All Forms of Art

Javier Marías’ The Infatuations ( Los enamoramientos ) is a thought-provoking novel that transcends its title. Though it suggests a romantic tale, the book is much more—an exploration of grief, love, moral ambiguity, and the inner turmoil of human consciousness.  First published in 2011, this literary gem earned the prestigious European Literary Prize , cementing Marías' status as one of Spain’s most intellectually rich authors. A Psychological Journey, Not Just a Plot While the novel begins with an almost voyeuristic interest in a seemingly perfect couple, it quickly evolves into something far deeper. The narrator, María, becomes entangled in their lives after a violent tragedy. As she uncovers a disturbing truth, she confronts a moral dilemma that forces her to reevaluate everything she believed about right, wrong, and her own desires. Marías masterfully portrays María’s internal conflict , capturing the hesitation, fear, and emotional complexity of someone who stumbles up...

James Hankins’ The Prettiest One is a fast-paced psychological thriller that hooks you from the very first page and keeps you guessing until the end.  Known for his gripping suspense novels, Hankins delivers another twist-laden tale that blends mystery, action, and psychological intrigue. If you enjoy stories that challenge memory, identity, and trust, this might just be the book for you. A Chilling Start The novel opens with a chilling premise: a woman wakes up in a strange house with no memory of where she is or how she got there. Bloodied and disoriented, she soon discovers she’s been missing for months. As she pieces together the fragments of her forgotten past, a darker truth begins to emerge—one that threatens her sanity and her life. Hankins dives straight into the action, giving readers a protagonist grappling with memory loss, trauma, and fear. This setup creates immediate intrigue and raises questions that carry the momentum of the story. The Main Character Fell ...

This was my first book using Kindle App on my tablet and it was the best choice I could’ve ever made. Named by Goodreads the Best Book of December 2015, The Short Drop is an adrenaline-filled thriller which I wasn’t able to put down. Clever and Fast Action Matthew FitzSimmons presents us with a good and intelligent story, with deep characters with whom we easily identify ourselves.  The plot is a tad complicated, yet it’s easy to follow, everything happens so quickly, and the ending will most likely blow your mind, in a good way.  It’s not that the story is absolutely unique or that you’ve never heard of any story like that. Instead, how you are conducted and made to think along the way pulls you in and keeps you there. Like any good mystery book, nothing is what it appears to be, and no one is who they claim to be. More Than You'd Expect It begins with the disappearance of an important politician’s daughter and can be described as a political thriller. Yet,...

Since the beginning, Darwin's theory was attacked by his contemporary fellows, but this book tried to take this to a whole other level, building on a story which, supposedly, shows us the naturalist's darker side. Darnton made a bold choice by giving us this unique vision of the man who changed the way we see the world. Avoiding Boredom Throughout the book, the story is being told under 3 different points of view, each with their own mysteries. We accompany the H.M.S. Beagle's trip, with the young Charles Darwin on board, aswell as through his daughter Bessie's journals, his older years, and finally the journey of two modern investigators and their discoveries. All this is interwoven in a very curious and effective manner. The narrative could perhaps become dense or tedious at some points, so this "voice changing" in the book is certainly a welcome addition and tends to help the reader keep their attention and interest. In my opinion, the author m...

I finally finished reading the second book in George  R.R. Martin 's saga, A Song of Ice and Fire, and even though I felt the need to slow down a bit, I really liked how  he worked the story. Improving Plot As we read, the story grows further and further apart from what's presented to us on the TV show, and my interest rises. New characters gain a significant voice, and the plot extends, taking on new shapes. You will get to know new places and people, and even have some past events finally explained in greater detail. The story becomes more dense, and it could prove complicated at first (especially for those who don't even follow the TV series ). Still, the amazing writing will help visualize the complex political intrigue, the crude bloodshed, as well as the mystic and magic that is rising throughout the whole realm.   No Easy Opponents, No Easy Choices The book is deeply involving, mainly due to the characters that are so alive and complex, full of ambigui...

I first came across The Fault in Our Stars thanks to my former students—sweet, bright-eyed teenagers who were completely captivated by this emotional teen romance. They spoke about it with such passion, especially about the love story, that my curiosity was eventually piqued. Initially, I watched the Twentieth Century Fox film adaptation. While I found it touching and emotionally powerful, something about it felt a bit… surface-level. I had a feeling the book might go deeper—and it truly did. A Story That Goes Beyond Illness Yes, this is a story about illness. But The Fault in Our Stars is not just another "sick lit" novel . What makes it different is the depth of its characters, particularly Hazel Grace Lancaster. John Green doesn't just give us a teenage girl with cancer—he gives us a teenage girl with a voice , a sharp wit, dreams, fears, sarcasm, and a whole world inside her mind. And that, in my opinion, is what sets this book apart. Hazel refuses to le...

Daughter of Dust  is a biographical book about Leila Aziz, a Sudanese orphaned girl, raised among other children in her condition in the “Institute for the Protected”, in which no one was really protected. The Hard Truth Ignored by Many As she grows, Leila wants to lead a normal life and be respected by the world. Subjects like female mutilation and the punishment for having sex out of wedlock, among others, are exposed by the eyes of a child who oftentimes doesn't really understand what is happening. It hurts This story calls out against the way women are treated in Sudan. For that, Wallace refuses to write it overly sentimentally; she describes what's happening in a crude and direct way that makes us shocked and angry. Any change in Leila's life is a new possibility, and you will wish for her to succeed and find a safer place. Never Stop Fighting  Along its pages, Leila fights for what she believes in and wants and never lets her birth condition dete...