Medhat The Fanatic Reader's bookshelf: 1-multiple-copies en-US Mon, 13 Jan 2025 01:03:51 -0800 60 Medhat The Fanatic Reader's bookshelf: 1-multiple-copies 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 'Salem's Lot 5413 Also contains: One For the Road, Jerusalem's Lot. For standalone novel see ISBN 9780450031069.

Stephen King's second novel, the classic vampire bestseller 'Salem's Lot, tells the story of evil in small-town America. For the first time in a major trade edition, this terrifying novel is accompanied by previously unpublished material from King's archive, two short stories, and eerie photographs that bring King's fictional darkness and evil to vivid life.

When Stephen King’s classic thriller 'Salem's Lot hit the stands in 1975, it thrilled and terrified millions of readers with tales of demonic evil in small-town America. Now, thirty years later and still scaring readers witless, 'Salem's Lot reemerges in a brilliant new edition, complete with photographs, fifty pages of deleted and alternate scenes, and two short stories related to the events of the novel.

While the original edition of 'Salem's Lot will forever be a premier horror classic, 'Salem's Lot: Illustrated Edition, with the inclusion of material from King’s archive, is destined to become a classic in its own right and a must-have for all Stephen King fans. In this edition, the hair-raising story of Jerusalem’s Lot, a small town in Maine whose inhabitants succumb to the evil allure of a new resident, is told as the author envisioned it, complete with fifty pages of alternate and deleted scenes. With a new introduction by the author, two short stories related to the events and residents of Jerusalem’s Lot, the lavishly creepy photographs of Jerry Uelsmann, and a stunning new page design, this edition brings the story to life in words and pictures as never before.

No library will be complete without this ideal collector’s item for any King aficionado, the definitive illustrated edition of the great 'Salem's Lot.]]> 594 Stephen King 0385516487 Medhat The Fanatic Reader 0 4.28 1975 'Salem's Lot
author: Stephen King
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 4.28
book published: 1975
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/13
shelves: to-read, 1-in-dubai, 1-multiple-copies, 2023-tbr, exclusive-unsigned-edition, 0-cinema-stack
review:

]]> Northanger Abbey 18300264
"Jane Austen is a genius, and Northanger Abbey is hugely underrated." � Martin Amis]]> 286 Jane Austen 009958929X Medhat The Fanatic Reader 3 3.91 1817 Northanger Abbey
author: Jane Austen
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1817
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/29
date added: 2024/12/29
shelves: to-read-in-2nd-half-2020, 1-multiple-copies, 1-in-dubai, non-disposable, on-hold, 1-in-dubai-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Lost Symbol (Robert Langdon, #3)]]> 2548559
Washington DC: Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned at the last minute to deliver an evening lecture in the Capitol Building. Within moments of his arrival, however, a disturbing object - gruesomely encoded with five symbols - is discovered at the epicenter of the Rotunda. It is, he recognizes, an ancient invitation, meant to beckon its recipient towards a long-lost world of hidden esoteric wisdom.

When Langdon's revered mentor, Peter Solomon - philanthropist and prominent mason - is brutally kidnapped, Langdon realizes that his only hope of saving his friend's life is to accept this mysterious summons and follow wherever it leads him.

Langdon finds himself quickly swept behind the facade of America's most historic city into the unseen chambers, temples and tunnels which exist there. All that was familiar is transformed into a shadowy, clandestine world of an artfully concealed past in which Masonic secrets and never-before-seen revelations seem to be leading him to a single impossible and inconceivable truth.

A brilliantly composed tapestry of veiled histories, arcane icons and enigmatic codes, The Lost Symbol is an intelligent, lightning-paced thriller that offers surprises at every turn. For, as Robert Langdon will discover, there is nothing more extraordinary or shocking than the secret which hides in plain sight...]]> 509 Dan Brown 059305427X Medhat The Fanatic Reader 0 to-read, 1-multiple-copies 3.50 2009 The Lost Symbol (Robert Langdon, #3)
author: Dan Brown
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/27
shelves: to-read, 1-multiple-copies
review:

]]> Inferno (Robert Langdon, #4) 20819687 This an alternate cover for 9781400079155

Harvard professor of symbology Robert Langdon awakens in an Italian hospital, disoriented and with no recollection of the past thirty-six hours, including the origin of the macabre object hidden in his belongings. With a relentless female assassin trailing them through Florence, he and his resourceful doctor, Sienna Brooks, are forced to flee. Embarking on a harrowing journey, they must unravel a series of codes, which are the work of a brilliant scientist whose obsession with the end of the world is matched only by his passion for one of the most influential masterpieces ever written, Dante Alighieri'sThe Inferno.

Dan Brown has raised the bar yet again, combining classical Italian art, history, and literature with cutting-edge science in this sumptuously entertaining thriller.]]> 611 Dan Brown Medhat The Fanatic Reader 3
There was an excessive amount of description of the architecture and monuments of Florence; you might feel like you are reading a tourist guide-book. I know, I know, this is a Dan Brown book, and I should always expect such tactic from him, but this time the description made the book a bit painful to read sometimes. In other words, it felt 'at times' that there were too many descriptions and less actions.

Meanwhile, I enjoyed how Dan Brown introduced us to Langdon in this book with an exceptional way; in other words, with no memory, making the book, by doing that, more challenging and ubiquitous.

Along with that, I so enjoyed reading about Sienna Brooks. She is an exceptional character, and I believe that she was attributed with enough respect and elegance, and she is undeniably beautiful in every way she might not understand or admit. I must add that I loved how mysterious and devoted she was depicted in Inferno.

In addition, I thoroughly enjoyed the chapters that feature some of the supportive characters: The Provost, Knowlton, and Dr. Elizabeth Sinskey.

This was really not a bad book. I just wish I did not re-read i; however, when I will perceive this book, I wouldn't do that by judging it according to this re-read, but the first time I read it and enjoyed enormously. With a 3-star rating and an original 5-star one, I highly recommend you read this book!]]> 3.95 2013 Inferno (Robert Langdon, #4)
author: Dan Brown
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2013
rating: 3
read at: 2016/09/17
date added: 2024/07/04
shelves: 10yearsofdanbrown, 1-multiple-copies
review:
This was my second time reading Inferno, and I must admit that I couldn't enjoy it as much as I did before.

There was an excessive amount of description of the architecture and monuments of Florence; you might feel like you are reading a tourist guide-book. I know, I know, this is a Dan Brown book, and I should always expect such tactic from him, but this time the description made the book a bit painful to read sometimes. In other words, it felt 'at times' that there were too many descriptions and less actions.

Meanwhile, I enjoyed how Dan Brown introduced us to Langdon in this book with an exceptional way; in other words, with no memory, making the book, by doing that, more challenging and ubiquitous.

Along with that, I so enjoyed reading about Sienna Brooks. She is an exceptional character, and I believe that she was attributed with enough respect and elegance, and she is undeniably beautiful in every way she might not understand or admit. I must add that I loved how mysterious and devoted she was depicted in Inferno.

In addition, I thoroughly enjoyed the chapters that feature some of the supportive characters: The Provost, Knowlton, and Dr. Elizabeth Sinskey.

This was really not a bad book. I just wish I did not re-read i; however, when I will perceive this book, I wouldn't do that by judging it according to this re-read, but the first time I read it and enjoyed enormously. With a 3-star rating and an original 5-star one, I highly recommend you read this book!
]]> <![CDATA[Angels & Demons (Robert Langdon, #1)]]> 26187
A devastating new weapon of destruction.
When world-renowned Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned to a Swiss research facility to analyze a mysterious symbol -- seared into the chest of a murdered physicist -- he discovers evidence of the unimaginable: the resurgence of an ancient secret brotherhood known as the Illuminati...the most powerful underground organization ever to walk the earth. The Illuminati has now surfaced to carry out the final phase of its legendary vendetta against its most hated enemy -- the Catholic Church.

Langdon's worst fears are confirmed on the eve of the Vatican's holy conclave, when a messenger of the Illuminati announces they have hidden an unstoppable time bomb at the very heart of Vatican City. With the countdown under way, Langdon jets to Rome to join forces with Vittoria Vetra, a beautiful and mysterious Italian scientist, to assist the Vatican in a desperate bid for survival.
Embarking on a frantic hunt through sealed crypts, dangerous catacombs, deserted cathedrals, and even the most secretive vault on earth, Langdon and Vetra follow a 400-year-old trail of ancient symbols that snakes across Rome toward the long-forgotten Illuminati lair...a clandestine location that contains the only hope for Vatican salvation.

An explosive international thriller, Angels & Demons careens from enlightening epiphanies to dark truths as the battle between science and religion turns to war.]]> 572 Dan Brown Medhat The Fanatic Reader 5 3.90 2000 Angels & Demons (Robert Langdon, #1)
author: Dan Brown
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2000
rating: 5
read at: 2016/08/12
date added: 2024/04/21
shelves: golden-books-2016, must-reads, favorites, 10yearsofdanbrown, hardcovers, 1-multiple-copies
review:
This novel easily takes a 5-star rating. My journey through Angels & Demons is as epic and mind-blowing as my first time reading it 10 years ago. It has every single aspect and topic I adore and cherish in a novel: Secret brotherhood, symbols, art, murder, non-stop suspense, the Vatican architecture. #10YearsWithDanBrown
]]> <![CDATA[The Talisman (The Talisman, #1)]]> 59219
You are about to take a journey... a terrifying trip across America where young Jack Sawyer is searching for the Talisman, the only thing that can save his dying mother. His quest takes him into the menacing Territories where violence, surprise and the titanic struggle between good and evil reach across a mythic landscape... a journey into the dark heart of horror.]]> 656 Stephen King 0375507779 Medhat The Fanatic Reader 0 On hold. 4.13 1984 The Talisman (The Talisman, #1)
author: Stephen King
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 4.13
book published: 1984
rating: 0
read at: 2023/10/17
date added: 2023/10/17
shelves: 1-in-dubai, 1-multiple-copies, 1-in-dubai-read, my-stephen-king-collection, read-stephen-king-books, on-hold
review:
On hold.
]]> Misery 58029318 Misery sees Stephen King at the height of his writing powers in a novel that explores the psyche of an author suffering extreme torment. Edward Kinsella illustrated the best-selling Folio edition of The Shining and he again immerses himself in King’s narrative to create a terrifying and compelling set of illustrations, as well as a binding design that defines the novel: the antique Royal typewriter that is both Paul Sheldon’s entrapment and his only hope of liberty.

