مزرعة الحيوان | جورج اورويل

مزرعة الحيوان ~ جورج اورويل
المترجم: محمد بن عيد العريمي

By: Um 3azzan
Blog: Um 3azzan’s Thoughts

قبل ان اتحدث عن الكتاب يجب ان اشيد بترجمة هذا الكتاب حيث انني لم اشعر ولو للحظة انني اقرأ كتاباً مترجما!

الرواية هي عن مجموعة من الحيوانات التي قررت ان تثور على صاحب المزرعة وبالفعل ثارت ونجحت في ايجاد استقلالها ولكن المغزى الحقيقي للرواية هو ما يحدث بعد الاستقلال.

قرأت الكتاب قبل سنوات ولم افهم معناه مثلما فهمته عندما قرأته والشرق الأوسط يصنع ثوراته. ، لقد ابصرني ان ما اتخيله نجاحا باهرا قد لا يكون كذلك وان علينا في الفترة الحالية التريث وتقييم وضعنا كعرب قبل الانجراف نحو ثورة بعد الأخرى.

بصراحة تقييمي للكتاب هو ٩,٥ من ١٠ و ذلك ليس للغته او القصة والحبكة ولكن لان الكاتب استطاع بفكرة بسيطة ان يفسر سلسلة كل ثورة ونهايتها!

انصح بقراءة الكتاب لكل مهتم بالاحداث الراهنة ومن يبحث عن تفسير وتقييم لها، لا انكر ابداً ان الكتاب بالفعل غير وجهة نظري للوضع الحالي و هذا قل ما يحدث!

Nineteen Minutes | Jodi Picoult

Nineteen Minutes ~ Jodi Picoult

By: Kitten
Blog: Hallucinations of a Kitten

A boy named Peter has been bullied by the same students for 17 years of his life. Ever since day one of kindergarten his superman lunch box that his mother got him had been thrown out of the bus. Coming into highschool was no different when you're in the same school, Sterling High where anyone knew everyone.

One March 6th 2007, Peter goes to school and kills off 10 students and wounds another 18 of them. A policeman interferes just in time to spare the lives of the rest.

The next 450 pages or so deal with trying to crack up the mystery and motives of Peter. Truth be told, only few were working on Peter's side when all of Sterling wanted nothing more than to see him dead. The parents of the deceased cannot see a reason why he should be alive when their sons and daughters aren't.

The question that Picoult lays in front of us is: If your son says the bullying was unbearable but his revenge was murder, what would you do?

Personal opinion: The reason why I like Picoult's work is that throughout her novels she leaves you hanging on the many details yet little clues. She gives you room to ponder on your own, to come up with scenarios while having the scenes of the story playing in your head over and over again even when you've put the book down. You'll find that there's always a reason to come back and read in order to find out if your assumptions were right and that's the most important silver lining; they're not. Most of the time, that is.

My Rating: 8.5/10 I liked it a lot that giving it a 15 would suffice but then I wished if the ending was different. I wished if it didn't have to be a sad and painful ending to the characters. One way to find out is to read it. You'll easily find it in Borders; just look for the shelves with Picoult's name.

I recommend it to those who would want to understand what a mother-daughter/son relationship is like, especially if those in the question were high school teenagers.

الأبله | فيدور دوستويفسكي

الأبله ~ فيدور دوستويفسكي
ترجمة: مؤيد خطاب و عوض الحسين

By: Um 3azzan
Blog: Um 3azzan’s Thoughts

هذه اول رواية كاملة اقرأها لفيدور دوستوفيسكي، وكنت فعلاً متشوقة لقراءتها بعد ما سمعته عن اسلوب الكاتب في الكتابة عن الحالات الانسانية

الرواية تدور في احداثها بين مدن روسية واحيانا اوروبية، وتحكي قصة شاب مصاب بالصرع وما فهمته ان اصابته هذه اثرت على عقله، ولكنه مع ذلك كثيرا ما كان يقيم الامور بدقة وبصراحته يفاجيء من حوله، وأنا اقرأ الرواية شعرت وكأن العادات والتقاليد المتبعة يوما ما في روسيا هي ذاتها التي نتبعها نحن (او المفروض ان نتبعها) من احترام للاخرين وخصوصية وضع المرأة واحترام سمعتها، ونقطة اخرى تطرق لها وهو ان الكاتب بين ان للحب انواعاً كثيرة، فهي مشاعر متخبطة لا تفهم وتحمل بين طياتها الكثير من المشاعر الأخرى

رأي الشخصي: لا انكر انني استمتعت كثيرا باحداث الرواية، وحزنت لبعض الشخصيات (و ان كانت الاسماء الروسية ترهقني) ولكن(وقد تكون للترجمة سببل في ذلك) لم اجدها بالعمق الذي توقعته. ولولا عنوان الكتاب لم افهم ان شخصية البطل هي لشخص ابله. اعتقد ان نقل الاحداث من الروسية الى العربية لم يكن بالعمق المطلوب، حتى ان بعض المواقف استوقفتني وكنت اجزم انها حتما كتبت بطريقة افضل في الرواية الاصلية.

