfortunes... I really liked the book, but I am puzzled by the ending. I thought that Jane Austen was a modern woman, but... the
happiness of Elinor and the end of the relation between Marianne and Willoughby... they seems to suggest
to the reader to conform to the
archaic society rules of convenience. I was pretty disappointed.
Started: June, I stopped to read it when I arrived in Italy Finished: First September night, at Berkeley, really sad because what was going on with my ex |  | Title: Girl with a Pearl Earring
Author: Tracy Chevalier
First publication: 2001
Comments: With precisely 35 canvases to his credit, the Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer represents one of the great enigmas of 17th-century art. The meager facts of his biography have been gleaned from a handful of legal documents. Yet Vermeer's
extraordinary paintings of domestic life, with their subtle play of light and texture, have come to define the Dutch
golden age. His portrait of the anonymous Girl with a Pearl Earring has exerted a particular fascination for centuries--and
it is this magnetic painting that lies at the heart of this novel. Girl with a Pearl Earring centers on Vermeer's prosperous Delft household during the 1660s. When Griet, the novel's quietly
perceptive heroine, is hired as a servant, turmoil follows. First, the 16-year-old narrator becomes increasingly intimate with
her master. Then Vermeer employs her as his assistant--and ultimately has Griet sit for him as a model. I was disappointed by the book. Chevalier vividly evokes the complex domestic tensions of the household, ruled over by the painter's jealous, eternally pregnant wife and his taciturn mother-in-law. But... At times the relationship between servant and master seems a little anachronistic and some epiphanic scenes do not work at all.
Started: Beginning of September Finished: September the 15th 2003, at Berkeley, my first night as a single |  | Title: 2061: Odyssey Three
Author: Arthur C. Clarke
First publication: 1991
Comments: Fifty years after the alien message forbidding humans to approach the moon Europa, an expedition to Halley's Comet is forced to violate the prohibition in the name of mercy.
Though it is entertaining, it lacks the lyrical prose of the previous volumes.
Started: September 2003 Finished: First minutes of September 19th 2003, Berkeley, just got back from one of the worse date ever |  | Title: Five quarters of the Orange
Author: Joanne Harris
First publication: 2002
Comments: Amazing... honestly one of the best book I have ever read. The story is captivating, evocative, powerful and
realistic. The characters almost seem to come out from the page of the books.
The author is so adroit that I want to buy all her previous books.
Started: September the 19th 2003 Finished: September the 25th 2003, Berkeley |  | Title: Dragons of a Lost Star
Author: Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman
First publication: 2001
Comments: Even if there were some little inconstancies with the previous books, the authors create a really enjoyable book. I found myself reading in the middle of the night just to see what was going to happen.
Started: September 2003, Berkeley Finished: September 2003, Berkeley |  | Title: Dragons of a Vanished Moon
Author: Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman
First publication: 2002
Comments: The plot becomes more and more intriguing in this last chapter of the book. Of course, it is far from being a masterpiece, but it is entertaining and fun.
Started: September 2003, Berkeley Finished: September 2003, Berkeley |  | Title: 3001 - The final odissey
Author: Arthur C. Clarke
First publication: 1997
Comments: It is a nice conclusion of the 2001 saga. It is far from being striking, but entertaining. I like the author point of view on religion.
Started: The night between the 6th and the 7th of November 2003, Berkeley Finished: November the 8th, 2003, Berkeley, in one of the first rainy days of the season |  | Title: Chocolat
Author: Joanne Harris
First publication: 1999
Comments: It is not as good as "five quarters of an orange" but it is an impressive book. The author is extremely talented and her stories are unusually vivid, real, touching. A recommend reading!
Started: November 2003 Finished: November the 12th 2003, Berkeley |  | Title: Harry Potter and the goblet of fire
Author: J.K. Rowling
First publication: 2000
Comments: I really liked the story! It is fun, original and well-written. Probably one of the best of the Harry Potter's book!
Started: November 2003 Finished: December 2003 |  | Title: Angels and Demons
Author: Dan Brown
First publication: 2000
Comments: I really enjoyed the book. It made the time go back, at the time I was working at C.E.R.N. in Geneva
at the LHC project. In one of the first chapters the main character visit the building where I used to
go to do my laundry, walk in front of the building where I lived and end up in a lab close to LHC itself!
Even if almost all the Italian quotes are wrong (bad grammar, incorrect word choices, etc), even if the
scientific background is not as solid as the author would like us to believe... I liked it a lot. The book was suggested me during a date. The date ended up not working as we expected but... the book suggestion
was great. Thanks!
Started: December 2003 Finished: December the 4th 2003, Berkeley |  | Title: Delitto e Castigo
Author: Fyodor Dostoevsky
First publication: 1866
Comments: Era da molto che non leggevo un libro in Italiano e da molto che non leggevo Dostoevsky...
Mi ha riportato indietro con la memoria, a quando lessi "L'idiota"... Devo dire che Dostoevsky
e' un genio! La descrizione dello stato morboso in cui si trova Raskolnikov e' a dir poco inquietante
da quanto ben riuscita. Uniche due note negative del libro: il fatto che solo a meta' il tema del
superuomo compaia e il finale aperto...
Started: October 2003 Finished: December 18th 2003, Berkeley |  | Title: Holidays on ice
Author: David Sedaris
First publication: 1997
Comments: Well, this was not exactly a Christmas reading... but I enjoyed it. Some of the short stories are little jewels of sarcasm and irony. My favorite one is "Season's greetings to Our friends and Family!".
That's really something!
Started: December 19th 2003 Finished: December 19th 2003, Berkeley |  | Title: Prey
Author: Michael Crichton
First publication: 2002
Comments: This was the perfect reading to relax after finals. It was nice to read a sci-fi book set in the place where
I live and speaking about technologies similar to what I am working on (I am working on UAVs swarms, the book is about nano-particles swarms). This is an entertaining book, but nothing really special.
Started: December 19th 2003 Finished: December 22nd 2003, Berkeley |
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