Bound in blocked metallic cloth
Set in Maxime with Typeka
360 pages
Black & white illustrated title-page spread and 8 colour illustrations
Printed endpapers
Plain slipcase
10� x 6¾″]]> 360 Stephen King Medhat The Fanatic Reader 0 4.56 1987 Misery
author: Stephen King
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 4.56
book published: 1987
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/10/04
shelves: to-read, 1-in-dubai, 1-multiple-copies, 0-cinema-stack
review:

]]> <![CDATA[One, Two, Buckle My Shoe (Hercule Poirot, #23)]]> 1799574
From the
What reason would an amiable dentist like Dr. Morely have for committing suicide? He didn't have emotional difficulties, money problems, or love trouble. What he did have was an appointment with Hercule Poirot, who is not persuaded by the suicide story and has therefore taken it upon himself to question the good doctor's patients, partners, and friends. All he's come up with is the numbing fear that Dr. Morely wasn't an unlikely victim at all. Nor the first.]]> 191 Agatha Christie 0330242644 Medhat The Fanatic Reader 3 3.69 1940 One, Two, Buckle My Shoe (Hercule Poirot, #23)
author: Agatha Christie
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 3.69
book published: 1940
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2023/09/25
shelves: my-read-agatha-christie-collection, 1-multiple-copies, 1-in-dubai, 0-cinema-stack
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Dead Man's Folly (Hercule Poirot, #35)]]> 3223643 199 Agatha Christie 0061003670 Medhat The Fanatic Reader 3 3.67 1956 Dead Man's Folly (Hercule Poirot, #35)
author: Agatha Christie
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 3.67
book published: 1956
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2023/09/25
shelves: my-read-agatha-christie-collection, 1-multiple-copies, 1-in-dubai, 0-cinema-stack
review:

]]> The Running Man 287625 The Running Man is America's favorite television game show. Ben Richards is the program's latest contestant—and the Hunters' latest target in a rigged game of death.]]> 219 Richard Bachman 0451115082 Medhat The Fanatic Reader 5 3.72 1982 The Running Man
author: Richard Bachman
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 3.72
book published: 1982
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/09/25
shelves: favorites, my-stephen-king-collection, favorites-by-stephen-king, read-stephen-king-books, 1-multiple-copies, to-read, 1-in-dubai, 0-cinema-stack
review:
the first King book I read, and was really impressed
]]> Night Shift 59069964
Stephen King, a modern master of the macabre, has brought together nineteen of his most unsettling short pieces—bizarre tales of dark doings and unthinkable acts from the twilight regions where horror and madness take on eerie, unearthly forms... where noises in the walls and shadows by the bed are always signs of something dreadful on the prowl.

The settings are familiar and unsuspected—a high school, a factory, a truck stop, a laundry, a field of Nebraska corn. But in Stephen King's world and place can serve as devil's ground... if the time of night is propitious and the forces of darkness are strong, and the victims are caught just slightly off guard.

In the ominous, frightening world of Stephen King there are things unimagined, almost unspeakable, working the Night Shift:

� Strange presences in Jerusalem's Lot, a town abandoned for generations—and with good reason. No one who wanders there now, after the sun has set, ever comes back alive...
� And the hideous growths on the hands of a former astronaut—tiny round and yellow eyes popping through the skin, watching him, not liking what they see...
� And the mysterious little girl lost in a fierce Maine blizzard, calling out to her rescuers in a pitiful voice. But she walks on top of the deep, drifting snow—and she leaves no tracks...
� And the grim-faced children in a Midwest town where no one seems to live past the age of nineteen...
� And the vermin in the second sub-cellar of the old mill—abandoned to darkness for a hundred years and now assuming shapes and sizes nature never intended them to take...
� And the giant folding and steam pressing machine in the Blue Ribbon Laundry—an impressive and reliable piece of equipment, until it got its first taste of human blood...]]> 443 Stephen King Medhat The Fanatic Reader 4
In this collection, I gave each story the following rating, chronologically from the first story in the book to the last one:

1- Jerusalem Lot: The first great short-story in this collection is a re-visit for me to the town of 'Salem's Lot, Stephen King's vampire novel, which takes place less than a Century before the novel. 5 Stars.

2- Graveyard Shift: A story about mutilated rats. Big and nasty creatures. 4 Stars.

3- Night Surf: Takes place during the spread of the flu virus, Captain Trips, from King's The Stand. This one I couldn't care less about. 1 Star.

4- I Am The Doorway: A strange, somehow a dream-fever-like story. Fun and creepy. 4 Stars.

5- The Mangler: One of King's most disturbing tales that won't let you feel safe, even when the lights are on. 5 Stars.

6- The Boogeyman: Kinda fell flat for me. I was expecting something creepier, but the ending, man, THAT ending was unnervingly good. 2.5.

7- Gray Matter: And from this story to the next two, the book gets irritatingly boring. 1 Star.

8- Battleground: Hated this story from the core of my heart. 1 Star.

9- Trucks: Couldn't get into this one at all. 1 Star.

10- Sometimes They Come Back: WOW! This one was vintage King. A story that will test your insanity. My second favorite one in this collection, and one of my favorite short-stories ever. 5 Stars.

11- Strawberry Strings: This one was so, so, so amazing. Loved every scene, sentence, word, description, setting, events. Loved how King has written this dark slasher story in a very limited amount of pages. And that BIG reveal was crazy. 5 Stars.

12- The Ledge: This one was good. No more. No less. Though I enjoyed it more than I enjoyed the short-movie. 3 Stars.

13- The Lawnmower Man: I still don't know what this story is supposed to mean or be about. Still it was OK. 1 Star.

14- Quitters, Inc: This one was suspenseful. I liked the concept and the execution. 5 Stars.

15- I Know What You Need: This one was quite a fun one, creepy and fast-paced. 5 Stars.

16- Children of the Corn: I have read this one a few months ago, this year, and I remember myself completely invested in it. One of my all-time favorite stories by King. 5 Stars.

17- The Last Rung on the Ladder: This one started out slow, but it drew its way smoothly into a heart-breaking ending. It touched me, because it reminded me of the close relationship I have with my younger sister, like the narrator with his younger sister. 4.5 Stars.

18: The Man Who Loved Flowers: Very small but still enjoyable. Though I'd would have liked it more if King developed it a bit longer. 3.7 Stars.

19: One for the Road: Another story that is taking place in 'Salem's Lot, this one takes place two years after the epic ending of 'Salem's Lot the novel. Enjoyable to a certain level. 3 Stars.

20: The Woman in the Road: This one also was heart-wrenching. 4 stars.

All in all, the average to the entire collection would be: 3.43 over 5. HOWEVER, since this is the book that would complete my 2017 challenge, and because it is Stephen King, AND because the 5-star stories are solid reads, I'm going to rate it 4 stars.]]> 4.75 1978 Night Shift
author: Stephen King
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 4.75
book published: 1978
rating: 4
read at: 2017/12/15
date added: 2023/05/23
shelves: my-stephen-king-collection, read-stephen-king-books, 1-multiple-copies, 1-in-dubai, exclusive-unsigned-edition
review:
Stephen King's first short-stories collection, Night Shift, is a hit-and-miss for me. One time I would read a great and mesmerizing story, then, expecting the next story to be as good or even better, I end-up being somehow disappointed (Though not always).

In this collection, I gave each story the following rating, chronologically from the first story in the book to the last one:

1- Jerusalem Lot: The first great short-story in this collection is a re-visit for me to the town of 'Salem's Lot, Stephen King's vampire novel, which takes place less than a Century before the novel. 5 Stars.

2- Graveyard Shift: A story about mutilated rats. Big and nasty creatures. 4 Stars.

3- Night Surf: Takes place during the spread of the flu virus, Captain Trips, from King's The Stand. This one I couldn't care less about. 1 Star.

4- I Am The Doorway: A strange, somehow a dream-fever-like story. Fun and creepy. 4 Stars.

5- The Mangler: One of King's most disturbing tales that won't let you feel safe, even when the lights are on. 5 Stars.

6- The Boogeyman: Kinda fell flat for me. I was expecting something creepier, but the ending, man, THAT ending was unnervingly good. 2.5.

7- Gray Matter: And from this story to the next two, the book gets irritatingly boring. 1 Star.

8- Battleground: Hated this story from the core of my heart. 1 Star.

9- Trucks: Couldn't get into this one at all. 1 Star.

10- Sometimes They Come Back: WOW! This one was vintage King. A story that will test your insanity. My second favorite one in this collection, and one of my favorite short-stories ever. 5 Stars.

11- Strawberry Strings: This one was so, so, so amazing. Loved every scene, sentence, word, description, setting, events. Loved how King has written this dark slasher story in a very limited amount of pages. And that BIG reveal was crazy. 5 Stars.

12- The Ledge: This one was good. No more. No less. Though I enjoyed it more than I enjoyed the short-movie. 3 Stars.

13- The Lawnmower Man: I still don't know what this story is supposed to mean or be about. Still it was OK. 1 Star.

14- Quitters, Inc: This one was suspenseful. I liked the concept and the execution. 5 Stars.

15- I Know What You Need: This one was quite a fun one, creepy and fast-paced. 5 Stars.

16- Children of the Corn: I have read this one a few months ago, this year, and I remember myself completely invested in it. One of my all-time favorite stories by King. 5 Stars.

17- The Last Rung on the Ladder: This one started out slow, but it drew its way smoothly into a heart-breaking ending. It touched me, because it reminded me of the close relationship I have with my younger sister, like the narrator with his younger sister. 4.5 Stars.

18: The Man Who Loved Flowers: Very small but still enjoyable. Though I'd would have liked it more if King developed it a bit longer. 3.7 Stars.

19: One for the Road: Another story that is taking place in 'Salem's Lot, this one takes place two years after the epic ending of 'Salem's Lot the novel. Enjoyable to a certain level. 3 Stars.

20: The Woman in the Road: This one also was heart-wrenching. 4 stars.

All in all, the average to the entire collection would be: 3.43 over 5. HOWEVER, since this is the book that would complete my 2017 challenge, and because it is Stephen King, AND because the 5-star stories are solid reads, I'm going to rate it 4 stars.
]]> Stephen King's Danse Macabre 644170
Danse Macabere is his analysis of horror--as "a moving, rhythmic search...for...the place where we live at our most primitive level." But it is much more. For the first time, Stephen King establishes a dialogue with the thousands of fans who've wondered about his strange control over a basically uncontrollable emotion. How can he do it? What were the internal and external influences on his writing? What channeled a natural writing talent into this distillation of fear?

King answers these and other questions in a style as readable and as compelling as used in any of his novels. This book is a unique one; a colloquium, autobiography, and critical evaluation of films. TV programs, and books which shaped his career and perhaps altered the tastes of readers the world over.

