Biblioteca de la EOI de Oviedo

Título: The Girl Who Played with Fire

Autor: Stieg Larsson

Obra adaptada: NO

This is the second in Larsson’s “Millennium” trilogy of novels. We first met Salander in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, in which she teamed up with Mikael Blomkvist, a liberal-leaning investigative journalist who was delving into the morally bankrupt world of big business. This time around, Larsson’s theme is misogyny and the harm done to women by corrupt, evil men.

The Girl Who Played With Fire is that rare thing - a sequel that is even better than the book that went before. Larsson was a journalist on a campaigning magazine and he apparently wrote the books every evening after work. He relished his task so much that it wasn’t until the third one (The Girl Who Kicked Hornets’ Nest) was almost finished that it occurred to him that they might be published. This is perhaps why they demand to be read in great, hungry chunks. Larsson began writing the trilogy as a hobby and his passion for his characters and subject is clear. He seems to mean what he writes.

Título: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Autor: Stieg Larsson

Obra adaptada: NO

You have probably  heard of the Swedish author Stieg Larsson. Larsson is a publishing sensation, an accomplished crime writer who seemingly came from nowhere and sold millions of books in Scandinavia. This debut thriller, the first in a trilogy (the Millennium series),  is a superb novel and impossible to put down. Once you start The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, there’s no turning back.

Mikael Blomkvist, a once-respected financial journalist, watches his professional life rapidly crumble around him. Prospects appear bleak until an unexpected (and unsettling) offer to resurrect his name is extended by an old-school titan of Swedish industry. The catch–and there’s always a catch–is that Blomkvist must first spend a year researching a mysterious disappearance that has remained unsolved for nearly four decades. With few other options, he accepts and enlists the help of investigator Lisbeth Salander, a misunderstood genius with a cache of authority issues.

Stieg Larsson  unfortunately died in 2004 . Tragically, Larsson did not live to enjoy this success; he died of a heart attack, aged 50, before the novels were published. The book contains a tribute to him and his career.

IDIOMA: Inglés
TÍTULO: The Brooklyn Follies
AUTOR: Paul Auster
EDITORIAL: Faber & Faber
VERSIÓN ORIGINAL : SI
VALORACIÓN: 5

A recently divorced and lonely man in his sixties (Nathan Glass) who suffers from a terminal cancer decides to spend the rest of his time in Brooklyn.
At the beginning of the book you have the feeling that it is a story of sadness and desperation. Far from it! The novel is filled with optimism and lovely moments. When Nathan says that he has ‘ to do more than just sit around and wait for the end’ the events happen one after the other as the same time as the interesting lives of their characters. The plot is full of twists that make it completely unpredictable.
I had a great time reading it, not only by the readable amusing plot but its style accessible to any reader. I couldn’t understand all the vocabulary, however that was no obstacle to grasp the thread of the story.

Begoña Suárez

Título: The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

Autor: John Boyne

Editorial: Definitions

Obra Adaptada: NO

Reseña: I don’t generally read best-sellers. However, it has been because of the opportunity of doing it in English that I decided to choose The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne.
I began the book with the mistaken idea that it was a book written for adults and from this point of view, I was disappointed.
The plot is very soft and the style reminds me too much of Le Petit Nicolas by René Goscinny.
In short, I think it is a book written for not too old schoolchildren, perhaps a good complement to explain  an absolutely dark historical period to them.

Valoración: 2/5 

Santiago García-Monge

Título: Briget Jones’s Diary

Autor: Helen Fielding

Editorial: Picador

Obra adaptada: NO

Reseña: This is a light hearted, funny book and especially easy to read novel. The reader can easily identify with the emotions and actions showing there.
Bridget is single. She is thirty years old and she lives in England. The problem is the she spends her life on a perpetual diet and trying to improve herself. The diary starts with her New Year’s Resolutions and with the successes and failures of her everyday life. As you will see, each entry starts with the number of calories eaten for the day, alcohol units consumed, and cigarettes smoke. When they’re low, she applauds herself. When they’re high, she’ll excuse herself. She questions herself constantly.
The most important thing in the novel is that Bridget is a typical person, normal and with the same problems that we have each day.
In my honest opinion the book reflects our lives with the highs and lows in the same way as Bridget. It’s an interesting way to approach the problems of writing in first person.
The book can be your own diary, so take care!

Valoración: 4/5

Ana Bermudez Gavito

Título: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time

Autor: Mark Haddon

Editorial: Vintage

Obra adaptada: NO

Reseña: ‘This is a murder mystery novel’, said Christopher. Christopher, a fan of Sherlock Holmes stories, is a young boy with Asperger Symdrome who decides to investigate the dog’s murder and write the story into a book of his own. ‘In a murder mystery novel someone has to work out who the murderer is and then catch him’, he reasons. ‘It is a puzzle’. And Christopher is quite good at puzzles…
As a person who worked some years ago in a Special Education School, I didn’t expect much of this book, because it’s really difficult to see the world like one of this children does. But I’m glad to say that I was completely wrong!

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