Curly Female, 34. Italy

I’ve got quite a lot of books reviews on my “virtual” shelf! And I try to keep every review as “sincere” as I can. Well I obviously liked it somehow to read the first three books in three days, but as I was reading the fourth one I caught myself yawning quite a lot!One can really see that she’s no writer. Or at least no “good” writer. Not to compare in any ways to fantasy writers such as Rowling or Pullman just for a start. I mean in Harry Potter as well as in Pullman’s books there are studies behind: mythological as well as psychological. They create suspense and you can’t imagine what’s coming next pages after pages even after six books. Let’s face it… in this saga nothing extremely surprising happens. The love story is beautiful and you can almost live Bella’s feelings but probably only if you are a romantic soul. No “boy” or “man” could read these books without falling asleep. Nevertheless I liked it!The only two things that were unbelievably annoying were: the you-love-me, you-love-me-not struggle in the first three books… ok. It’s about two teenagers, but they’re not “normal” teenagers… just for a start one of them is over 90 years old… so after a while I caught myself thinking “oh what the hell”! The second thing was the “baby-story” in the fourth book. As if Meyer was somehow struggling to find an interesting “story” to somehow end the saga. Not Renesmee herself bothered me, but the whole entire “pregnancy” with broken rips a.s.o. I mean… come on! :-)OK… probably I am being a bit too harsh considering the speed and the time it took me to read these four books. How can I put it: it’s like those fantasy children movies you watch on a rainy afternoon. You like them. They make you daydream away happily. I am a romantic soul and couldn’t possibly not fall in love with Edward even with his most annoying side (see above) and I couldn’t help “rooting for” Bella to have her childish happy end!

When Bibi Chen mysteriously dies it's not over for her. Her soul will accompany her friends to Burma, the journey she planned to have with them. She's the one who tells us the story. She's the witness of all her friends' adventures. What it started as a holiday turns abruptly into an unaware kidnapping by a tribe, who recognise their saviour among these funny American tourists. We will learn things about Burma and its struggle for independence as well as the daily fight of its tribes for survival in a both funny and moving way. In the end we will discover so much about humanity and friendship. Of course she'll unveil the mystery about her death too.
After "The hundred secret senses" (I read it in Italian and I fell in love with it: http://www.anobii.com/books/I_cento_sensi_segreti/97888… another lovely book by this author.

It's the first of a series of books about an African Miss Marple, Mma Ramotswe, owner of the No. 1 ladies' detective agency. She inherited a small fortune from his father, a former miner in South Africa, who died from a long lung illness. His wish is for her to start her own business such as a butchery or similar, but Precious, the name of Mma Ramotswe, decides to be a detective. Among her clients there are very powerful people like Mr. Patel, an Indian trader who settled down in Africa with his family. There are also wives who wants the proof of their husbands' betrayals... and even a missed child, a boy, who is supposed to have died after he was caught by a witch doctor.
A really nice and funny book.
It gives lots of smiles and good humour!

***

È il primo di una serie di libri (anche in italiano) sulla Miss Marple africana Mma Ramotswe, titolare della prima agenzia di detective diretta da una donna. Suo padre morto dopo una lunga malattia ai polmoni, ricordo dei suo anni in miniera, le lascia una piccola fortuna per aprire una sua attività. Lui pensava più ad una macelleria o ad un altro tipo di negozio più "normale", ma Precious (così il nome di Mma Ramotswe) decide di fare la detective privata. Tra i suoi tanti clienti, anche nomi prestigiosi come il Signor Patel, ricco indiano stabilitosi con la famiglia in Africa. Poi ci sono mogli che vogliono prove dell'infedeltà dei propri mariti... e persino un bambino scomparso, che si teme sia finito in mano a uno "stregone" per fare una bruttissima fine.
Un libro veramente carino e divertente.
Regala sorrisi e buon umore!

A moving story. I am not so used to such a "mature" Marian Keyes and I have to say that her last two books were a pleasant surprise! Four extremely different women and a very fascinating man. What have they in common? A story about the strength of women! About the triumph over humiliation and abuse. Lately I often hear that we are getting more and more aggressive and that women backi n time were more understanding and real women. This book also tells about how much a woman can keep to herself and pretending... Even a deep sadness that eats their bodies and souls, but thank God ourg randmothers and mothers taught us that it's unfair and that being a woman is a gift. So, if men are afraid of our strength and call it "aggressivity" because it suits them, then I think they should wonder whether they're real men... Very little if they expect women to show them! :) nice book! I think not only women should read it, but also those men, who believe to know exactly what we think and what we like...

***

Una storia toccante. Non sono abituata a una Marian Keyes così "matura" e devo dire che i suoi ultimi due libri sono stati una piacevole sorpresa! Quattro donne molto diverse tra loro e un uomo molto affascinante. Cosa li accomuna? Una storia sulla forza delle donne! Sul trionfo sull'umiliazione e l'abuso. Sento dire spesso da qualcuno che noi donne siamo aggressive ora e che quelle di una volta erano più accondiscendenti e vere donne. In questo libro si legge di quanto le donne riescano a tenere dentro di se... Anche una tristezza che le logora, ma grazie a Dio le nostre nonne e le nostre madri ci hanno insegnato che non è giusto e che essere donne è un dono. Quindi se gli uomini sono "spaventati" dalla nostra forza e la chiamano "aggressività" perché fa comodo a loro, allora mi chiedo, e forse dovrebbero farlo anche loro, quanto sono uomini loro in realtà... Molto poco se hanno bisogno che glielo dimostri una donna! :) bel libro! Lo consiglio alle donne, ma soprattutto agli uomini che credono di sapere tutto su di noi...

I will tell you a story about twins! I will tell you a ghost story!
That's how Vida Winter starts his real story. The one she'll tell Margaret Lea, a biographer. The real story, the one all journalists have tried to extort from her without succeeding.
I won't tell you more.
Absorbing.
This book is indescribably fascinating and it's going to haunt you till the end.

Don't miss it!

***

Le racconterò una storia di due gemelle. Le racconterò una storia di un fantasma.
Così inizia a raccontare Vida Winter la storia della sua vita a Margaret Lea, una biografa. La storia che tutti i giornalisti a caccia della verità sulla scrittrice di romanzi più famosa del tempo, hanno cercato invano di strapparle.
Non vi dico di più.
Avvincente.
Questo libro è indescrivibilmente affascinante e non ti lascia in pace un momento... come un fantasma, finchè non finisci di leggerlo.