Danse Macabre is a conversation with Stephen King, a personal, one-on-one exchange of ideas on good, bad, great, and awful excursions into horror. For example, Tourist Trap, a virtually unknown small movie, is King's personal film favorite, although appraisals of Rosemary's Baby, The Amityville Horror, and dozens of others are perceptively and amusingly offered. In like vein, King comments, often saltily, on his fellow writers and, more devastatingly, on horror as shown on television.

Yet the writing goes deeper to examine the role that horror plays in our everyday lives (and in his, as well), and how experiencing horror through books, movies, and television is man's natural method of channeling the secret fears and anxieties in all of us. In his words, "we make up horrors to help us cope with the real ones; with the endless inventiveness of humankind, we grasp the very elements which are so divisive and destructive and try to turn them into tools...to dismantle themselves."

Here, then, is a unique combination of fantasy and autobiography, of classic horror writing honed to a deeply personal, unforgettable edge. Here is Stephen King's Danse Macabre.
--jacket description]]> 400 Stephen King 0896960765 Medhat The Fanatic Reader 0 3.73 1981 Stephen King's Danse Macabre
author: Stephen King
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 3.73
book published: 1981
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/01/07
shelves: to-read, 1-in-dubai, 1-multiple-copies, unread-stephen-king-books, btspin
review:

]]> كريستين 11911487
"لي" فتاة رائعة الجمال تلتحق بالثانوية تُعجب بآرني رغم أن صديقه الأقرب دينيس يتمنى أن تكون له. ولكن آرني واقع في حب سيارته التي غيّر حصوله عليها من شخصيته ليتحول إلى فتى واثق بنفسه ولكن منطوٍ على ذاته.

هنا يتنقل الراوي على خيوط شبكة مثلث الصداقة ليشبك معها صديقة جديدة ولكن من نوع آخر هي السيارة كريستين، التي يتملكها هاجس الشر ويستحوذها مس مستبد بضرورة التخلص من أصدقاء آرني الذين يعادونها ويؤلبونه عليها، فتقع جرائم عديدة غامضة تزيد خيوط شبكة الأصدقاء تعقيداً وترتفع معها وتيرة التشويق والغموض.

رواية تقطع الأنفاس حتى الصفحات الأخيرة محوّلة كل سيارة على الطريق إلى شبح يزرع الرعب والموت في النفوس.]]> 623 Stephen King 6140100518 Medhat The Fanatic Reader 5 ]]> 3.70 1983 كريستين
author: Stephen King
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 3.70
book published: 1983
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2022/12/10
shelves: favorites, buddy-reads, my-stephen-king-collection, favorites-by-stephen-king, read-stephen-king-books, 1-multiple-copies
review:
Stephen King’s Christine is an epic horror story that will make your nerves drill, your blood boils and your Goosebumps up. Nightmares are nothing compared with the wickedness that itches each chapter in this deadly love triangle and and the ending that is surely to create an undigested weight of gloominess.

]]> <![CDATA[Marie Antoinette's Darkest Days: Prisoner No. 280 in the Conciergerie]]> 52873174 392 Will Bashor 1538138905 Medhat The Fanatic Reader 0 4.00 2016 Marie Antoinette's Darkest Days: Prisoner No. 280 in the Conciergerie
author: Will Bashor
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/11/12
shelves: to-read, 1-in-dubai, 1-inspired-by-my-history-lesson, 1-multiple-copies, 0-short-history-books
review:

]]> To Kill a Mockingbird 8045417 A celebratory edition to mark the fiftieth anniversary of this unforgettable classic

'Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird.'

Atticus Finch gives this advice to his children as he defends the real mockingbird of this classic novel - a black man charged with attacking a white girl. Through the eyes of Scout and Jem Finch, Harper Lee explores the issues of race and class in the Deep South of the 1930s with compassion and humour. She also creates one of the great heroes of literature in their father, whose lone struggle for justice pricks the conscience of a town steeped in prejudice and hypocrisy.]]> 309 Harper Lee 0434020486 Medhat The Fanatic Reader 5 4.53 1960 To Kill a Mockingbird
author: Harper Lee
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 4.53
book published: 1960
rating: 5
read at: 2022/04/02
date added: 2022/11/12
shelves: 1-in-dubai, 1-in-dubai-read, 0-cinema-stack, 1-multiple-copies, exclusive-unsigned-edition
review:
Brilliant and heartwarming in every possible way.
]]> <![CDATA[Burning Questions: Essays and Occasional Pieces, 2004 to 2021]]> 60554990 From cultural icon Margaret Atwood comes a brilliant collection of essays -- funny, erudite, endlessly curious, uncannily prescient -- which seek answers to Burning Questions such as:

Why do people everywhere, in all cultures, tell stories?
How much of yourself can you give away without evaporating?
How can we live on our planet?
Is it true? And is it fair?
What do zombies have to do with authoritarianism?

In over fifty pieces Atwood aims her prodigious intellect and impish humour at the world, and reports back to us on what she finds. The roller-coaster period covered in the collection brought an end to the end of history, a financial crash, the rise of Trump and a pandemic. From debt to tech, the climate crisis to freedom; from when to dispense advice to the young (answer: only when asked) to how to define granola, we have no better guide to the many and varied mysteries of our universe.]]> 476 Margaret Atwood Medhat The Fanatic Reader 0 4.62 2022 Burning Questions: Essays and Occasional Pieces, 2004 to 2021
author: Margaret Atwood
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 4.62
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/11/12
shelves: to-read, 1-in-dubai, signed-by-the-author, 0-q2-2022-tbr, booktubespin-6, on-hold, 1-multiple-copies
review:

]]> The Troop 24486065 Winner of the inaugural James Herbert Award, THE TROOP is a novel that will not fail to get under your skin...

He felt something touch his hand. Which is when he looked down.

For the scouts of Troop 52, three days of camping, hiking and survival lessons on Falstaff Island is as close as they'll get to a proper holiday.

Which was when he saw it.

But when an emaciated figure stumbles into their camp asking for food, the trip takes a horrifying turn. The man is not just hungry, he's sick. Sick in a way they have never seen before.

Which was when he screamed.

Cut off from the mainland, the troop face a terror far worse than anything they could have made up around a campfire. To survive they will have to fight their fears, the elements ... and eventually each other.

'THE TROOP scared the hell out of me, and I couldn't put it down. Not for the faint-hearted' Stephen King]]> 410 Nick Cutter 147220624X Medhat The Fanatic Reader 0 3.84 2014 The Troop
author: Nick Cutter
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/11/12
shelves: to-read, 1-in-dubai, 1-multiple-copies
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Body Farm (Kay Scarpetta, #5)]]> 823006 New York Times bestselling author Patricia Cornwell brings back Kay Scarpetta, consulting forensic pathologist for the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit, in her grittiest and most compelling novel.

In rural North Carolina, the brutal murder of eleven-year-old Emily Steiner has shaken a small town. But more disturbing are the details of the crimes, chillingly reminiscent of the handiwork of a serial killer who has eluded the unit for years. Into this volatile atmosphere comes Scarpetta's ingenious, rebellious niece Lucy, an FBI intern with a promising future in Quantico's computer engineering facility--until she is accused of a shocking security violation. While coming to terms with Lucy, Kay must conduct a grisly forensic investigation at a clandestine research facility in Tennessee known as the Body Farm. There she will find more answers to Emily Steiner's murder--and evidence that paints a picture of a crime more horrifying than she imagined . . .]]> 387 Patricia Cornwell 0684195976 Medhat The Fanatic Reader 0 3.86 1994 The Body Farm (Kay Scarpetta, #5)
author: Patricia Cornwell
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1994
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/11/12
shelves: to-read, 1-in-dubai, 1-multiple-copies
review:

]]> House of Leaves 337907
Of course, neither Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Will Navidson nor his companion Karen Green was prepared to face the consequences of that impossibility, until the day their two little children wandered off and their voices eerily began to return another story—of creature darkness, of an ever-growing abyss behind a closet door, and of that unholy growl which soon enough would tear through their walls and consume all their dreams.]]> 709 Mark Z. Danielewski Medhat The Fanatic Reader 0 4.03 2000 House of Leaves
author: Mark Z. Danielewski
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2000
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/11/12
shelves: to-read, challenging-books-2019, 1-in-dubai, 1-multiple-copies, non-disposable
review:

]]> Howards End 15822373
Frequently cited as E. M. Forster's finest work, Howards End brilliantly explores class warfare, conflict and the English character.]]> 382 E.M. Forster 0141199407 Medhat The Fanatic Reader 0 3.91 1910 Howards End
author: E.M. Forster
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1910
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/11/12
shelves: to-read, 1-in-dubai, 1-multiple-copies
review:

]]> The Promise 56901217 The Promise , winner of the 2021 Booker Prize, charts the crash and burn of a white South African family, living on a farm outside Pretoria. The Swarts are gathering for Ma's funeral. The younger generation, Anton and Amor, detest everything the family stand for -- not least the failed promise to the Black woman who has worked for them her whole life. After years of service, Salome was promised her own house, her own land... yet somehow, as each decade passes, that promise remains unfulfilled.

The narrator's eye shifts and blinks: moving fluidly between characters, flying into their dreams; deliciously lethal in its observation. And as the country moves from old deep divisions to its new so-called fairer society, the lost promise of more than just one family hovers behind the novel's title.

In this story of a diminished family, sharp and tender emotional truths hit home. Confident, deft and quietly powerful, The Promise is literary fiction at its finest.]]> 269 Damon Galgut 1609456580 Medhat The Fanatic Reader 0 4.00 2021 The Promise
author: Damon Galgut
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/11/12
shelves: to-read, 1-in-dubai, 1-multiple-copies, 2023-tbr
review:

]]> Black Notice 1249692 415 Patricia Cornwell 0399145087 Medhat The Fanatic Reader 0 3.69 1999 Black Notice
author: Patricia Cornwell
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 3.69
book published: 1999
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/11/12
shelves: to-read, 1-in-dubai, 1-multiple-copies
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Radiant Angel (A John Corey Novel, 7)]]> 28449457
After a showdown with the notorious Yemeni terrorist known as The Panther, John Corey has left the Anti-Terrorist Task Force and returned home to New York City, taking a job with the Diplomatic Surveillance Group. Although Corey's new assignment with the DSG-surveilling Russian diplomats working at the U.N. Mission-is thought to be "a quiet end," he is more than happy to be out from under the thumb of the FBI and free from the bureaucracy of office life.

But Corey realizes something the U.S. government doesn' The all-too-real threat of a newly resurgent Russia.

