De wereld volgens AnnevO

boek 32: Bruiden van God, Heleen Vreeswijk
Vreselijk maar spannend jeugdboek over Kim, die met haar depressieve moeder in een sekte terecht komt. De profeet, die de sekte leidt, hersenspoelt en manipuleert, waardoor niemand wil geloven dat er vreselijke dingen gebeuren in het klooster. En hoe meer Kim tegenstribbelt, hoe meer hij haar wil hebben; zij is immers uitverkoren tot Bruid van God. Het ergste vind ik dat dit boek op waarheid gebaseerd is; in 1997 is er in de omgeving van Arnhem daadwerkelijk een dergelijke sekte “opgerold”..
Conclusie: Aan te raden voor volwassenen, maar of het ook geschikt is voor de twaalfjarigen waar het voor uitgegeven is?

boek 33: Stargirl, Jerry Spinelli
A story about a girl who dares to be different, told by her friend who himself doesn’t have the guts to go for it. It shows the lifes of a lot of ordinary and one special teenager and the complications being different in teenager-world will get you in.
Conclusion: Sweet and funny, but also painfully close to the truth.

boek 34: Chameleon, Ken McClure
Women are dying in Kerr Memorial Hospital. They are dying from post operative wound infections which are resistant to antibiotics, and the authorities cannot find the source. At the same time, a psychopathic killer is running amok, committing brutal murders in the town.
The Home Office send an outsider, surgeon Scott Jamieson, to investigate. Jamieson soon finds himself in a maelstrom of accusation and counter accusation. Is this outbreak the result of deliberate contamination, or just a freak strain of bacteria? He begins to suspect that the truth might be far more horrific than anyone could have imagined…
Conclusion: I love medical thrillers, and I loved this one as well, but you need an interest in the behaviour of bacteria to really understand this book.

boek 35: Around the world in 80 dates, Jennifer Cox
This book is part travel guide, part relationship primer, as it mixes wry dating realities with preposterously romantic settings and a slightly more than backpacker budget. Author Jennifer Cox, an experienced travel journalist, gets friends around the world to act as matchmaker for an 80-date spree, and the result is entertaining. Yes, she does find him. And yes, they are currently still together, according to the same source that has information about the upcoming movie based on this book.
Conclusion: Funny, breezy read, an ideal holiday book.

boek 36: The Knowledge: The Gobsmacking Galaxy, Kjartan Poskitt
I’ve read this “science for kids-book” like a beginners guide to space. It explains “what all the different lumps and bumbs that float around the sky are, it tells you how to get there and what you’ll find when you arrive”. In a funny way, it tells lots of really satisfying facts, but sometimes you have to look hard for the thruth.
Conclusion: Nice as a “Galaxy for Dummies”, but for real science, you’ll have to find another book to study after reading this one.

boek 37: The Zahir, Paulo Coelho
I borrowed this book, whose title means “the present” or “unable to go unnoticed” in Arabic, from one of the girls with whom I traveled in Libya. Subtitled A Novel of Obsession, this tale is the philosophical and spiritual chronicle of one man’s quest for self-discovery. After the disappearance of his wife, an unnamed best-selling author has to find himself and come to peace with the past, before having a chance to find her again.
Conclusion: This book forces you to think about your own life and your own obsessions. I’d recommend it, but I didn’t particularly like the last chapter. This was my first Coelho, but it will not be my last.

boek 38: Someone like you, Roald Dahl
This is a collection of short stories, the Dahl way: with surprises and horror around the corner. In “Taste”, the stakes of a dinner-party bet reach distasteful heights; a wife serves up a new dish in “Lamb to the Slaughter”; and layers of deceit are stripped away in “Nunc Dimittis”..
Conclusion: Great read, but not to be read in one go, since you’ll start thinking: “Okay, what will be the catch this time?”.