Antonio Muñoz Molina - Mysteries of MadridLorencito Quesada, poor rural journalist who ekes out living in a garment shop, is charged by the local aristocrat to secretly find a stolen religious relic; statue of Christ that was taken from a local chapel. So he has to travel to Madrid to find pop star Marias Antequera whose wig was found in the scene ( Read more... )

Yoshimoto Banana - Amrita

Amrita is a tale of a young woman in modern Japan who lives in a family of five - four women and one small boy. It starts with the death of her older sister Mayu, who possibly committed suicide.

( Weird tale of slice of life that goes only slightly bonkers )

Louis D. Rubin, Jr (edit.) - An Apple for my TeacherFirst, I have to admit I don't know a single one of these authors who write about their mentors. It may be that their books are more "literary" variety that rarely crosses the Atlantic - or even their own world of academia to the outside world. Some of them admit as much: "Radical writer in ( Read more... )

Gerald Durrell - A Zoo in My LuggageGerald Durrell wanted to gather animals for his own zoo (even if he had no idea where it could be build). He had previously captured animals for others and now had money to start his own. So he went back to Cameroons to the area of an old friend Fon of Bafut - local tribal king with dozen wives and taste for ( Read more... )

Apostolos Doksiadis, Khristos H. Papadimitriou, Alecos Papadatos and Annie Di Donna - Logicomix

At least the nominal protagonist of the tale is a fictitious version of British philosopher and logician Bertrand Russell who tells his life story to an audience of American isolationalists in a lecture just after the World War Two has erupted. These ( Read more... )

The last month has been rather politically active in Finland, due to presidential elections. Tarja Halonen's last term ends next month. The president-elect is now Sauli Niinistö, a former finance minister of the 1990's who lost to Halonen six years ago. In that respect Finnish media's comments for the last couple of years have been turned into a ( Read more... )

Brad Warner - Zen Wrapped in Karma Dipped in ChocolateThis is less of a guide to buddhism and more a biographical note about Warner's life - how he handled the breakup of his marriage, deaths in his family and the fact that his mentor pushed the leadership of the organization to him, against the wishes of many senior members. In the process he ( Read more... )

David Grann - The Lost City of Z
( Walking the well-beaten path of a missing explorer )

Catherine Merridale - Ivan's War
( Blood of Russian soldiers )

Eric Hobsbawm - Bandits
( Robin Hoods of yesteryear )