Sidney Sheldon "The Doomsday Conspiracy"

S Sheldon-The Doomsday Conspiracy

I confess: I'm not a fan of ladies' novels. In most cases it is possible to predict who will marry whom, who will suffer a crushing defeat because of their snaky character and who will end up in bed with whom.

Oh, those sex scenes! I do not consider myself as a virtue dragon, but I expect beautiful descriptions of feelings, not the size of genitals and the number of orgasms. I consider this sort of a literature as harmful, after reading r-r-romantics, some ladies would expect heroic deeds in bed from their husbands, forgetting that he worked full time, went shopping and washed the dishes, and therefore, he is tired. Inventions of some roman makers should not be projected to our real life. Let's not forget about that.
            
The one who knew how to write novels in which images of women were full-blooded and independent left us recently, it is Sidney Sheldon. Let’s take the novel "The Doomsday Conspiracy" which is about a UFO that came down to the Earth. Due to a number of reasons, it was decided that all who rode the tour bus and saw the extra-terrestrial apparatus should be destroyed.
            
The protagonist, searching for witnesses (without knowing the true goal of his search!), Robert, is married to a beloved woman, Susan. 

Is it enough just to love in order to save a marriage? Robert often disappears from home on business needs, in his free time he does not want to show the world to his wife: no restaurants, no picnics. He just wants to stay home. His wife feels abandoned.
            
Tell me, is not it happening in our reality? Do pilots, sailors, surgeons, and all these enthusiastic scientists have trouble to pay attention to the one which was once occupying all their thoughts, and now became a Wife? Do they realize what might happen?
          
Susan is a whole hearted woman, a rare type. She is a nurse of the highest caliber. At the time she pulled her future husband away from death, guessing all his sufferings and desires, helping to find the will to live, not to mention the medical procedures.

       
She continues working after marriage as loneliness in an empty house for her is unbearable.

Roald Dahl "The Witches"

Roald Dahl-The Witches

Good books for girls age 10.

Here's what Dahl said about witches: "A witch is always a woman. I do not want to speak badly about women. Most women are lovely. But the fact remains that all witches are women. There is no such thing as a male witch. On the other hand, a ghouls is always a male. So indeed is a barghest. Both are dangerous. But neither of them is half as dangerous as a REAL WITCH. As far as children are concerned, a REAL WITCH is easily the most dangerous of all the living creatures on earth".

I'm not eight years old, but this wonderful children's thriller gave me the heebie-jeebies Dahl is a brilliant writer, one of those that make fall in love with reading. The story is so charmingly horrible that it was impossible to break away. It turns out that witches live among us; we must be vigilant and learn to recognize them knowing three things about their looks.There is also a positive female character in the book - an old granny of a young boy. She smokes cigars and she reveales the secrets of the witches to her grand son, as she is a retired witchophile.

Will they track down The Grand High Witch? Read and discover. I, personally, was a little bit upset by the end.

George Sand "Francia"

Famous classic literature.

My love for the author, George Sand, began in school. The first serious book which I read was a book of George Sand "Consuelo". After that I began to read avidly all the books of this stunning woman with a male pseudonym.

"Francia" is a story that describes the war of 1812. The author dedicated the story to France and Russia. What I really like in the books of George Sand is that she is able not only to show historical patterns and scales of what was happening, but also to touch your soul by her narrative. The story of a young grisette who falls in love with a brilliant Russian officer is described very nicely. Does such a love lead anywhere? Read and find out! I really like that George Sand shows not only the lives of the rich classes, but also those of poor people. She shows how difficult it is to survive and to show respect to everybody. I myself changed my attitude to many things, after reading these kinds of books. I hope that you will like it too!

Here is a link to Francia by George Sand in French (unfortunately, I was not able to find anything in English).

Tatiana de Rosnay "Sarah’s key"

Tatiana de Rosnay-Sarah’s key

Quite an amazing book that touches the Holocaust theme. "Sarah’s Key" refers to those oeuvres that make readers experience a catharsis.

The classical version of "a novel in a novel" creates a tension, and the book does not let you go until the last page. It is a story of how a little Jewish girl, Sarah, escapes from the Auschwitz camp. She runs away to save her younger brother, whom she locked up in a secret cupboard in order to save from death. The story makes even the stone hearted cry. A myriad of feelings experienced by Sarah, who returns home only to find the corpse of her dead brother, expressed with unprecedented power and precision. The future life of Sarah will become a service to the memory of her brother and an attempt to escape from her terrible memories.

The frame of the novel, as it seems to me, is an attempt of the French people to understand that thousands of murders were committed with participation or acquiescence of their ancestors. Julie, the heroine of the frame-novel, investigates the story of Sarah and at the same time reflects on the Holocaust. She wonders if one has to repent in order to have the right to be named as a human being.

Unfortunately, the line of Julie's personal life is rather weak and reduces the overall impression from the novel. If the story of Sarah is a heart tearing drama, the story of Julia is a rather irritating melodrama due to its predictability and ordinariness.