My Cousin Rachel

tags: classics, Daphne du Maurier, gothic, mystery

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐out of 5

From Goodreads

Orphaned at an early age, Philip Ashley is raised by his benevolent older cousin, Ambrose. Resolutely single, Ambrose delights in Philip as his heir, a man who will love his grand home as much as he does himself. But the cosy world the two construct is shattered when Ambrose sets off on a trip to Florence. There he falls in love and marries - and there he dies suddenly. In almost no time at all, the new widow - Philip's cousin Rachel - turns up in England. Despite himself, Philip is drawn to this beautiful, sophisticated, mysterious woman like a moth to the flame. And yet ...might she have had a hand in Ambrose's death?

Philip Ashley at 18 months old was brought up by his cousin Ambrose when his parents died. The trouble started when Ambrose went to Italy for plant specimens and got married to a half Italian half English woman. The English parent of the Countess, as she prefers to be called, is a cousin of Ambrose and Philip. 

Ambrose hadn't come home to England for almost 1 year because he started getting sick and became paranoid that his wife is trying to kill him. He was able to send a few short letters to Philip when cousin Rachel is out. Philip went to Italy to try to rescue Ambrose but he was already late. Ambrose has died and the Countess left immediately after his death so they never met. 

Philip was angry at the gold digger cousin Rachel and imagined her as a huge fat ugly woman who didn't deserve his beloved Ambrose. Cousin Rachel as part of her scheme, came to England and the gullible easy to manipulate Philip instantly fell in love. Cousin Rachel is the opposite of a warty ugly witch. She is pretty, small and with dainty small hands with lovely fingers. Poor Philip. He had no idea and never seen a "real" woman. He doesn't think his childhood girl friend is a woman. She's just there as a girl He is so enamored with Rachel that he couldn't accept that she has a purpose in coming to England. Philip gave in only to discover the truth. He is frustratingly childlike that I wanted to shake him up or slap him upside the head for his naivete. However, all the feelings of aggravations while reading became moot with the great ending. 

Daphne du Maurier is a master of atmospheric superb stories. I loved this book. 

Highly recommended.

The City And Its Uncertain Walls

Tags: Japanese, magical realism 

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐out of 5

From Goodreads

We begin with a nameless young couple: a boy and a girl, teenagers in love. One day, she disappears . . . and her absence haunts him for the rest of his life.

Thus begins a search for this lost love that takes the man into middle age and on a journey between the real world and an other world—a mysterious, perhaps imaginary, walled town where unicorns roam, where a Gatekeeper determines who can enter and who must remain behind, and where shadows become untethered from their selves.

Listening to his own dreams and premonitions, the man leaves his life in Tokyo behind and ventures to a small mountain town, where he becomes the head librarian, only to learn the mysterious circumstances surrounding the gentleman who had the job before him. As the seasons pass and the man grows more uncertain about the porous boundaries between these two worlds, he meets a strange young boy who helps him to see what he’s been missing all along.

Murakami is at his best in this long-ish novel. All his trademark elements are present: unfulfilled romance, unicorns, alternate worlds, ghosts, jazz music, weird interesting people. Also, shout out to two animated movies - Hayao Miyasaki's Spirited Away and the Beatles' Yellow Submarine. 

The book is divided into 3 parts which came full circle. Very enjoyable read and ending but only for die hard Haruki Murakami fans like myself.

Labyrinth Of Reflections

tags: Russian, sci-fi, thriller, virtual reality

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐out of 5

From Goodreads 

The story is set in the near future, where a chance invention allows people to experience virtual reality without the need for costly hardware — a seconds long movie drives a person into a sort of psychosis, forcing one's subconsciousness to perceive a simple 3D game as real world.

Soon after the invention, Microsoft and IBM build a virtual city on the Internet called "Deeptown" (named so after the street name for VR — the Deep), which anyone is free to log on and enter. The painted world becomes a second home for millions people — but some of them 'sink', i.e. forget to return to the reality and eventually die of dehydration.

Only a small group of people calling themselves divers are capable of leaving the Deep at will. Gods of the virtual world, they help those who sink.

The book has similarities to Mamoru Oshii's Avalon movie although the book came out earlier in 1995 and the movie in 2001. Players in both the book and movie get addicted and don't want to leave the game for different reasons. In the movie, players who reach the top most level become catatonic and they are removed to a hospital facility with fellow players but their "gaming persons" stay in the level.

