📚 The Magical World of Brendan's Books 🎩

The world is filled with so many books that often it is hard to choose. I find it fascinating how our choice in books relates to our development and thought processes. But as my friend Sam would point out, "This is a chicken and the egg problem". Is it our thought process that push us to like certain books? Or do the books we have choosen to read change our thought patterns? I think it is a bit of both and in the year 2021, I will give the users of this webpage unique personal insight into my choices on books and my thoughts surrounding them.

My Background: I am a studying to be a scientist and have no degrees in literature. In fact, I provide a very unique literary insight that has puzzled many English teachers. To help the inquisitive website viewer understand my perspective: My favorite genres are Magical Realism and Sports Biographies; My all time favorite author is Isabel Allende; My favorite book is "The House of the Spirits". Now, in the words of one of my favorite literature teachers: "Brendan, stop pussy footing around and get to the point!". LET'S READ SOME BOOKS

Scores are given for literary quality, enternainment, and my personal view. Scores go from 0 to 10, with 10 being the best possible.

Books I have Read in 2021 So Far

• Amber Spyglass - Philip Pullman
• Literary Score : 7
• Entertainment Score : 7
• My Personal Score : 4
• Review: Many of my friends have raved about this book and the conclusion of this trilogy, so it was absolutely necessary that I finally get around to finishing it. There are several different story lines that this book jumps between, much like some of my favorite Star Wars books. My favorite story line was by far that of Mary Malone, a scientist who finds herself in a strange place. I thought the book was very creative and rates highly as book for childern and young adults, however there were many story lines that I didn't enjoy very much. In particular, that of Lyra. I really wanted more from her as a character, I felt that she depended too much on one of the male characters. But this is just me, I enjoy female characters who are bold, adventurous, and independent. Often, I find that male authors struggle with this. However, credit where credit is due, Mary Malone was fantastic and really makes the whole book for me.
• My Recommendation: Recommended
• Tracking the Wild Coomba - Robert Cocuzzo
• Literary Score : 5
• Entertainment Score : 10
• My Personal Score : 10
• Review: Fantastic read! I would recommend this book to anyone that is doing a bit of soul searching. In this biography, the author tells the story of his hero, extreme skier Doug Coombs. The author does so with two storylines, one follows the life of Doug Coombs and the other follows the author's quest to ski in the the tracks of Doug. Both storylines are incredibly engaging and the transitions between them are seamless. Throughout this book, the author changes in many of the same ways that I have changed since moving to France. This book has made me think about how to "follow" my heros, how to enjoy the world around me, and how to evaluate risks. I am going to think about this book for a very long time.
• My Recommendation : Highly Recommended
• The Race Against the Stasi - Herbie Sykes
• Literary Score : 7
• Entertainment Score : 7
• My Personal Score : 7
• Review: This book is a fantastic piece of journalism. The author tells the story of East German cyclist Dieter Wiedemann through interviews, letters, and transcripts from his Stasi file. Dieter rose to the top of East German cycling and then defected to West Germany. For me, the impressive thing about this book was the way the narrative was constructed, the author did not try to write lengthy descriptions of places or events, he simply took files, letters, or interviews verbatim. Yet, in doing so, he pieces them together precisely to make an entertaining and comprehensive story. It is truly terrifying reading about the Stasi, I can’t imagine living in such a bizarre world. But reading such stories helps me understand the fears often presented by Germany and the EU regarding big tech. I started this book, because I wanted to read about cycling in the communist bloc, but it turned into so much more.
• My Recommendation : Recommended (Especially to people interested in "forgotten" history)