Winchester Repeating Arms Co.

This book was just epically amazing! It was just filled with facts based on history. And I'm glad I read it too! Now I have a fair knowledge about Freemasonry. I think everyone should read it, because most people seem to classify Masons as Satanists and devil-worshipers. Not only does this book is based on real things, the story line was also verry nerve wrecking! So much mystery and tension between the characters. Oh the characters! You'll fall in love with them!! This entire book has just been epic!… (plus d'informations)

First Impressions:

What a 500 page adventure this was too. Yes, the story is a bit formulaic as it runs about the same as The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons: Robert Langdon is called over to some place, goes through some adventure that coincidentally is helped by his extreme knowledge of symbology and occult knowledge; he meets a beautiful but unobtainable woman; and finally we resolve the issues at hand.

I really enjoyed the concept of "Noetic Science" as Brown calls it -- the attempt to marry science and religion as, per the novel, they're attempting the same thing -- the ultimate attainment of Man as god -- "do you not know that ye are gods?"

Peter Solomon, Mason master, brings to the 33rd level a guy plays a pivotal role in Peter's life. In fact, he already had!

As in past Brown novels, the bad guy is truly a nut -- but a nut with an interesting psychosis that actually could achieve his ends. Mal'akh is his name; he had money, power and women of his choice, but relinquished his fortune for the taste of ultimate power. A power that only Robert Langdon could afford him.

Characters:

Brown ratchets up the action with Peter's scientific sister Katherine, who has a lab that contains the Noetic science stuff. Not really explained is why the vault it is in needs to be in total darkness. And the constant flashbacks which turn into basically lecture notes on Masonic legends was a bit annoying.

The whole CIA angle was well-played, though the unlikeable CIA operative Sato was a bit much. The cigarette-smoking, tough gal who clearly had a problem with making her thoughts known and just like a grouchy parent: "Do as you're told!" No wonder she garnered little cooperation from our crew (at first).

Be that as it may, I really enjoyed the ending of Mal'akh, the discovery of his true identity, the near-death experience of our main character and the final discovery of The Lost Symbol.

Final Comments:

Despite what other reviewers say, I liked the cinematic style of the book -- this could easily be made into a film. Tom Hanks, are you available?

Clearly this book will rekindle some interest in the stately buildings of our nation's Capitol area as well as getting readers to check out the Bible in a new and different vision.

Although the weakest of the Langdon trilogy (to me!), it yet was an enjoyable read.

Other Dan Brown Books:

The Da Vinci Code
Angels & Demons (Robert Langdon) (Hardcover)
… (plus d'informations)

After the Quake was the first book I had ever read by Murakami. If it's your first time reading Haruki Murakami too I would urge you to start where I started: Super Frog Saves Tokyo.

Super Frog Saves Tokyo is exactly how it sounds, and remains affectionately in my memory as one of my favourite things that Murakami has ever written.

The rest of the short stories didn't have such an impact on me, although I was probably not accustomed to his writing style.

After the Quake is poetic, and melancholy and sometimes magical and left me curious about the author. An author who would become one of my favourite authors ever, whose books dominate my bookshelves and bedside table.

Haruki Murakami is modest, and honest, but the thing I adore about him most is that he puts himself in his books. Characters listen to jazz records Haruki himself played when he ran a jazz bar many years ago, or read books he read, or use train stations he's used.

Murakami said that if writing a novel is like planting a forest, then writing short stories is like planting a flower garden. His writing style in this collection is delicate, fragile, a little absurd but somehow that makes it all the more real.

I'll always be fond of this book, of the day that I started reading Haruki Murakami. And I've never looked back.… (plus d'informations)

This short book is a collection of six short stories, thematically linked - all take place shortly after the 1995 Kobe earthquake. All display Murakami's masterful writing. Technically, the book probably deserves 5 stars, but somehow, I found myself only liking it 4-stars' worth. Which is still excellent.
As in much of Murakami's writing, the characters here are 'floaty,' hard to pin down or grasp.

UFO in Kushiro.
The main character here is the literal embodiment of this aspect of Murakami's characters. His wife has left him because, she says, being married to him is like being married to "a chunk of air." A friend asks him to deliver a package, which seems to be a pretext to get him to meet a couple of sexy young women... but abruptly the narrative shifts to a musing on identity and loss.

Landscape with Flatiron
The title embodies Murakami's frequent juxtaposition of the surreal and the mundane. A young woman who has run away to live with her loser boyfriend is strangely drawn to an eccentric older man who is obsessed with lighting bonfires. Eloquent, depressing and shocking.

All God's Children Can Dance
The main character's mother, an eccentric born-again, has always claimed that he was the product of an immaculate conception. Unsurprisingly, he doubts this, and when he randomly encounters a man who fits the description of one of his mother's pre-conversion lovers, he follows and stalks the man. Again, it deals with issues of identity.

Thailand
A businesswoman on the verge of a nervous breakdown vacations in Thailand. Her hired driver, she learns, was the private chauffeur of a Norwegian man for over thirty years. Now that his employer has died, his identity is oddly truncated. Reminiscent of 'The Remains of the Day.'

Super-Frog Saves Tokyo
The only story here with 'fantasy' elements - although it could all be a drug-induced delirium. An ordinary businessman is approached by a human-sized, talking frog and told that he is the only one who can possibly save Tokyo from a devastating earthquake, if he assists the frog on his heroic and probably-doomed quest. Absurd, but touching, as it discusses what it means to rise above.

Honey Pie
Three friends meet in college. Both men fall in love with the woman... but one has the personality of taking what he wants, while the other tends to defer. Years pass, the relationships continue, odd and complicated.… (plus d'informations)