I have just finished reading The Last Juror by John Grisham. This is the first novel I have read for the year. I have to admit its one of the best John Grisham novel I have read in a while.

It’s one of those rare books where you could not put it down once you start reading it. Infact I read it until it was 2 in the morning, I could have carried on reading but I certainly needed sleep if I was going to wake up for work 4 hours later.

I think I am going to start a reading list just to see how much I am going to read this year. I am by no means a nerdy bookworm, but I do enjoy a good read occasionally. Since I am no longer into games as much as I hate admitting, I found novels to be a good alternative to entertain myself during the silence brought upon by the night.

Synopsis
A parable of good and evil. The stranger is haunted by a tragic past and arrives in the little village carrying a fortune in gold and accompanied by the devil. He confronts the youngest person of the village, the Chantal Prym of the title with his proposition.

A test - the villagers must commit an evil act, a murder, to receive the reward - the gold. The test is to prove or unprove his thesis that “given the right set of circumstances every human being on this earth would be willing to commit evil”.

Chantal must decide to tell the village of the awful test, and fight her own temptation to simply take the gold and escape the stifling village. The tension builds as she and the villagers decide their actions and Coelho skillfully keeps the final outcome totally hidden until the end.

My Thoughts
The Devil and Miss Prym is a tense, clever novel, which debates the grander moral questions of life. Like a fable or parable in its style. This is closer to the magic realist tradition and reflects the Latin American background of the author. Characters have visions; speak to the dead and devils and angels bicker at their shoulders. But the plot is simple and gripping. The single question - “will they or won’t they?” - holds you right to the end.

From Coelho I learned that no matter what, life is worth to being lived and because of his books now I’m seeing the deeper features of the persons I get into contact with and the deeper meaning of the situations and things that I deal with. Coelho’s books have brought me so deep inside myself. I could see my fears, my guilts, my doubts, my pain and above all my love.

I read once that the literature “must be as new as foam and as old as the rock” and I think that Coelho’s books are like this. I can only say that Coelho is a master storyteller and handles the underlying moral subject matter with ease, yet the question remains complex, and there are no simplistic answers.

Synopsis
Veronika has everything she could wish for. She is young, pretty, has plenty of attractive boyfriends, a steady job and a loving family. She lives in the beautiful Capital city of Slovenia, Ljubljana, yet Veronika is not happy and one winter’s morning she takes an overdose of incredibly powerful sleeping pills, desperate to end the routine of her life.

Unfortunately for her, she wakes up in Villete, the famous and much feared lunatic asylum, which had been in existence since 1991, the year of Slovenia’s independence. There, she is told that although she is alive, her heart is now irreparably damaged and she has only a few days to live.

Although Veronika was adamant her life should have been over, she now faces a waiting game in Villete, and has to succumb to the “madness” of the patients, and the rules and regulations strictly adhered to by both the nurses and doctors.

The story of “Veronika decides to die” follows her through these intense days as she begins to question her existence and ideas about life. Soon she begins to realise that every second of life is worth living, and against all the odds she begins to find herself falling in love with life and wanting to live again.

During Veronika’s stay at Villete she encounters several other “inmates” who all manage to make a big impact on her life, although unknown to her, and as her spirit awakens she begins to make a noticeable difference to their lives. Zedka, who was admitted into Villete for depression, and although is almost cured, wishes to stay in Villete due to the comfort and regularity of the surroundings.

Mari, a member of the Fraternity (a group of longer standing members who could have left several years ago, but stay at the states expenses due to the hospitals familiarity, and who behave like dangerous maniacs whenever there is a government inspection), and Eduard, a schizophrenic, whose madness was reportedly beyond cure, but was infiltrated by the enchanting piano music he cared to listen to.

My thoughts
Every now and again I discover something, be it a piece of music, film, writing, even just a moment in time, that makes everything fall into place. To me, finding something that expresses exactly how I feel is magical.

It is like finding a new friend. Although I promised myself that I would read it by this weekend I actually read in one sitting, and at the end was completely amazed at the way the subject matter was handled.

