James R R থেকে Sherburn in Elmet, North Yorkshire, UK
এই বইটি আমি যে চার-তারকা রেটিং দিয়েছি তা বারো বছর বয়সী হিসাবে পড়ার সময় থেকেই। একটি বন্ধু এটি আমার কাছে সুপারিশ করেছিল এবং আমি ভেবেছিলাম, এটি কতটা দুঃখজনক হতে পারে? তারপরে, আমি এটি খুব দু: খিত বলে মনে করেছি। আমি আসলে কিছুটা কেঁদেছিলাম, এবং আমি কখনই এটি করি না। তবে আমি যখন কিশোর হিসাবে এটি পুনরায় পড়ার চেষ্টা করেছি তখন আমি প্রথম অধ্যায়ে পেরে উঠতে পারি নি। আমি এটি এতটা পছন্দ করি না। যাইহোক, আমি পুরো জিনিসটি পুনরায় পাঠ না করা পর্যন্ত চার-তারকা রেটিং দাঁড়িয়ে আছে stands
My husband described The Silver Chair to me as the "book where the Narnia series jumped the shark" and I have to agree. It tries to capture the same sense of adventure and quest that The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and The Voyage of the 'Dawn Treader' have but it falls short in that task. The scenes feel forced, the tone preachy and oft-times patronizing and the dialogue wooden. Then there is Aslan who reappears and gives a preview of his role in The Last Battle. In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Aslan is a reluctant martyr. In this book he flaunts his omnipotency and makes thinly veiled threats of things to come to those who do not follow his "signs." I realize that the Narnia books are Christian fantasy "to make them easily accessible to younger readers" but even as a child attending Sunday school I was put off by Aslan's threats and the narrator's sermons in these later books. Rereading this book now as an adult was a chore and save for a scene or two in the Deep Realm, I didn't enjoy the book.
I was lucky enough to take a few classes with Orhan Pamuk. He spoke to us about his life growing up in Turkey, while being enamored of Western literary greats. He is heralded world wide for his thoughts on the friction and fission of eastern and western culture. Before reading this book I new nothing of the beauty and scale of the Turkish empire. Pamuk is a master craftsmen and storyteller, and while the tropes and tricks (each chapter shifts narrator for example) are at times vertiginous, the overall effect is a profound love story and ingenious mystery. All swathed in what was for me an entirely new and captivating world. The book will have particular resonance for art lovers, the whole plot tumbles down from one event: the sultan has commissioned a painting in the western, three-dimensional style! Before this, painting in 3-d (with perspective) had been thought to violate the taboo of idolatry, so an incredibly intricate and mature style of 2-D painting had developed.
(Spoiler alert! Stop reading if you don't want to know the ending) I ♥ Maggie Osborne. I really do. If I had to pick a favorite by her it would be Silver Lining with this book a very close 2nd. Osborne's characters are so REAL they make you want to be in the story with them. This is the story of Fox, a woman as feisty as they come. She is a scout who leads people all over the Rocky Mountain territory. She's lived a hard life and has the scars to prove it. Her best friend and the only father she's really ever had is Peaches, a black man who she's been with for over 20 years. Together they agree to lead Matthew Tanner on a dangerous trip directly over the mountain passes to Denver, where he is going to deliver ransom money to kidnappers who have his beloved father. This is right up Fox's alley because she has been planning a trip to Denver....her last trip. You see Fox has an agenda: to find and kill the man who stole her inheritance and threw her away as a child of 5 years old - her stepfather. Fox's mother was an heiress and when she died, her stepfathers greed led him to give Fox to distant relatives and never return, telling all who would listen that Fox died shortly after her mother did of an unknown illness. Unable to prove she's the rightful heir to her mother's estate some 20 plus years later, Fox decides she'll just kill him and take her punishment. It can't be any worse than the life she is living now, hand to mouth in a roughneck mining town on the frontier. The only problem is, Fox didn't count on her attraction to Matthew Tanner, or his reciprocal interest. Along the way they become much more than guide and employer. Matthew has never met a woman like Fox. She tells it like it is, isn't afraid of man or beast and yet she shows a vulnerability that he is unable to reconcile with the take charge persona Fox gives the world. He cannot help but admire her, and eventually fall in love with her. But Matthew comes from money - lots of money, and he knows that Fox will never fit into his world. He has enough honor to resist starting anything with her because he doesn't want to hurt her feelings once they reach Denver. The only problem is, Matthew didn't count on Fox taking that decision away from him! Their love scenes are touching but also scorching hot. I love a good travel romance and this has all the elements. There is a twist you never see coming and you wonder how in the world Osborne will resolve this between the characters, but she does, and its not contrived or rushed. There's also violence, anger and death in the story and more than once I cried. If you've got a whole day you can sit down and do nothing but read - pick up this book. I hated putting it down even for a minute. A+