A Thousand Pieces of Gold by Adeline Yen Mah

Once in a while we stumble upon a gem of an author with refreshing twist to his/her storytelling and Adeline Yen Mah is one of such author.

In this book entitled "A Thousand Pieces of Gold", she managed to bring the art of storytelling to greater heights by linking Chinese proverbs into her life while explaining the history, significance and meaning behind those proverbs in short and concise chapters.

Being English educated, I don't know much about Chinese proverbs and it is indeed an eye opener to see that it is alive and well in use even now; literally and practically peppered into daily usage as summary or to spice conversation/writings.

Quoting from the book:

"British poet Philip Larkin once described Chinese proverbs as "white dwarfs" of literature because each was so densely compacted with thoughts and ideas."

I wouldn't have known all these proverbs if not for Adeline Yen Mah. Now thanks to her, I can proudly say that I am "ren xin gui han" (the heart of the people belongs to Han).

Personal rating: 10 out of 10 (definitely a worthwhile read)

Cons:
1) None

Pros:
1) Proverbs are explained in simple and direct story telling style.
2) Chapters are written in short and concise paragraphs with examples and stories infused to achieve greater effects.

Burned Alive by Souad

This is the first non-fiction book I bought and to tell the truth, the main thing that pulled me to it was the enigmatic white mask plus the title itself in bold and red letters.

“Burned Alive” is very evocative and thought provoking nonfiction with victim/narrator and aid worker telling the same story via different point of views.

It revolves around a girl being burnt alive for committing bodily sin in order to uphold the family's honour. In other perspective, this kind of killing would be labeled as "honour killing". Details are not spared in this novel and readers would find themselves cringing on the sheer brutality of the act.

Personal rating: 8 out of 10 (worthwhile read)

Cons:
1) None

Pros:
1) It is hoped that this novel will be adapted into silver screen as it would bring forward a stronger message than in print alone.

P.S. I Love You by Cecilia Ahern

As claimed by the book cover, this book has been adapted into a major motion picture starring Hillary Swank and Gerard Butler. However, the review here is about the book and not about the movie (which was so boring that I guess cows will fall asleep watching it)... anyway, let's touch on the book itself...

To tell the truth, I bought the book out of curiosity... in fact, I read the book before I watched the movie (just to make some comparison on the actual adaptation; most readers do that by the way ?)...

The book is about a girl picking up pieces of her life after demise of her other half. The twist of the novel is that her partner had left her monthly short letters reminding her to go on with her life albeit with challenges infused into those letters.

I don't know about the rest of the readers but my attention span to this book ended after the first chapter. Truth to be told, first chapter is a worthwhile read with tear inducing emotion in words but after that, it is purely speed read for me; which explains on the allure of the book to me in general sense.

Personal rating: 4 out of 10 (I bought it out of curiosity)

Cons:
1) Boring read after the first part of the novel.
2) Style & slang of writing is utterly British.

Pros:
1) Tear inducing emotion in words.

Attila: The Judgement by William Napier

In this third and final installation of the trilogy, Attila and Aëtius are lined up for the final face-off together with the rest of the empire at stake. Both sides did their best to rally alliances with kings and tribes across the land in their quest to destroy or defend the set target.

As mentioned in the second installment, this third book continued from the second book and the battle started from the word "GO" (in literal sense). Descriptions of battles are brutal and concise particularly in the first part of the novel. Subsequent battle descriptions are mostly briefly described with exception of the final two all out war.

Frankly speaking, this book is not as exciting as the first two books. In fact, I speed read some of the boring bits and sing-song/poetic moments captured in between the chapters.

The ending is supposed to be the climax but I was sorely disappointed with the outcome. However, I can’t comment much as this novel is loosely based on actual historical figures. It has sad ending for both sides but I won't want to divulge those details here as it will spoil the fun of reading through the trilogy.

Personal rating: 5 out of 10 (I bought it because it’s a trilogy)

Cons:
1) Book 1 and Book 2 are better read compared to this one.
2) Too many sing-song/poems mentioned in the novel.
3) Some battles are not clearly described and quite a number of pass-over paragraphs.

Pros:
1) Good description for first battle and decisive war between the two sides.
2) Heroic moments, devastation and after-effect of wars are captured in absolute clarity in key battles.

Attila: The Gathering of the Storm by William Napier

In this second installment of the trilogy, the outlook of the novel is somewhat "compressed" because of the usage of smaller font size. Apart from the external appearance, the novel picked up quick nicely from the first part but it was fast forwarded to 30years later after being banished into the wild by King Ruga (Attila's uncle who usurped Attila's father's Kingly seat).

Having served his banishment sentence, Attila (with his loyal sidekick Orestes) longed to return among his people and exact revenge to those who've wronged him along the way. upon consolidating his hold over his people, he trained them relentlessly and set out together with them to create an alliance with the rest of the Hun people scattered all over the land.

Meanwhile, Aëtius (the Roman) has carved a solid reputation of himself as a no-nonsense kind of legionnaire. Solidarity among his troops and serving the Empire of Rome are main priorities of his life. On his end, he did his best to maintain the legionnaire’s morale amidst the breakdown of the vestige of the Roman Empire.

The end part of the novel set the precedent of the last installment in the trilogy. The book is called "Attila: The Judgement".

Truth to be told, I’m amazed by the author's ability to describe visible differences amongst the Hunnish people from Kutrigur Huns, Black & White Huns and so on. It was so clearly described that it felt like you've seen them in flesh and blood the moment you've read them. Apart from that, the novel is a so-so read, unlike the first installment.