The straightforward narrative is incredibly easy to read at all times, which for me added an intense emotion to much of the story, the direct language contrasts with complex ideas, and this highlights the fragility of the main character Veronika, and indeed of life itself.

We take life for granted. We get bored; we miss out the finer aspects of life, and keep chasing and running elusive goals set by others for us! And all the while, the sands of time slip through. When we are ready to enjoy, old age and death face us. Sometimes, even before we are ready.

This book makes you sit back and think. What if you were faced with the prospect of death just as you started valuing life?

Kingdom Come is an Elseworlds title that examines a possible future where the children of today’s heroes are the ones calling the shots. All super-villains have been eliminated by these meta-humans, and with no-one else left they regularly turn on each other, with little regard for humans that suffer because of their actions.

The story is told through the lens of Pastor Norman McKay. Acting as an all-seeing narrator McKay bears witness to an earth where hope has evaporated. The innocence and heroism engendered by the original heroes is non-existent. This profound fear culminates with the nuclear destruction of Kansas caused by Superman’s successor Magog. This pushes Superman to re-instate the JLA, to rid the world of rogue meta-humans by any means necessary.

Mark Waid and Alex Ross weave an intricate examination of both political ideals and failures within this story elevating it above what easily could have become a four-issue fist fight between the old and new meta-humans.

Waid sets up a number of interesting dichotomies during the course of the story. Probably the most affecting is the problem that Superman faces as leader of the JLA - he needs to enforce peace, yet he finds himself resorting to violent means to achieve it. How far into violence can someone descend in the name of peace? By placing Superman in a situation that causes both himself and readers to question such lofty ideals, Waid has imbued a sense of humanity into a character whose personality is usually as well-rounded as a cardboard cut-out.

The book examines both Communism (the JLA set up a gulag for dissenting meta-humans to “re-educate” them) and Police states (Gotham as ruled by the Batman) very broadly. Once again these pose many questions but provide little answers, making the reader contemplate and question their pre-conceived notions of these ideals.

The character of Norman McKay is the crowning glory of this book. He acts as the all-seeing narrator through which we experience the events that unfold. Waid cleverly evokes a Socrates-Plato dynamic between the Spectre and McKay (and earlier between Sandman and McKay). The Spectre provided no answers, only questions, and leaves both McKay and the reader to find answers, and even more importantly to form opinions.

In terms of artwork this book is amazing. Alex Ross works from photo-references (some examples of which are in the back of the book) and his characters jump from the page as real believable people. The close ties with reality that Ross’ artwork evokes only strengthens the dilemmas that the characters experience through the course of the story.

This is a book that no-one with even a passing interest in comics, politics, or philosophy should pass up. It has a sophistication and intelligence that sticks in your mind and leaves niggling questions and doubts, as all good literature should.

A novel by Chris Bohjalian.

Four people in small Vermont village are about to have their lives inexorably intertwined by the uncertainties of love… and apparent absolutes of gender.

Schoolteacher Allison Banks, the long-divorced mother of a teenager on the cusp of college, has at last fallen in love. The object of her desire? Dana Stevens, a professor at the nearby university and her instructor for a summer film and literature course. Her daughter, Carly, watches with pleasure her mother’s new found happiness, but her ex-husband, Will, the president of Vermont Public Radio, is jealous. Still secretly in love with his ex-wife, he finds himself increasingly unsettled by the prospect of Allison’s attachment to another man.

Yet Dana is unlike anyone Allison has ever been with: attentive, gentle, kind – and an exceptionally ardent lover. Moreover, it’s clear that Dana cares just as deeply for Allison. The only stumbling block? Dana has known always that in actuality he is a woman – genitalia, plumbing and perceptions be damned – and he will soon be having a sex change operation.

At first Allison runs, but overwhelmed by the depths of her passions, she returns. But can the pair’s love transcend both the biologic imperatives that are their bodies, as well as their ingrained notions of sexual preference? Moreover, can their love survive the outrage of the small community in which they live?

All four characters – Allison, Dana, Carly, and Will – narrate this compelling story, spinning a tale that will keep you turning the pages with the eagerness we usually reserve for thrillers, while nodding in wonder at such deeply moving and profoundly honest portrayal of longing, love and desire.