When Vasily Petrov, a colonel in the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service posing as a diplomat with the Russian U.N. Mission, mysteriously disappears from a Russian oligarch's party in Southampton, it's up to Corey to track him down. What are the Russians up to and why? Is there a possible nuclear threat, a so-called radiant angel? Will Corey find Petrov and put a stop to whatever he has planned before it's too late? Or will Corey finally be outrun and outsmarted, with America facing the prospect of a crippling attack unlike anything it's ever seen before?]]> 352 Nelson DeMille 0446619272 Medhat The Fanatic Reader 0 3.72 2015 Radiant Angel (A John Corey Novel, 7)
author: Nelson DeMille
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/11/12
shelves: to-read, 1-in-dubai, 1-multiple-copies
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Metroland: Special Archive Edition]]> 30730628 A special edition of Julian Barnes’s first novel with an introduction from the author and previously unseen archive material.

Christopher and Toni found in each other the perfect companion for that universal adolescent pastime: smirking at the world as you find it. In between training as flaneurs and the grind of school, they cast a cynical eye over their various dislikes: parents with their lives of spotless emptiness, Third Division (North) football teams, God, commuters and girls, and the inhabitants of Metroland: the strip of suburban dormitory Christopher calls home.

Longing for real life to begin, Christopher makes for Paris in time for les événements of 1968, only to miss it all in a haze of sex, French theatre and first love. And before long he finds himself drawn inevitably back to Metroland and the very life he was trying to escape...

This special edition contains unseen archive material including letters from early fans such as Philip Larkin and Dodie Smith, contemporary reviews, a deleted scene from the original manuscript as well as an introduction from the author.]]> 240 Julian Barnes 1784705918 Medhat The Fanatic Reader 0 3.62 1980 Metroland: Special Archive Edition
author: Julian Barnes
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 3.62
book published: 1980
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/10/22
shelves: to-read, 1-in-dubai, 1-multiple-copies, exclusive-unsigned-edition, 0-10-before-the-end-2024
review:

]]> Thinner 899053 stop losing weight?]]> 309 Richard Bachman 0453004687 Medhat The Fanatic Reader 5
4.5/5]]> 3.66 1984 Thinner
author: Richard Bachman
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 3.66
book published: 1984
rating: 5
read at: 2022/10/21
date added: 2022/10/21
shelves: my-stephen-king-collection, short-books, 1-multiple-copies, 1-in-dubai, 1-in-dubai-read, read-stephen-king-books, non-disposable, 0-cinema-stack
review:
Fast-paced and super engaging.

4.5/5
]]> 'Salem's Lot 40756470 672 Stephen King Medhat The Fanatic Reader 5
I just finished 'Salem's Lot seconds ago, and my first reaction is: HOLY-FUCK.

'Salem's Lot is without any reasonable doubt one of King's most disturbing, creepy, and haunted novels. Four or three days ago, I seriously had 2 nightmares at the same night, partly because before falling asleep I read a very scary section of this book, and the other part was thanks to the It movie trailer (Which I am very excited for, and looking forward to reading the book very soon).

The characters of this book are very exceptional and distinguishable, and well-developed. They all feel like real people, and not just fictional characters. My favorite character of them all was Mark Petrie: This kiddo is some badass, and I like his guts. In addition, Ben and Doc Jimmy are great characters, and I had fun following through their footsteps throughout the book.

The atmosphere of the book is so rooted with something very rude. The layers of fearsome that Stephen King is so famous of are excellently shaped here. King has this exceptional talent of describing very deep-rooted feels in the human souls, feels, before reading 'Salem's Lot, I would never ever imagine existed in me. And that's why, ladies and gentlemen, Stephen King is called THE KING OF HORROR!

Moreover, the Master of Vampires in this Stephen King's version of vampires (I won't say his name, because it might spoil half of the book) is completely unnerving, and I have Goosebumps all over my body every time I learn something new about him. I can feel him, while reading, lurking behind the shadows, waiting, waiting to own me and the characters and turn us into slaves.

In conclusion, this book moved me. It spoke to me like no other book did, and its tone terrified me. And I have no doubt that 'Salem's Lot will not loose me from its grip for a very long time.

Reader, if you already read this book, I would love to hear from you; tell me your experience while reading 'Salem's Lot, and what you thought of it. :)]]> 4.10 1975 'Salem's Lot
author: Stephen King
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1975
rating: 5
read at: 2019/01/01
date added: 2022/08/31
shelves: 1-multiple-copies, books-read-in-2017, favorites-by-stephen-king, my-stephen-king-collection, read-stephen-king-books, to-read
review:
Reposted from 2019:

I just finished 'Salem's Lot seconds ago, and my first reaction is: HOLY-FUCK.

'Salem's Lot is without any reasonable doubt one of King's most disturbing, creepy, and haunted novels. Four or three days ago, I seriously had 2 nightmares at the same night, partly because before falling asleep I read a very scary section of this book, and the other part was thanks to the It movie trailer (Which I am very excited for, and looking forward to reading the book very soon).

The characters of this book are very exceptional and distinguishable, and well-developed. They all feel like real people, and not just fictional characters. My favorite character of them all was Mark Petrie: This kiddo is some badass, and I like his guts. In addition, Ben and Doc Jimmy are great characters, and I had fun following through their footsteps throughout the book.

The atmosphere of the book is so rooted with something very rude. The layers of fearsome that Stephen King is so famous of are excellently shaped here. King has this exceptional talent of describing very deep-rooted feels in the human souls, feels, before reading 'Salem's Lot, I would never ever imagine existed in me. And that's why, ladies and gentlemen, Stephen King is called THE KING OF HORROR!

Moreover, the Master of Vampires in this Stephen King's version of vampires (I won't say his name, because it might spoil half of the book) is completely unnerving, and I have Goosebumps all over my body every time I learn something new about him. I can feel him, while reading, lurking behind the shadows, waiting, waiting to own me and the characters and turn us into slaves.

In conclusion, this book moved me. It spoke to me like no other book did, and its tone terrified me. And I have no doubt that 'Salem's Lot will not loose me from its grip for a very long time.

Reader, if you already read this book, I would love to hear from you; tell me your experience while reading 'Salem's Lot, and what you thought of it. :)
]]> <![CDATA[The Shadow King: The Life and Death of Henry VI]]> 41817446
And yet, by the time he was done to death in the Tower of London in 1471, France was lost, his throne had been seized by his rival, Edward IV of the House of York, and his kingdom had descended into the violent chaos of the Wars of the Roses.

Henry VI is perhaps the most troubled of English monarchs, a pious, gentle, well-intentioned man who was plagued by bouts of mental illness. In Shadow King, Lauren Johnson tells his remarkable and sometimes shocking story in a fast-paced and colourful narrative that captures both the poignancy of Henry's life and the tumultuous and bloody nature of the times in which he lived.]]> 464 Lauren Johnson 1643131281 Medhat The Fanatic Reader 0 4.31 2019 The Shadow King: The Life and Death of Henry VI
author: Lauren Johnson
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/07/25
shelves: to-read, 1-multiple-copies, 1-in-dubai, non-disposable
review:

]]> It 41881363
It’s a small city, a place as hauntingly familiar as your own hometown. Only in Derry the haunting is real�

They were seven teenagers when they first stumbled upon the horror. Now they are grown-up men and women who have gone out into the big world to gain success and happiness. But none of them can withstand the force that has drawn them back to Derry to face the nightmare without an end, and the evil without a name.]]> 1138 Stephen King Medhat The Fanatic Reader 0 4.25 1986 It
author: Stephen King
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 4.25
book published: 1986
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/07/25
shelves: to-read, 1-multiple-copies, 1-in-dubai, non-disposable, 0-cinema-stack
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Scarpetta (Kay Scarpetta, #16)]]> 2833172 New York Times bestselling Kay Scarpetta novel. Leaving behind her private forensic pathology practice in Charleston, South Carolina, Kay Scarpetta accepts an assignment in New York City, where the NYPD has asked her to examine an injured man on Bellevue Hospital’s psychiatric prison ward. The handcuffed and chained patient, Oscar Bane, has specifically asked for her, and when she literally has her gloved hands on him, he begins to talk—and the story he has to tell turns out to be one of the most bizarre she has ever heard.

The injuries, he says, were sustained in the course of a murder . . . that he did not commit. Is Bane a criminally insane stalker who has fixed on Scarpetta? Or is his paranoid tale true, and it is he who is being spied on, followed and stalked by the actual killer? The one thing Scarpetta knows for certain is that a woman has been tortured and murdered—and more violent deaths will follow. Gradually, an inexplicable and horrifying truth emerges: Whoever is committing the crimes knows where his prey is at all times. Is it a person, a government? And what is the connection between the victims?

In the days that follow, Scarpetta, her forensic psychologist husband, Benton Wesley, and her niece, Lucy, who has recently formed her own forensic computer investigation firm in New York, will undertake a harrowing chase through cyberspace and the all-too-real streets of the city—an odyssey that will take them at once to places they never knew, and much, much too close to home.

Throughout, Cornwell delivers shocking twists and turns, and the kind of cutting-edge technology that only she can provide. Once again, she proves her exceptional ability to entertain and enthrall.]]> 500 Patricia Cornwell 0399155163 Medhat The Fanatic Reader 0 3.78 2008 Scarpetta (Kay Scarpetta, #16)
author: Patricia Cornwell
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/07/24
shelves: to-read, 1-multiple-copies, 1-in-dubai, 0-instant-tbr
review:

]]> Call Me by Your Name 98687 Call Me by Your Name is the story of a sudden and powerful romance that blossoms between an adolescent boy and a summer guest at his parents' cliff-side mansion on the Italian Riviera. Unprepared for the consequences of their attraction, at first each feigns indifference. But during the restless summer weeks that follow, unrelenting buried currents of obsession and fear, fascination and desire, intensify their passion as they test the charged ground between them. What grows from the depths of their spirits is a romance of scarcely six weeks' duration and an experience that marks them for a lifetime. For what the two discover on the Riviera and during a sultry evening in Rome is the one thing both already fear they may never truly find again: total intimacy.

The psychological maneuvers that accompany attraction have seldom been more shrewdly captured than in André Aciman's frank, unsentimental, heartrending elegy to human passion. Call Me by Your Name is clear-eyed, bare-knuckled, and ultimately unforgettable.]]> 248 André Aciman 0374299218 Medhat The Fanatic Reader 5
Read for Pride Month 2022.]]> 4.25 2007 Call Me by Your Name
author: André Aciman
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2007
rating: 5
read at: 2022/06/28
date added: 2022/06/28
shelves: 1-multiple-copies, 1-in-dubai, 1-in-dubai-read, non-disposable, 0-cinema-stack
review:
This will always be one of my favorite books of all time.