تقيمي للكتاب: اعطي الرواية ٧ من ١٠ ولكني ما زلت اعتقد انني كنت ساستمتع فيها اكثر ان كانت ترجمتها افضل من هذه

انصح بها لمن يريد قراءة شيء من الأدب الروسي ولكن يحبذ ان تكون لمترجم أخر. سمعت ان ترجمة د. سامي الدروبي لأعمال دوستوفيسكي افضل بكثير

Shadowland | Peter Straub

Shadowland ~ Peter Straub
By: Fatma Al-Hajri

Shadowland, by Peter Straub begins in a private prep school for boys. In this school, Del and Tom, two freshmen boys fascinated by magic, find each other and form a strong friendship. Together,they form a bond based on their interest in magic tricks. In the seconed half of the book, the boys retire for the summer to the estate of Del's uncle, Shadowland.

Del's uncle is a half-crazy, alcoholic, retired magician. He sets about teaching the boys magic or the art of illusion. At Shadowland, nothing is as it seems. An hour can feel like all day. The sun can set at 11am. You can find yourself suddenly half-way across a continent, just to find that you haven't moved from your spot at all. There are others living at Shadowland that are unseen, and whose existence is denied. There are rules that are made in the hopes of being broken. In the end, the boys struggle through an alternate world where dark forces are at play so they can escape from Shadowland.

Personal Opinion: I usually love horror coming of age books but I failed to like this one. I felt that it consists of many interesting events but there was no connection between them. The first half of the book was in a universe and the second half was in a different universe. Also I didn't get the point of going on and on about the character SKELETON in the first half if he wasn't really important in the second half. Also I didn't like the heroes, Tom Flanagan and his friend, Del Nightingale. They were boring and a bit annoying. Even the villain was boring.

My rating: 3/10

I recommend it only to Peter Straub hardcore fans.

Fragile Things | Neil Gaiman

Fragile Things ~ Neil Gaiman
By: Fatma Al-Hajri

A collection of stories (and a few poems) by the famous fantasy author Neil Gaiman. In this book amysterious circus terrifies an audience for one extraordinary performance before disappearing into the night, taking one of the spectators along with it . . . In a novella set two years after the events of American Gods, Shadow pays a visit to an ancient Scottish mansion, and finds himself trapped in a game of murder and monsters . . .

In a Hugo Award-winning short story set in a strangely altered Victorian England, the great detective Sherlock Holmes must solve a most unsettling royal murder . . .

Two teenage boys crash a party and meet the girls of their dreams—and nightmares . . .
In a Locus Award-winning tale, the members of an excusive epicurean club lament that they've eaten everything that can be eaten, with the exception of a legendary, rare, and exceedingly dangerous Egyptian bird . . .

Such marvelous creations and more—including a short story set in the world of The Matrix, and others set in the worlds of gothic fiction and children's fiction—can be found in this collection, which showcases Gaiman's storytelling brilliance as well as his terrifyingly entertaining dark sense of humor. By turns delightful, disturbing, and diverting.

Personal opinion: It is hard to rate a book that is a collection of short stories. Some stories were great and some were OK and then there were some which were just ugly.

I was really excited to read some of the stories, like "A Study in Emerald" which combines Sherlock Holmes with the world of H.P. Lovecraft. I was really curios to see how it would turn out and it was very good.

My other favorites in this collection are:

- "Forbidden Brides of the Faceless Slaves in the Secret House of the Night of Dread Desire " which has a strange name and a stranger blot, but is really enjoyable.
- "Other People " show us hell and it is really scary.
- "Harlequin Valentine " I liked it even though I don't know anything about Harlequins.
- "Sunbird" really engaging, you read it and you will have an idea about what will happen next and you can see the characters going slowly to their doom and that what makes this story great.

"October in the Chair ", "Bitter Grounds ", "My Life ", "Feeders and Eaters" and " Goliath " were good too.

Now we move on to the ugly starting with " Keepsakes and Treasures ", I really cant understand why this story was ever written. It tells the story of unlikable group of people and knowing their background didn't make me like them or appreciate their twisted life.

"The Problem of Susan" made feel uncomfortable, it is disturbing and I couldn't enjoy it.

"The Monarch of The Glen", I didn't read AMERICAN GODS so I didn't care much about Shadow. Also Beowulf was the worst movie I have ever seen, so reading this story reminded me of the movie and I immediately hated it. Not to forget the presence of the horrible Mr Alice and Mr Smith from "Keepsakes and Treasures " which was another factor to destroy the story for me.

The rest of the short stories didn't leave an impact on me, they just weren't memorable

My Rating: 7/10

I recommend it to readers who like fantasy and can enjoy a collection of short stories. Also for readers who want to read their first Neil Gaiman book.