António Manuel Dias reviewed O Deus do Rio by Wilbur Smith
Entertaining
3 stars
I took a while to catch me up, but eventually it did. Portuguese translation is sub-par.
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António Manuel Dias reviewed Us against you by Fredrik Backman
When the small community of Beartown learns their amateur ice hockey team may be disbanded, …
Typical "book 2" in a trilogy
4 stars
Not as good as Bear Town. The constant cliffhangers, always built in a very similar way, make it a little difficult to read and, at times, even somewhat boring.
António Manuel Dias reviewed Beartown by Fredrik Backman
418 pages ; 24 cm
Five stars
5 stars
Some may categorize this book as "hockey literature". Or they may say it's about sport, gender, homosexuality, power, rape, class, violence, because it's all in there. For me it's about people, their emotions, thoughts, decisions, love and hate, the bonds they make with one another and those they don't. This is the first of a trilogy, I'm ready to start the second.
António Manuel Dias reviewed Midwife's Touch by Sue Harrison
Brilliant
5 stars
After having read and loved, years ago, her two prehistoric trilogies, I was surprised to find a book in a totally different era, mid-19th century USA. However, her carefully researched writing is still the same and this story is as vivid and interesting as her previous works. I loved it.
António Manuel Dias reviewed Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid
A striking and surprising debut novel from an exhilarating new voice, Such a Fun Age …
Surprisingly good
4 stars
I did not have much expectations for this book, as I only wanted something light for starting Summer. But this was surprisingly good, funny, a page-turner like I haven't read in a while, but also with some insights into race, gender and class differences in modern USA.
A young sea apprentice finds himself in charge of a ship, which is led astray …
Not the best of Jules Verne
3 stars
Content warning Spoilers ahead
It's a typical travel adventure by Jules Verne, but not as good as usual. It is sometimes almost boring with lots of descriptions of the accomplishments of the European explorers of Africa. It is, nevertheless, a good example of the evolution of western morals -- a progressive and humanist work when it was written, most of it would be considered racist and misogynist today.
The plot has a flaw [SPOILER]: placing a piece of metal in the compass of the ship wouldn't have the effect described. The compass would have a fixed azimuth and one of two situations would happen: either it was the desired azimuth and the ship would continue its way as if nothing happened, or it wasn't and the ship would go in circles as the pilot tried to adjust (and would soon find out that something was wrong with the compass).