Read for Pride Month 2022.
]]> Needful Things 411204
With a demonic blend of malice and affection, Stephen King says goodbye to the town he put on the map -- Castle Rock, Maine . . . where Polly Chalmers runs You Sew and Sew and Sheriff Alan Pangborn is in charge of keeping the peace. It's a small town, and Stephen King fans might think they know its secrets pretty well; they've been here before.

Leland Gaunt is a stranger -- and he calls his shop Needful Things. Eleven-year-old Brain Rusk is his first customer, and Brian finds just what he wants most in all the world; a '56 Sandy Koufax baseball card. By the end of the week, Mr. Gaunt's business is fairly booming, and why not? At Needful Things, there's something for everyone.

And, of course, there is always a price. For Leland Gaunt, the pleasure of doing business lies chiefly in seeing how much people will pay for their most secret dreams and desires. And as Leland Gaunt always points out, at Needful Things, the prices are high indeed. Does that stop people from buying? Has it ever?

For Alan and Polly, this one week in autumn will be an awful test -- a test of will, desire, and pain. Above all, it will be a test of their ability to grasp the true nature of their enemy. They may have a chance . . . But maybe not, because, as Mr. Gaunt knows, almost everything is for sale: love, hope, even the human soul.

With the potent storytelling authority that millions of readers have come to prize, Stephen King delivers an Out Town with a vengeance, an inimitable farewell to a place his fiction has often and long called home.]]> 690 Stephen King 0670839531 Medhat The Fanatic Reader 0 3.94 1991 Needful Things
author: Stephen King
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 3.94
book published: 1991
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/06/15
shelves: to-read, my-stephen-king-collection, unread-stephen-king-books, beta-books-for-dark-tower-marathon, 2021-tbr, 1-multiple-copies, 1-in-dubai, challenging-books-to-read-in-2022, 0-cinema-stack, on-hold, non-disposable, 2023-tbr
review:

]]> Desperation 441239 with someone else, if you're lucky...because it's a scary place. Headed down Route 50 in the brutal summer heat are people who are never going to reach their destinations. Like the Jacksons, a professor and his wife going home to New York City; the Carvers, a Wentworth, Ohio, family bound for a vacation at Lake Tahoe; and aging literary lion Johnny Marinville, inventing a gonzo image for himself astride a 700-pound Harley.

A dead cat nailed to a road sign heralds the little mining town of Desperation, a town that seems withered in the shade of a man-made mountain known as the China Pit. But it's worse than that, much worse. Regulating the traffic there is Collie Entragian, an outsize uniformed madman who considers himself the only law west of the Pecos. God forbid you should be missing a license plate or find yourself with a flat tire.

There's something very wrong here, all right, and Entragian is only the surface of it. The secrets embedded in Desperation's landscape, and the evil that infects the town like some viral hot zone, are both awesome and terrifying. But as young David Carver seems to know--though it scares him nearly to death to realize it--so are the forces summoned to combat them. In Desperation Stephen King's sweeping brush paints an apocalyptic drama of God and evil, madness and revelation. His genius for suspense has never been so finely honed, his imagination so shudderingly vivid,as when his wayfarers--and readers who dare to follow their course--begin to discover the true meaning of the word desperation.]]> 690 Stephen King 0670868361 Medhat The Fanatic Reader 0 3.81 1996 Desperation
author: Stephen King
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 3.81
book published: 1996
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/06/08
shelves: to-read, my-stephen-king-collection, unread-stephen-king-books, beta-books-for-dark-tower-marathon, 1-multiple-copies, 1-in-dubai, dark-tower-tbr-2022, 0-cinema-stack, 0-10-before-the-end-2024
review:

]]> Gone Girl 19288043 What have we done to each other?

These are the questions Nick Dunne finds himself asking on the morning of his fifth wedding anniversary when his wife Amy suddenly disappears. The police suspect Nick. Amy's friends reveal that she was afraid of him, that she kept secrets from him. He swears it isn't true. A police examination of his computer shows strange searches. He says they weren't made by him. And then there are the persistent calls on his mobile phone.

So what did happen to Nick's beautiful wife?]]> 415 Gillian Flynn 0307588378 Medhat The Fanatic Reader 4
However, I did indeed end up enjoying it!

But it's time to let go now.]]> 4.22 2012 Gone Girl
author: Gillian Flynn
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2022/05/19
date added: 2022/05/18
shelves: february-2019-tbr, march-2019-tbr, women-in-crisis-project, 2021-tbr, 1-multiple-copies, 1-in-dubai, 0-q2-2022-tbr, booktubespin-6, 0-cinema-stack, 1-in-dubai-read
review:
3rd and last time reading Gone Girl. Knowing the twists already and having watched the movie so many times, I couldn't love the book as much as I did during my 1st time.

However, I did indeed end up enjoying it!

But it's time to let go now.
]]> Dombey and Son 400887
A compelling depiction of a man imprisoned by his own pride, Dombey and Son explores the devastating effects of emotional deprivation on a dysfunctional family. Paul Dombey runs his household as he runs his business: coldly, calculatingly and commercially. The only person he cares for is his little son, while his motherless daughter Florence is merely a 'base coin that couldn't be invested'. As Dombey's callousness extends to others, he sows the seeds of his own destruction.

Edited with an Introduction and Notes by Andrew Sanders]]> 996 Charles Dickens 0140435468 Medhat The Fanatic Reader 0 4.01 1848 Dombey and Son
author: Charles Dickens
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 4.01
book published: 1848
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/05/08
shelves: to-read, victorian-literature, 1-multiple-copies, 1-in-dubai, non-disposable, victorian-in-dubai-books
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Time to Kill (Jake Brigance, #1)]]> 1038927
“John Grisham may well be the best American storyteller writing today.”� The Philadelphia Inquirer

The life of a ten-year-oldblackgirl is shattered by two drunken and remorselesswhitemen. The mostly white town of Clanton in Ford County, Mississippi, reacts with shock and horror at the inhuman crime—untilthe girl’sfather acquires an assault rifle and takes justice into hisownhands.

For ten days, as burning crosses and the crack of sniper fire spread through the streets of Clanton, the nation sits spellbound asdefense attorney Jake Brigance struggles to save his client’s life—and then his own.

Don’t miss John Grisham’s new book, THE AFTER THE FIRM!]]> 487 John Grisham 0385470819 Medhat The Fanatic Reader 0 4.05 1989 A Time to Kill (Jake Brigance, #1)
author: John Grisham
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1989
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/04/19
shelves: to-read, long-listed-2018-tbr, short-listed-2018-tbr, john-grisham, 2021-tbr, 1-multiple-copies, 1-in-dubai, 0-cinema-stack, non-disposable, john-grisham-dubai-collection
review:

]]> Memoirs of a Geisha 523928 The result is a novel with the broad social canvas (and love of coincidence) of Charles Dickens and Jane Austen's intense attention to the nuances of erotic maneuvering. Readers experience the entire life of a geisha, from her origins as an orphaned fishing-village girl in 1929 to her triumphant auction of her mizuage (virginity) for a record price as a teenager to her reminiscent old age as the distinguished mistress of the powerful patron of her dreams. We discover that a geisha is more analogous to a Western "trophy wife" than to a prostitute--and, as in Austen, flat-out prostitution and early death is a woman's alternative to the repressive, arcane system of courtship. In simple, elegant prose, Golden puts us right in the tearoom with the geisha; we are there as she gracefully fights for her life in a social situation where careers are made or destroyed by a witticism, a too-revealing (or not revealing enough) glimpse of flesh under the kimono, or a vicious rumor spread by a rival "as cruel as a spider."

Golden's web is finely woven, but his book has a serious flaw: the geisha's true romance rings hollow--the love of her life is a symbol, not a character. Her villainous geisha nemesis is sharply drawn, but she would be more so if we got a deeper peek into the cause of her motiveless malignity--the plight all geisha share. Still, Golden has won the triple crown of fiction: he has created a plausible female protagonist in a vivid, now-vanished world, and he gloriously captures Japanese culture by expressing his thoughts in authentic Eastern metaphors.

]]> 428 Arthur Golden 0375400117 Medhat The Fanatic Reader 0 4.12 1997 Memoirs of a Geisha
author: Arthur Golden
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 4.12
book published: 1997
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/04/19
shelves: to-read, 1-multiple-copies, 1-in-dubai, 0-q2-2022-tbr, 0-cinema-stack, non-disposable
review:

]]> Nightmares & Dreamscapes 518851
A solitary finger pokes out of a drain. Novelty teeth turn predatory. Flies settle and die on an old pair of sneakers in New York, and the Nevada desert swallows a Cadillac. Meanwhile the legend of Castle Rock returns . . . and grows on you. What does it all mean? What else could it mean? First there was Night Shift (1978), then Skeleton Crew (1985), and now Stephen King is back with a third collection of stories--a vast, many-chambered cave of a volume, with passages leading every which way to hell . . . and a few to glory.

The long reach of Stephen King's imagination and the no-holds-barred force of his storytelling have never been so richly demonstrated. There's something here for readers of every stripe and predilection--classic tales of the macabre and the monstrous, cutting-edge explorations of the borderlands between good and evil, brilliant pastiches of Chandler and Conan Doyle, even a teleplay and a non-fiction bonus, a heartfelt piece of Little League baseball that first appeared in The New Yorker.

In story after story, several published here for the first time, he will take you to places you've never been before, places that are both dark and vividly illuminated. Fair warning: You will lose a good deal of sleep. But Stephen King, writing to beat the devil, will do your dreaming for you.

Can you believe? Then come . . .

Dolan's Cadillac --
The End of the Whole Mess --
Suffer the Little Children --
The Night Flier --
Popsy --
It Grows on You --
Chattery Teeth --
Dedication --
The Moving Finger --
Sneakers --
You Know They Got a Hell of a Band --
Home Delivery --
Rainy Season --
My Pretty Pony --
Sorry, Right Number --
The Ten O'Clock People --
Crouch End --
The House on Maple Street --
The Fifth Quarter --
The Doctor's Case --
Umney's Last Case --
Head Down --
Brooklyn August]]> 816 Stephen King 0670851086 Medhat The Fanatic Reader 0 3.80 1993 Nightmares & Dreamscapes
author: Stephen King
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 3.80
book published: 1993
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/04/12
shelves: my-stephen-king-collection, to-read, horror-thrillers-for-oct-nov, unread-stephen-king-books, 2021-tbr, 1-multiple-copies, 1-in-dubai, booktubespin-6, non-disposable, on-hold, 2023-tbr
review:

]]> لعبة الأسد 8105039 616 Nelson DeMille 9953874786 Medhat The Fanatic Reader 5 favorites, 1-multiple-copies 3.76 2000 لعبة الأسد
author: Nelson DeMille
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2000
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2022/04/08
shelves: favorites, 1-multiple-copies
review:

]]> Dune (Dune, #1) 44767458
When House Atreides is betrayed, the destruction of Paul’s family will set the boy on a journey toward a destiny greater than he could ever have imagined. And as he evolves into the mysterious man known as Muad’Dib, he will bring to fruition humankind’s most ancient and unattainable dream.]]> 658 Frank Herbert 059309932X Medhat The Fanatic Reader 4 2021-tbr, 1-multiple-copies 4.5 stars 4.33 1965 Dune (Dune, #1)
author: Frank Herbert
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 4.33
book published: 1965
rating: 4
read at: 2021/07/12
date added: 2021/07/12
shelves: 2021-tbr, 1-multiple-copies
review:
4.5 stars
]]> Dolores Claiborne 1082102 305 Stephen King 0670844527 Medhat The Fanatic Reader 5 3.98 1992 Dolores Claiborne
author: Stephen King
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1992
rating: 5
read at: 2021/06/17
date added: 2021/06/17
shelves: women-in-crisis-project, on-hold, 1-multiple-copies, 1-june-2021-tbr, my-stephen-king-collection, read-stephen-king-books, favorites-by-stephen-king
review:

]]> <![CDATA[On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous]]> 50984599 An instant New York Times Bestseller!

Longlisted for the 2019 National Book Award for Fiction, the Carnegie Medal in Fiction, the 2019 Aspen Words Literacy Prize, and the PEN/Hemingway Debut Novel Award

Shortlisted for the 2019 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize

Winner of the 2019 New England Book Award for Fiction!

Named one of the most anticipated books of 2019 by Vulture, Entertainment Weekly, Buzzfeed, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Oprah.com, Huffington Post, The A.V. Club, Nylon, The Week, The Rumpus, The Millions, The Guardian, Publishers Weekly, and more.

"A lyrical work of self-discovery that's shockingly intimate and insistently universal...Not so much briefly gorgeous as permanently stunning." --Ron Charles, The Washington Post

Poet Ocean Vuong's debut novel is a shattering portrait of a family, a first love, and the redemptive power of storytelling

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous is a letter from a son to a mother who cannot read. Written when the speaker, Little Dog, is in his late twenties, the letter unearths a family's history that began before he was born -- a history whose epicenter is rooted in Vietnam -- and serves as a doorway into parts of his life his mother has never known, all of it leading to an unforgettable revelation. At once a witness to the fraught yet undeniable love between a single mother and her son, it is also a brutally honest exploration of race, class, and masculinity. Asking questions central to our American moment, immersed as we are in addiction, violence, and trauma, but undergirded by compassion and tenderness, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous is as much about the power of telling one's own story as it is about the obliterating silence of not being heard.

With stunning urgency and grace, Ocean Vuong writes of people caught between disparate worlds, and asks how we heal and rescue one another without forsaking who we are. The question of how to survive, and how to make of it a kind of joy, powers the most important debut novel of many years.

Named a Best Book of the Year by:
GQ, Kirkus Reviews, Booklist, Library Journal, TIME, Esquire, The Washington Post, Apple, Good Housekeeping, The New Yorker, The New York Public Library, Elle.com, The Guardian, The A.V. Club, NPR, Lithub, Entertainment Weekly, Vogue.com, The San Francisco Chronicle, Mother Jones, Vanity Fair, The Wall Street Journal Magazine and more!
]]> 246 Ocean Vuong 052550771X Medhat The Fanatic Reader 2 1-multiple-copies 3.93 2019 On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous
author: Ocean Vuong
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2019
rating: 2
read at: 2021/05/20
date added: 2021/05/20
shelves: 1-multiple-copies
review:

]]> N or M? 8843753 N or M? Christie, Agatha 189 Agatha Christie 0006144152 Medhat The Fanatic Reader 0 3.50 1941 N or M?
author: Agatha Christie
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 3.50
book published: 1941
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/05/06
shelves: to-read, 1-multiple-copies, classics
review:

]]> Revival 20926278
In a small New England town, over half a century ago, a shadow falls over a small boy playing with his toy soldiers. Jamie Morton looks up to see a striking man, the new minister. Charles Jacobs, along with his beautiful wife, will transform the local church. The men and boys are all a bit in love with Mrs. Jacobs; the women and girls feel the same about Reverend Jacobs—including Jamie's mother and beloved sister, Claire. With Jamie, the Reverend shares a deeper bond based on a secret obsession. When tragedy strikes the Jacobs family, this charismatic preacher curses God, mocks all religious belief, and is banished from the shocked town.

Jamie has demons of his own. Wed to his guitar from the age of thirteen, he plays in bands across the country, living the nomadic lifestyle of bar-band rock and roll while fleeing from his family's horrific loss. In his mid-thirties—addicted to heroin, stranded, desperate—Jamie meets Charles Jacobs again, with profound consequences for both men. Their bond becomes a pact beyond even the Devil's devising, and Jamie discovers that revival has many meanings.

This rich and disturbing novel spans five decades on its way to the most terrifying conclusion Stephen King has ever written. It's a masterpiece from King, in the great American tradition of Frank Norris, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Edgar Allan Poe.]]> 405 Stephen King 1476770387 Medhat The Fanatic Reader 4 3.78 2014 Revival
author: Stephen King
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2014/11/01
date added: 2021/02/22
shelves: my-stephen-king-collection, favorites-by-stephen-king, read-stephen-king-books, hardcovers, 1-multiple-copies, signed-by-the-author
review:
A brilliant story with a disturbing ending!
]]> The Shining (The Shining, #1) 12977531 659 Stephen King Medhat The Fanatic Reader 4 4.5/5 4.28 1977 The Shining (The Shining, #1)
author: Stephen King
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 4.28
book published: 1977
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2021/02/22
shelves: favorites, must-reads, my-stephen-king-collection, read-stephen-king-books, favorites-by-stephen-king, 1-multiple-copies
review:
4.5/5
]]> The Notebook 103506
Did You Know?---

The Notebook was only the third novel in recent history to spend over a year as a hardcover best-seller?
One of the poems by Walt Whitman quoted in the novel is entitled "To a Common Prostitute?"
The title for the novel was chosen by Theresa Park, Nicholas's agent?]]> 213 Nicholas Sparks Medhat The Fanatic Reader 3 1-multiple-copies 3.5/5 3.76 1996 The Notebook
author: Nicholas Sparks
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 3.76
book published: 1996
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2021/02/22
shelves: 1-multiple-copies
review:
3.5/5
]]> And Then There Were None 231622 First there were ten--a curious assortment of strangers summoned as weekend guests to a private island off the coast of Devon. Their host, an eccentric millionaire unknown to all of them, is nowhere to be found. All that the guests have in common is a wicked past they're unwilling to reveal--and a secret that will seal their fate. For each has been marked for murder. One by one they fall prey. Before the weekend is out, there will be none. And only the dead are above suspicion.

(back cover)]]> 275 Agatha Christie 0312979479 Medhat The Fanatic Reader 5 4.21 1939 And Then There Were None
author: Agatha Christie
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1939
rating: 5
read at: 2014/05/01
date added: 2021/02/22
shelves: favorites, my-read-agatha-christie-collection, my-favorite-agatha-christie-books, my-agatha-christie-collection, 1-multiple-copies
review:

]]> قطار 4.50 من بادنغتون 6241211 ولكن هل هي كذلك فعلاً؟ أم أن ما رأته هو حقيقة وواقع؟ ومن هي المرأة التي قتلت ومن هو القاتل؟ ولماذا؟ وماذا حدث لجثتها هل وجدت أم أن في الأمر سرّ؟ والسيدة الشاهدة تعرف بالطبع الشخص الوحيد الذي يمكنه تفسير ملابسات وواقع هذه القضية فمن هي المرأة المحققة التي لطالما لعبت دور المحقق في مثل هذه القضايا الغامضة؟]]> 310 Agatha Christie Medhat The Fanatic Reader 5 3.95 1957 قطار 4.50 من بادنغتون
author: Agatha Christie
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1957
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2021/02/22
shelves: favorites, my-read-agatha-christie-collection, my-favorite-agatha-christie-books, 1-multiple-copies
review:

]]> Nemesis (Miss Marple, #11) 31304
Rafiel had left instructions for her to investigate a crime after his death. The only problem was, he had failed to tell her who was involved or where and when the crime had been committed. It was most intriguing. Soon she is faced with a new crime - the ultimate crime - murder. It seems someone is adamant that past evils remain buried.

Librarian's note: this entry is for the novel, "Nemesis." Collections and other Miss Marple stories are located elsewhere on ŷ. The series includes 12 novels and 20 short stories. Entries for the short stories can be found by searching ŷ for: "a Miss Marple Short Story."]]> 213 Agatha Christie 0451200187 Medhat The Fanatic Reader 5 3.86 1971 Nemesis (Miss Marple, #11)
author: Agatha Christie
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1971
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2021/02/22
shelves: favorites, my-read-agatha-christie-collection, my-favorite-agatha-christie-books, 1-multiple-copies
review:

]]> Night Fall (John Corey, #3) 93788
It is dusk on July 17, 1996. A man and a woman who are married--but not to each other--make love on a Long Island beach as a video camera records their pleasure...and something more. Out over the ocean, TWA Flight 800 suddenly explodes with 230 victims on board, the terrible blast illuminating the sky. The government's verdict is mechanical failure. But the videotape may tell another story--if it can be found.

Now on the fifth anniversary of the crash, two members of the Federal Anti-Terrorist Task Force set out to reopen the case; John Corey, an ex-NYPD detective, and his wife, Kate Mayfield, a career FBI agent. Together, they hunt for the crucial video...and race towed an elusive truth even more horrifying than the crash itself.
--back cover]]> 692 Nelson DeMille 0446616621 Medhat The Fanatic Reader 3 1-multiple-copies 3.5/5 4.06 2004 Night Fall (John Corey, #3)
author: Nelson DeMille
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2004
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2021/02/22
shelves: 1-multiple-copies
review:
3.5/5
]]> <![CDATA[Déjà Dead (Temperance Brennan, #1)]]> 1750819 Her life is devoted to justice—for those she never even knew.

In the year since Temperance Brennan left behind a shaky marriage in North Carolina, work has often preempted her weekend plans to explore Quebec. When a female corpse is discovered meticulously dismembered and stashed in trash bags, Tempe detects an alarming pattern—and she plunges into a harrowing search for a killer. But her investigation is about to place those closest to her—her best friend and her own daughter—in mortal danger. . . .]]> 532 Kathy Reichs 1416570985 Medhat The Fanatic Reader 5 favorites, 1-multiple-copies 3.57 1997 Déjà Dead (Temperance Brennan, #1)
author: Kathy Reichs
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 3.57
book published: 1997
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2021/02/22
shelves: favorites, 1-multiple-copies
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Harry Potter, #7)]]> 136251
In this final, seventh installment of the Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling unveils in spectacular fashion the answers to the many questions that have been so eagerly awaited.]]> 759 J.K. Rowling Medhat The Fanatic Reader 5 4.61 2007 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Harry Potter, #7)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 4.61
book published: 2007
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2021/02/22
shelves: favorites, must-reads, hardcovers, 1-multiple-copies
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Harry Potter, #1)]]> 848654 HARRY POTTER IS A WIZARD!]]> 223 J.K. Rowling 0747532699 Medhat The Fanatic Reader 5 4.50 1997 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Harry Potter, #1)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 4.50
book published: 1997
rating: 5
read at: 2015/02/19
date added: 2021/02/22
shelves: favorites, must-reads, hardcovers, 1-multiple-copies
review:

]]> Duma Key 6217450 769 Stephen King 1416560378 Medhat The Fanatic Reader 0
Unlike the first one, The Green Mile, which was a 5-star read, Duma Key is now my 1st DNF of 2020.

This is so far my 3rd DNFed King book (Blaze & Insomnia are the first 2), and as a Constant Reader of Stephen King, it really pains me to leave a work by him unfinished.

The greatest sin of this book is that it was very boring and repetitive beyond anything I've read this year. It is well-written (of course, it's by King!), but there is too much fillers, and it didn't know where to go for the first 200 pages; it might have been a King masterpiece in my eyes if those first 200 pages were shortened. Alas, it was never meant to be.

I really have no idea what to rate Duma Key: 1 or 1.5, or even 2-2.5 stars .... so I'll leave the book unrated and forget all about it, without even attempting to learn about the ending, or anything after page 286.]]> 3.84 2008 Duma Key
author: Stephen King
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at: 2020/06/02
date added: 2021/02/22
shelves: my-stephen-king-collection, buddy-reads, dropped-dnf, read-stephen-king-books, 1-multiple-copies
review:
Duma Key was the second book that I planned on reading with a friend on IG as part of #ConstantKingathon that I was co-hosting.

Unlike the first one, The Green Mile, which was a 5-star read, Duma Key is now my 1st DNF of 2020.

This is so far my 3rd DNFed King book (Blaze & Insomnia are the first 2), and as a Constant Reader of Stephen King, it really pains me to leave a work by him unfinished.

The greatest sin of this book is that it was very boring and repetitive beyond anything I've read this year. It is well-written (of course, it's by King!), but there is too much fillers, and it didn't know where to go for the first 200 pages; it might have been a King masterpiece in my eyes if those first 200 pages were shortened. Alas, it was never meant to be.

I really have no idea what to rate Duma Key: 1 or 1.5, or even 2-2.5 stars .... so I'll leave the book unrated and forget all about it, without even attempting to learn about the ending, or anything after page 286.
]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6)]]> 818061
Source: ]]> 607 J.K. Rowling 155192918X Medhat The Fanatic Reader 4 ]]> 4.55 2005 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 4.55
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at: 2016/07/07
date added: 2021/02/22
shelves: harry-potter-marathon-2016, 1-multiple-copies
review:
Blimey hell!! This was one epic, heart-breaking ending!

]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Harry Potter, #4)]]> 864890
]]> 636 J.K. Rowling 0747550999 Medhat The Fanatic Reader 5 4.54 2000 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Harry Potter, #4)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 4.54
book published: 2000
rating: 5
read at: 2022/11/09
date added: 2021/02/22
shelves: harry-potter-marathon-2016, 1-multiple-copies
review:
I am completely blown-away by this. I treasure every single moment I spent reading this book.
]]> <![CDATA[The Da Vinci Code (Robert Langdon, #2)]]> 85266 This item does not meet our catalog guidelines and can no longer be rated or reviewed.
Please add this edition to your shelf instead:
The da Vinci Code]]> 454 Dan Brown Medhat The Fanatic Reader 5
I have always been fascinated by symbols, secret societies/brotherhoods, history, conspiracies, and most importantly, Leonardo Da Vinci and the Mona Lisa, both of whom are the main source for my passion for the Renaissance arts.

In the Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown has created THE most brilliant, extraordinary novel ever. He delves into history with an epic depth, and recounts it with authenticity like no other writer could.

Robert Langdon is my ever beloved character in fiction. I just love how his brain works, how he unfolds the historical facts for the other characters and discovers these mysteries with heart-beating pace. I especially like that Micky Mouse watch element in the Robert Langdon series, and its importance to Langdon's character development.

Not one detail in The Da Vinci Code is left unsolved or undetected, and Dan Brown leaves nothing for random. I thoroughly enjoy how Dan Brown's books are recounted within less than 24 hours, and reading those books you would feel that a lifetime have gone since starting the novel. Moreover, starting each chapter by richly describing the settings is an important aspect in Dan Brown's books in setting the reader on the right track and doubling the astonishment of the actions that are taking place.

Ultimately, I would like to add that reading this masterpiece as part of my Dan Brown Marathon, and also as a celebration for my 10th anniversary of reading books, and 10th anniversary of reading The Da Vinci Code for the first time, along with having Inferno the movie released on my birthday, had my heart growing with endless nostalgia and heartwarming emotions.

The easiest 5-star rating!]]> 3.81 2003 The Da Vinci Code (Robert Langdon, #2)
author: Dan Brown
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2003
rating: 5
read at: 2016/09/01
date added: 2021/02/22
shelves: favorites, must-reads, rediscovered-treasures, golden-books-2016, 10yearsofdanbrown, hardcovers, 1-multiple-copies
review:
This is the most stunning and mind-blowing novel I read in my life. Funny, The Da Vinci Code is the main reason why I fell in love with books; the first time I read it is when I was 12-year old, and ever since then I've been reading books with non-stopped pace.

I have always been fascinated by symbols, secret societies/brotherhoods, history, conspiracies, and most importantly, Leonardo Da Vinci and the Mona Lisa, both of whom are the main source for my passion for the Renaissance arts.

In the Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown has created THE most brilliant, extraordinary novel ever. He delves into history with an epic depth, and recounts it with authenticity like no other writer could.

Robert Langdon is my ever beloved character in fiction. I just love how his brain works, how he unfolds the historical facts for the other characters and discovers these mysteries with heart-beating pace. I especially like that Micky Mouse watch element in the Robert Langdon series, and its importance to Langdon's character development.

Not one detail in The Da Vinci Code is left unsolved or undetected, and Dan Brown leaves nothing for random. I thoroughly enjoy how Dan Brown's books are recounted within less than 24 hours, and reading those books you would feel that a lifetime have gone since starting the novel. Moreover, starting each chapter by richly describing the settings is an important aspect in Dan Brown's books in setting the reader on the right track and doubling the astonishment of the actions that are taking place.

Ultimately, I would like to add that reading this masterpiece as part of my Dan Brown Marathon, and also as a celebration for my 10th anniversary of reading books, and 10th anniversary of reading The Da Vinci Code for the first time, along with having Inferno the movie released on my birthday, had my heart growing with endless nostalgia and heartwarming emotions.

The easiest 5-star rating!
]]> The Heart Goes Last 24388326
Stan and Charmaine are a married couple trying to stay afloat in the midst of an economic and social collapse. Job loss has forced them to live in their car, leaving them vulnerable to roving gangs. They desperately need to turn their situation around - and fast. The Positron Project in the town of Consilience seems to be the answer to their prayers. No one is unemployed and everyone gets a comfortable, clean house to live in... for six months out of the year. On alternating months, residents of Consilience must leave their homes and function as inmates in the Positron prison system. Once their month of service in the prison is completed, they can return to their "civilian" homes.

At first, this doesn't seem like too much of a sacrifice to make in order to have a roof over one's head and food to eat. But when Charmaine becomes romantically involved with the man who lives in their house during the months when she and Stan are in the prison, a series of troubling events unfolds, putting Stan's life in danger. With each passing day, Positron looks less like a prayer answered and more like a chilling prophecy fulfilled.]]> 320 Margaret Atwood 0385540353 Medhat The Fanatic Reader 5 3.37 2015 The Heart Goes Last
author: Margaret Atwood
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 3.37
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at: 2015/10/21
date added: 2021/02/22
shelves: favorites, signed-by-the-author, hardcovers, margaret-atwood, 1-multiple-copies
review:
Margaret Atwood is a phenomenal writer, whose books everyone needs to read!
]]> Sharp Objects 66559
Sent to investigate the disappearance of two little girls, Camille finds herself reluctantly installed in the family mansion, reacquainting herself with her distant mother and a precocious thirteen-year-old half-sister she barely knows. Haunted by a family tragedy, troubled by the disquieting grip her young sister has on the town, Camille struggles with a familiar need to be accepted.

But as clues turn into dead ends, Camille finds herself identifying with the young victims and realises: she will have to unravel the puzzle of her own past if she's to survive this homecoming.]]> 254 Gillian Flynn 0307341542 Medhat The Fanatic Reader 4 3.89 2006 Sharp Objects
author: Gillian Flynn
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at: 2016/01/24
date added: 2021/02/22
shelves: rediscovered-treasures, favorites, signed-by-the-author, golden-books-2016, gillian-flynn-marathon-2016, 1-multiple-copies
review:
This was a brilliant, fascinating book, and most importantly an eerie nerve-boiling literary work!! 4.5 stars for this re-read since last year!
]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Harry Potter, #3)]]> 49116
Now he has escaped, leaving only two clues as to where he might be headed: Harry Potter's defeat of You-Know-Who was Black's downfall as well. And the Azkaban guards heard Black muttering in his sleep, "He's at Hogwarts...he's at Hogwarts."

Harry Potter isn't safe, not even within the walls of his magical school, surrounded by his friends. because on top of it all, there may well be a traitor in their midst.

(front flap)]]> 435 J.K. Rowling Medhat The Fanatic Reader 5 4.57 1999 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Harry Potter, #3)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 4.57
book published: 1999
rating: 5
read at: 2016/02/12
date added: 2021/02/22
shelves: harry-potter-marathon-2016, favorites, golden-books-2016, must-reads, hardcovers, 1-multiple-copies
review:
'You think the dead we have loved ever truly leave us? You think that we don't recall them more clearly than ever in times of great trouble? Your father is alive in you, Harry, and shows himself most plainly when you have need of him.'
]]> Dark Places 5886881
Since then, she has been drifting. But when she is contacted by a group who are convinced of Ben's innocence, Libby starts to ask questions she never dared to before. Was the voice she heard her brother's? Ben was a misfit in their small town, but was he capable of murder? Are there secrets to uncover at the family farm or is Libby deluding herself because she wants her brother back?