Personal rating: 6 out of 10 (I bought because it’s a trilogy)

Cons:

1) Getting more long winded particularly on the character build-up

Pros:

1) Historical lessons in a glance without the boring bits :-)
2) Ancient warfare at its best

Attila by William Napier

As dictated in the synopsis at the back cover, the novel is about the war waged by Attila the Hun against the Roman Empire during the dawn of 5th century AD. Amidst this imminent war (plus a lot of politicking amongst the Romans), the Roman Empire relied on one of the most illustrated Master General, Aёtius "The Last of the Romans". But in this first novel of the trilogy, the author did not touch on the grown up version of Attila and Aёtius yet.


This book started off with an old pedagogue named Priscus of Pannium; recounting his earlier days spent with both Attila and Aёtius from their childhood onwards. The book is written in third party voice-over (by Priscus as story-teller) and first party characters; Attila and Aёtius. As Roman history is long and somewhat complicated, I will touch only on the main characters.
In this novel, we could see the upbringing of both Attila and Aёtius as prisoner of alliance between Roman and Hun Kingdom. Attila was trained in Roman ways and vice-versa for Aёtius.


Attila was mistreated as a child by the hate-filled Princess Galla and this serves as a mould for his revenge against the Roman Empire when he grew up. He tried and finally managed to escape his confinement and made his way back to his homeland gathering friends and foes along the way.


It is then he met his future enemy, Aёtius, in which they spent some time together until Attila was framed for a sin he did not commit and was banished from his own tribe by his uncle Ruga whom has usurped the King's seat (Attila's father) during Attila's absence.
The end part will set precedence for the next novel which is called "Attila; The Gathering of the Storm".


Personal rating: 7 out of 10 (recommended buy)

Cons:
1) Gets a bit long winded particularly the middle portion of the novel

Pros:
1) Good characters build-up
2) Historical lessons in a glance without the boring bits :-)
3) Ancient warfare at its best

The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

first impression counts.. that's what alot of people told me all along.. another key sentence would be "never judge a book by it's cover"... :-)

with THE WHITE TIGER by ARAVIND ADIGA, the cover in indeed the reflection of it's content.. as shown in the attached photo, the cover is funky 1960-ish type with a white tiger displayed prominently as the centerpiece... this picture indeed is worth a thousand words...

storyline revolves around the narrator, third-person-character, story-teller; Balram Halwai and his meteoric rise from being a pariah to become a successful entrepreneur BUT with a big twist as he has murdered someone along the way in order to achieve his aim in life.. interestingly, he managed to do all these with panache amidst the confines of his life..

the beauty of this novel is the ability of the writer to portray real life situation of commoners in rural as well as urban India with sharp contrasting effects on both the well-heeled and poor inhabitants.. this is indeed an insight we rarely read or mentioned in glossy magazines..

overall storyline is smooth with sufficient breather in between so that the reader can savour the progressive incline and change of attitude of Balram Halwai from being a follower to a leader..

Personal rating: 7 out of 10 (recommended buy)

Cons:
1) Slightly boring mid part
2) Balram is too lucky to escape with every obstacles without harming himself

Pros:
1) Funky 1960-ish cover
2) portrayal of the real India and it's inhabitants
3) progressive changes of attitude of the characters

The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson

"Accidents ambush the unsuspecting, often violently, just like love.
It was Good Friday and the stars were just starting to dissolve into the dawn. As I drove, I stroked the scar on my chest, by habit. My eyes were heavy and my vision unfocused, not surprising given that I’d spent the night hunched over a mirror snorting away the bars of white powder that kept my face trapped in the glass. I believed I was keening my reflexes. I was wrong."

this is the first chapter from the book which kept me hooked all the way till the end. the book is special in the sense that I've never read any love novels before (love novels are just not my "thing").. but The Gargoyle is indeed a different kind of love novel which transcend boundaries dictated by the usual writing style.. man meet woman, fall in love, issues arises.. bla bla bla.. boring... but not so with The Gargoyle..

main characters are the narrator and Marianne Engel.. the rest are supporting characters which spices up the flow of the story... its about a man who was badly burnt in a car accident being nursed to health by an eccentric woman who claimed to be his lover during the medieval era... turn the pages as you read and you'll be able to savour the intricacies of their relationship and be amazed by the sheer determination of their believe in love and perhaps God too.. the beauty of this novel is the ability of the author to present multiple facets of the narrator and Marianne in totally different perspective but still in line with the flow of the story line...

in my opinion, the front parts were fast moving and page turning but towards the end, it gets a bit boring especially when he recovers from his drug addiction... it should be noted that this novel has sad ending.. so, for those looking for happy ending kind of book, please buy this book with caution :-)

Andrew Davidson managed to pull the reader by putting cliff-hangers on every end of the chapter, thus, readers (myself included) will be tempted to read more in order to link the whole story up...

i would highly recommend this book to those who're looking for a different kind of reading experience.

Note: Look for the initial print because the edges of the page are stained black. a lot of people commented (when i read the book) that it has really cool cover and quirky coloured edges; look at the scanned layout of the book and you'll be amazed :-)

Personal rating: 9 out of 10 (recommended buy)

Cons:

1) Slightly boring end part

2) sad ending

Pros:

1) Cool cover, quirky edge colour

2) different kind of love novel

3) multi-faceted characters

4) appropriate cliff-hangers on every end of chapters