In the book, the players who don't want to stop playing are anonymous and do not provide their locations so they die from malnutrition until a diver or savior locates, convinces, and guides them out of the game to get some nourishment.

The setting feels outdated specially the technology and lingo. The players only use a computer and a headset, no fancy equipment that are not affordable for everybody. The story is more of a thriller, IMHO, than purely a sci-fi novel.

I like it although I don't know anything about virtual reality games. This Russian writer is becoming one of my favorite fiction book authors.

The Seven Dials Mystery

tags: murder mystery, secret society

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of 5

From Goodreads

When a practical joke involving eight alarm clocks turns into murder, the case is taken up by Bundle Brent and Jimmy Thesiger. With the help of Bill Eversleigh they discover that the Seven Dials Club is not only a nightclub but also the headquarters of a Secret Society.

Agatha Christie's murder mystery is quite different from her regular whodunnits in not following the usual steps/methods. The short novel has young people in their early twenties instead of older folks trying to solve 2 murders with the help of Scotland Yard Superintendent Battle. 

I read the first book in this series with Battle as the investigating officer, The Secret of Chimneys. I have yet to read the rest. Or maybe I have but forgotten. 

Lady Eileen Brent or Bundle to her family and friends, leads the investigation. Her parents who own the Chimneys are renting it to a Mr. Owen Coote and his wife Maria. Bundle wasn't at the party in that house when one of her friends died of overdose but is actually a murder. Another friend died a few days later from a gun shot wound. Bundle thought she ran him over with her car and the dying boy said a few words that made her start her own investigations with the help of her friends. 

I like the unexpected very enjoyable twist and also the humor throughout specially the brief appearances of Bundle's father. The part where an older man (late 20s or early 30s), Lord George Lomax, who works at the Foreign Office, suddenly thinks of Bundle as a wife material. His marriage proposal is so funny and awkward that reminded me of Mr. Collins asking Lizzy Bennet to be his wife. Bundle turned him down because she likes one of her friends. There certainly is some romance going on in this short novel. The theme (secret societies, international intrigues, theft) and young female character as main protagonist  have similarities to a few of Patricia Wentworth's stand alone novels.

I listened to the audio book and loved it. Highly recommended for Agatha Christie fans. 

Hotel Lucky Seven

tags: action, assassins, humor, Japanese, thriller

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐out of 5

From Goodreads

Bullet Train’s hapless underworld operative and his handler are back in this thrilling new novel from internationally bestselling author Kotaro Isaka. In Bullet Train, underworld operative Ladybird was tasked by his handler Maria Beetle with retrieving a suitcase from a high-speed train in Japan. The job did not go according to plan, to the delight of millions of readers and movie fans around the world.

Will the unluckiest assassin in the world find things easier this time around? All he has to do is deliver a painting to a hotel guest, a portrait made by his daughter. Easy enough, except when Ladybird makes the delivery, he realizes that the guest is clearly not the guy in the painting. Then he attacks Ladybird, they fight, and the guest ends up dead. How can such simple jobs always go wrong?

Assassin Nanao AKA Ladybug, is back making his job harder for himself because he is so unlucky. He gets entangled with a group of assassins and "cleaners" inside a Japanese luxury hotel. 

The novel is as good as the previous Bullet Train with all the weird named but somehow funny characters. Cola and Soda work as a team, the Six beautiful but vicious assassins as the second team, and the "cleaners" team Blanket and Pillow are 2 small in stature girls but equally deadly. 

These teams are linked to each other although not working for the same end. I think my favorite character this time is Soda specially when he starts waxing philosophical which has an impact on Ladybug. 

There is a twist at the end that is very satisfying and makes perfect sense. There's a hint of romance too at the very end.

Highly recommended.

The Recruit Season 2

 

tags: action, comedy, espionage, Netflix series 

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐out of 5

The second season has a huge hole in the story but I still loved the nonstop action, the dramedy, South Korean culture and specially the actors Noah Centineo and Yoo Teo. 

Highly recommended

The Hot Spot

tags: alien, comedy, Japanese dorama, Netflix

Sundays

From AsianWiki

Kiyomi Endo is a single mother living in a town at the foot of Mt. Fuji in Yamanashi Prefecture. She works at a business hotel. One day, she happens to meet an alien. If she was a pure-hearted girl, she would probably try develop a friendship with the alien and fight against injustice in the world, but she's a little different. As an adult, she has experienced good and bad in the world. She asks the alien to solve minor events at her work or in her personal life without upsetting the alien.