Title: Silk
Author: Alessandro Baricco
Publisher: Vintage Books
Pages: 91

I read on a fansite that Keira Knightley recommended this book as a summer read. She is starring in the movie version, which will be released in 2007. Because I am definitely going to see this movie, I decided to read the book first.

The story is quite simple. It's about a Frenchman, Hervé Joncour, who trades in silkworm eggs in the 1800s. He always goes to Africa to get them, but then there is an epidemic that makes the eggs useless. The entire world seems to have been stricken by this epidemic, except for Japan. He makes a deal with another silk trader in the village and goes to Japan, which is a dangerous thing to do. Japan is very hostile toward foreigners and he doesn't speak the language.

In Japan he meets a man, who speaks French fluently. He is willing to make a deal with him. While Hervé is there he meets a young woman, who he immediately falls in love with. But he is married and his wife Hélène is waiting for him in France. He becomes so possessed with the girl that he can't get her out of his head when he goes back to France. He wants to go back to Japan almost immediately...

It is a very easy read, in the sense of number of pages, but also in language use and sentence constructions. The sentences aren't very long and there is a lot of repetition. For instance, the journey to and from Africa is repeated almost exactly when he goes for a second time.

The writing style is refreshing. The novel is divided into several scenes that take up about a page, sometimes 2. You could call them one page chapters. There isn't that much dialogue. Even though the author has a great eye for small details the descriptions of places or people aren't that extensive. This gives the story a very direct no-nonsense feeling to it. You don't feel like going into a maze of descriptions and forgetting about the story, like some other novels.

In short it is a very interesting, refreshing historical novel that keeps you turning the pages and wanting to finish it in one go. One thing I wanted to see more of was the wife's side of the story. You mostly see everything from Hervé's point of view and are sort of wondering what is happening with Hélène. I think that if the author would have spent more time on her side as well, I would have felt more sorry for her. I wonder how they will take of this in the movie. Keira is the first person on the credits list, so I hope they will make the part of Hélène a bit bigger. I'm sure they will have to add lots to the story to make it into a 2 hour movie.

Verdict: I give the book a 8.0/10

Title: Maskerade (A Discworld Novel)
Author: Terry Pratchett
Publisher: Harper Collins

When I was in Italy I read this crazy novel. It is a parody on the Phantom of the Opera, set in his 'Discworld'. I didn't know it was part of this series, until I opened the book, but I didn't make the story less understandable. I do advise you to read the Phantom of the Opera or watch the beautiful movie, otherwise you might not get some of the jokes.

The story is as follows: Agnes Nitt/Perdita X. Dream (she has a split personality) auditions for an Opera. She lands a part in the Chorus, because even though her voice is beautiful and can do a range of things, she "doesn't have the right look" = She is fat.

She has to live in the Opera House of Ankh-Morpork, where strange things happen. It is supposedly haunted by a Ghost who has everyone afraid of him. Meanwhile, Two witches, Nanny Ogg & Granny Weatherwax, from Lancre, the country in which Agnes was born, go to Ankh-Morpork to fetch Agnes. They need a third witch for their coven, since the last one became a Queen (this probably happened in the novel before this one). Agnes, however, doesn't want to be a witch...

What I like about this novel is that a lot of the Phantom characters have been incorporated into the Discworld story. Most of them have been renamed, but are still very recognizable. We meet Christine who, in this version, is a very dumb girl who can't sing and she's possible anorexic, since she only eats celery. She also isn't brave at all and faints the entire time. The owners of the Opera are money-obsessed people who don't care about the arts. Madame Giry appears in the form of Mrs. Plinge and Meg Giry is a boy called Walter Plinge. The biggest star of the Phantom of the Opera also makes a smashing appearance: The chandelier. But the prize for coolest character goes to: Death. He turns out to be a pretty nice guy who only speaks in capitals.

The story is hilarious. I laughed my ass off a lot of times. I loved that a lot of the weirdness was on the fact they were 'doing Opera' as if that would be a logical explanation for it. I'm becoming a TP-fan. I already loved his Good Omens (with Neil Gaiman) and this book has similar humour;A very clever kind of humour that sometimes doesn't register right away. It's a very easy read and it will cheer you up when you're down.

For people who are new to Discworld there's a character glossary after the story. It explains who all the main characters in Discworld are, even ones that don't appear in this particular book. There's also a cool Quiz and a Discworld Travel Guide.

Verdict: I absolutely loved it. It's my kind of humour so I give it a solid 8.5/10.