Philip Reeve - Mortal Engines
Predator Cities begins with Mortal Engines, the first of four novels from Philip Reeves tetralogy. The story takes place in a futuristic steampunk version of London. In the meantime, the cities are mounted on gigantic motors and drive over the earth in search of raw materials to survive.
When Peter Jackson picks up a material, it either comes out brilliantly (Lord of the Rings) or sometimes disappointingly (The Hobbit). Unfortunately this Jackson filming is one of the flops of the year 2018. I left the cinema disappointed, angry and sad. How can this wonderful story be so messed up?
But the tetralogy is not only worth reading for young fans. There are so many great ideas in it, you can't stop being amazed. Only the ending doesn't keep up the level of the previous sections. A pity!
Zadie Smith - White Teeth
When Zadie Smith's debut novel was released in 2000, he was celebrated as a literary sensation, won numerous literary awards, and was on the bestseller lists for weeks. Meanwhile, the book is considered a classic of contemporary English-language literature. In World War II, soldiers Archie Jones and Samad Iqbal miss their big chance of a feat - they let the only Nazi they encounter run away. Thirty years later, both of them struggle in London with burst dreams, younger wives, unruly children and the big issues of their lives: origin, religion, skin color and history.
Sometimes you are just not able to recognize a good book at first sight. 25 (!) years old, Zadie Smith published a novel that rightfully caused a sensation. And now, almost 20 years after its release, I too have fallen for it.
The time was worth it.
Cixin Liu - The Trisolaris Trilogy
China, late 1960s: while the Cultural Revolution rages across the country, a small group of astrophysicists, political commissioners and engineers embark on a top-secret research project. Your task: to send signals into space and to contact extraterrestrials before all other nations. Fifty years later, that vision is becoming a reality - in such a terrifying, disruptive, and global way that this contact will forever change the fate of humanity.
Liu's best-known work The Three-Body Problem is the first volume of the Trisolaris-Trilogy. It will continue with volume 2 The dark forest and volume 3 Death's End. China, late 1960s:
My son referred me to this trilogy and I am grateful to him for it. I have seldom read such a dense trilogy about a possible future of humanity. As fascinating as it is terrifying. An infinite abundance of ideas, concepts, possibilities ... Absolutely worth reading!
Gabriel Garcia Marquez - A Hundred Years of Solitude
"A Hundred Years of Solitude" tells the story of the rise and fall of the Buendía family and the village of Macondo, which at first seems like paradise. Cut off from the rest of the world by swamps, virgin forest and an impenetrable Sierra, it's the place where all dreams, nightmares and discoveries of man seem to repeat themselves again and again.
What can I say? Quite simply - for decades it has been and will remain my favorite book of all time - and I finally read it again! If I had a single book to choose from, this would be the definitive choice. Read and enjoy!
And here are more books that have accompanied me on my travels: