P.G.Wodehouse - My Man Jeeves

12-21-581
Vydáno: 1919
Obsah:
My Man Jeeves is a collection of short stories by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United Kingdom in May 1919 by George Newnes. Of the eight stories in the collection, half feature the popular characters Jeeves and Bertie Wooster, while the others concern Reggie Pepper, an early prototype for Wooster.
Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, KBE ( /ˈwʊd.haʊs/; 15 October 1881 – 14 February 1975) was an English humorist, whose body of work includes novels, short stories, plays, poems, song lyrics, and numerous pieces of journalism. He enjoyed enormous popular success during a career that lasted more than seventy years and his many writings continue to be widely read. Despite the political and social upheavals that occurred during his life, much of which was spent in France and the United States, Wodehouse's main canvas remained that of a pre- and post-World War I English upper-class society, reflecting his birth, education and youthful writing career.

Skóre: 4/10

John Flanagan - Hraničářův učeň: Králové Clonmelu

12-20-580
Originál: Ranger's Apprentice: The Kings of Clonmel
Vydáno: 2010 (2008)
Obsah:
Halt se zabývá vyšetřováním podivné náboženské sekty ve vesničce Selsey na západě Araluenu, zatímco jeho bývalý žák Will se účastní každoročního hraničářského sněmu. Halt zjistí, že skupinka lidí přesvědčila vesničany, aby jim odevzdali všechno své zlato a oni je mohli použít na výrobu zlatého chrámu pro jejich boha Alseiasse. Jejich plány v Selsey jim překazí, ale sekta Nezasvěcených, jak si tito lidé říkají, prchne. Ještě před tím ale jeden z nich naznačí, že Halta zná - ovšem ten ho nikdy předtím neviděl.Na shromáždění je mezitím Willovi oznámeno, že se bude s Haltem dělit o správu Redmontského léna. Poté, co se opět všichni setkají u Jenny, vyšle Crowley oba hraničáře a jejich přítele, mladého rytíře Horáce, na cestu do Clonmelu - jednoho z šesti hibernských království a Haltovy rodné země. Z politických důvodů mají za úkol zastavit Nezasvěcené, kteří stojí za rozvrácením zbývajících pěti království. Halt se zmíní, že zná zdejšího krále - je to totiž jeho mladší dvojče. Musí se tedy postavit nejen nebezpečnému Genovesanu Tennysonovi, vůdci Nezasvěcených, ale i své vlastní minulosti v podobě bratra, který se ho kdysi pokusil zabít.

Skóre: 6/10

Gregory David Roberts - Shantaram

12-19-579
Vydáno: 2005 (2003)
Obsah:
One of the many differences between a good book and a great book is that a great book isn’t just a great read; it’s a great experience. It sucks you in every time you turn your eyes to its chapters, keeping you fully engrossed while the outside world fades into a muffled din. You cease to see your surroundings — whether sand or subway or sofa — in your periphery. Your personal thoughts dissipate, leaving no room in your mind for anything but the story before you. Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts is a great book.
From the first sentence — "It took me a long time and most of the world to learn what I know about love and fate and the choices we make, but the heart of it came to me in an instant, while I was chained to a wall and being tortured" — Lin Ford has our attention. Our narrator is a fleeing convict, escaped from a maximum-security prison in Australia, making his way through Bombay. It is in Bombay that he meets Prabakar, an indispensable man who becomes his friend and guide through the slums of the city.
To continue to delve into the plot of the sprawling novel here, in this small space, would not do the book justice. Instead, simply know that it is a story of a search for friendship, for meaning, for love and for identity. It is a search that leads our protagonist through Mumbai, into war in Afghanistan, along the shores of Goa, and beyond. It is the kind of book from which you’ll extract passages worth highlighting and sharing and referring back to. And in addition to all of this, there's an element of autobiography.
Roberts is, in fact, an Australian ex-convict and a recovering heroin addict. He escaped Pentridge Prison in 1980, where he was serving time for bank robbery, and settled in India, remaining there for ten years. Ultimately, Roberts landed back in prison and finished serving his time. In spite of the parallels between Roberts’ life and Lin’s life, however, Roberts insists his book is fiction — and so can take creative and linguistic liberty, which only adds to the book’s beauty.

Skóre: 10/10