She begins to realise that everyone in her family had something to hide that day... especially Ben. Now, twenty-four years later, the truth is going to be even harder to find.

Who did massacre the Day family?]]> 424 Gillian Flynn 0307341569 Medhat The Fanatic Reader 5 3.95 2009 Dark Places
author: Gillian Flynn
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2009
rating: 5
read at: 2016/01/29
date added: 2021/02/22
shelves: rediscovered-treasures, favorites, gillian-flynn-marathon-2016, golden-books-2016, must-reads, 1-multiple-copies
review:
Gripping, fascinating and mindblowing!
]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter, #5)]]> 2
Harry has had enough. He is beginning to think he must do something, anything, to change his situation, when the summer holidays come to an end in a very dramatic fashion. What Harry is about to discover in his new year at Hogwarts will turn his world upside down...]]> 912 J.K. Rowling Medhat The Fanatic Reader 5
What I appreciate the most about this book is how we are exposed to a dislikeable Harry Potter; I mean, the guy has gone through A LOT of shit, and he deserves to be angry and wants to stay alone all the time. Moreover, I also enjoy how much I love to hate Professor Dolores Umbridge; I hate her even more than Voldemort--and this says a lot.

Overall, this book is extraordinary, and it earns the position to be one of my all-time favorite books.]]> 4.50 2003 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter, #5)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2003
rating: 5
read at: 2016/07/03
date added: 2021/02/22
shelves: favorites, harry-potter-marathon-2016, golden-books-2016, must-reads, hardcovers, 1-multiple-copies
review:
This volume of the Harry Potter series is pretty much intense--more than any of the former books. The story gets darker and darker as Lord Voldemort has finally returned, and along the way, we experience moments of rage, sympathy, sadness, horror, and resilience

What I appreciate the most about this book is how we are exposed to a dislikeable Harry Potter; I mean, the guy has gone through A LOT of shit, and he deserves to be angry and wants to stay alone all the time. Moreover, I also enjoy how much I love to hate Professor Dolores Umbridge; I hate her even more than Voldemort--and this says a lot.

Overall, this book is extraordinary, and it earns the position to be one of my all-time favorite books.
]]> The Green Mile 978711 New York Times bestselling novel The Green Mile in monthly installments, millions of hooked readers anxiously waited each cliff-hanging episode. Now, for the first time, all six exciting parts come together in one volume to let you enjoy Stephen King’s masterpiece uninterrupted, from gripping opening to shattering climax.

At Cold Mountain Penitentiary, along the lonely stretch of cells known as the Green Mile, killers as depraved as the psychotic “Billy the Kid� Wharton and the possessed Eduard Delacroix await death strapped in “Old Sparky�. Here guards as decent as Paul Edgecombe and as sadistic as Percy Wetmore watch over them. But good or evil, innocent or guilty, none have ever seen the brutal likes of the new prisoner, John Coffey, sentenced to death for raping and murdering two young girls. Is Coffey the devil in human form? Or is he a far, far different kind of being?

There are more wonders in heaven and hell than anyone at Cold Mountain can imagine � as the truth emerges in shock waves that only Stephen King could create and a blast of revelation that will truly blow your mind.]]> 465 Stephen King Medhat The Fanatic Reader 5

The Green Mile was the first book that I have read for #ConstantKingathon, a Stephen King marathon that I've co-hosted with 2 friends on Bookstagram. It was also our pick for "the co-hosts' buddy-read" challenge, and we've read it with a bunch of other people.

When I started The Green Mile, it's been more than 6 months since I finished and enjoyed a Stephen King book. I tried reading Insomnia in the fall of 2019, and sadly, because I couldn't stand the fillers, I ended-up DFNing it; because of that, I was anxious that Stephen King might no longer remain as my favorite author of all-time . . . and boy, I was wrong!

Having read over 46 Stephen King books and loved more than 30 of them, I can tell you right away that The Green Mile is one of his best works; or if you would prefer: Simply, one of his masterpieces.

With The Green Mile, King has created some of his career's best characters, crafted with masterful ambiguity, many creations who were deep and tormented souls, who wanted nothing but to do good and BE good. Shining among them the most is the unforgettable and wonderful John Coffey.

Since I've seen the classic adaptation many times during my childhood and adolescence, I read John's dialogue, every time he spoke, in the voice of the great Michael Clarke Duncan, who played the role faithfully.

Our narrator, and main character, Paul Edgecombe, who, several decades later, is telling us what happened in 1932, is another outstanding King character. He is completely fleshed out; his flaws, goodness, and moral compass are all explored as he contemplates his old-age and compares what is left of his prisoners' life, who had walked the green mile on their way to Old Sparky, and his, as everyone around him has died or is dying, or losing themselves for the crime of getting old.

The other guards, Dean, Harry, and Brutal, made the book more complex with their characters' exuberant presence. And of course, who could forget Mister Jingles, who was the cherry on the top.

Percy made my blood boils with his stupidity, egoistic behavior, and bullying. He's definitely out there with Randall Flagg, as one of my favorite love-to-hate characters.

Del, a convict who would eventually walk the green mile after committing horrific crimes, was a fascinating character. Despite what he'd done, I grew to like his character, who was a great example of self-redeemance.

In conclusion, this book is amazing. It's funny, wise, and heartbreaking, and it gave me a punch to the heart so hard that I won't be able to forget.





















]]> 4.46 1996 The Green Mile
author: Stephen King
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 4.46
book published: 1996
rating: 5
read at: 2020/05/27
date added: 2021/02/22
shelves: my-stephen-king-collection, favorites, favorites-by-stephen-king, read-stephen-king-books, 1-multiple-copies
review:
We're all walking the green mile, sooner or later.


The Green Mile was the first book that I have read for #ConstantKingathon, a Stephen King marathon that I've co-hosted with 2 friends on Bookstagram. It was also our pick for "the co-hosts' buddy-read" challenge, and we've read it with a bunch of other people.

When I started The Green Mile, it's been more than 6 months since I finished and enjoyed a Stephen King book. I tried reading Insomnia in the fall of 2019, and sadly, because I couldn't stand the fillers, I ended-up DFNing it; because of that, I was anxious that Stephen King might no longer remain as my favorite author of all-time . . . and boy, I was wrong!

Having read over 46 Stephen King books and loved more than 30 of them, I can tell you right away that The Green Mile is one of his best works; or if you would prefer: Simply, one of his masterpieces.

With The Green Mile, King has created some of his career's best characters, crafted with masterful ambiguity, many creations who were deep and tormented souls, who wanted nothing but to do good and BE good. Shining among them the most is the unforgettable and wonderful John Coffey.

Since I've seen the classic adaptation many times during my childhood and adolescence, I read John's dialogue, every time he spoke, in the voice of the great Michael Clarke Duncan, who played the role faithfully.

Our narrator, and main character, Paul Edgecombe, who, several decades later, is telling us what happened in 1932, is another outstanding King character. He is completely fleshed out; his flaws, goodness, and moral compass are all explored as he contemplates his old-age and compares what is left of his prisoners' life, who had walked the green mile on their way to Old Sparky, and his, as everyone around him has died or is dying, or losing themselves for the crime of getting old.

The other guards, Dean, Harry, and Brutal, made the book more complex with their characters' exuberant presence. And of course, who could forget Mister Jingles, who was the cherry on the top.

Percy made my blood boils with his stupidity, egoistic behavior, and bullying. He's definitely out there with Randall Flagg, as one of my favorite love-to-hate characters.

Del, a convict who would eventually walk the green mile after committing horrific crimes, was a fascinating character. Despite what he'd done, I grew to like his character, who was a great example of self-redeemance.

In conclusion, this book is amazing. It's funny, wise, and heartbreaking, and it gave me a punch to the heart so hard that I won't be able to forget.






















]]> <![CDATA[Wolves of the Calla (The Dark Tower, #5)]]> 4978 960 Stephen King 141651693X Medhat The Fanatic Reader 4
To say that I didn't enjoy Wolves of the Calla would be a lie, but the book was too long. Though I love King when he writes big books, but this one was unnecessarily huge and 150-200 pages could have been cut off. This is one of the cases when King turns wordy.

Nevertheless, the book was entertaining and the characters were great, especially Jake, whose character-arc evolve dramatically but powerfully.

I loved meeting once again that character from 'Salem's Lot. His character and story were so much fun and terrifying.

And lastly, I had some issues with the last act. I wanted something mind-blowing to take place, alas, I wasn't satisfied.

Very good one but not great, but highly-recommended.]]> 4.19 2003 Wolves of the Calla (The Dark Tower, #5)
author: Stephen King
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2003
rating: 4
read at: 2018/12/08
date added: 2021/02/22
shelves: my-stephen-king-collection, read-stephen-king-books, 1-multiple-copies
review:
These books become weirder and weirder with each volume, and this one is the weirdest so far.

To say that I didn't enjoy Wolves of the Calla would be a lie, but the book was too long. Though I love King when he writes big books, but this one was unnecessarily huge and 150-200 pages could have been cut off. This is one of the cases when King turns wordy.

Nevertheless, the book was entertaining and the characters were great, especially Jake, whose character-arc evolve dramatically but powerfully.

I loved meeting once again that character from 'Salem's Lot. His character and story were so much fun and terrifying.

And lastly, I had some issues with the last act. I wanted something mind-blowing to take place, alas, I wasn't satisfied.

Very good one but not great, but highly-recommended.
]]> <![CDATA[The Dark Tower (The Dark Tower, #7)]]> 5091 The Dark Tower saga is perhaps the most anticipated book in the author's long career. King began this epic tale about the last gunslinger in the world more than 20 years ago; now he draws its suspenseful story to a close, snapping together the last pieces of his action puzzle and drawing Roland Deschain ever closer to his ultimate goal.

Alternate cover edition for ISBN-10: 1416524525; ISBN-13: 9781416524526]]> 1050 Stephen King Medhat The Fanatic Reader 5
I am both glad and sad that I am done with the series. Glad, because the journey was too long and I needed to see the end of it. Sad, because I will miss everyone.


The Dark Tower series is an epic tale of chivalry, friendship, adventure, love, and obsession. The tale grows in a very organic way with each book, and with it we see and feel the remarkable change and development of each character.

In The Gunslinger, we meet Roland this unlikable man, who has been traveling on the road for years, and years, and years, seeking the Dark Tower. Roland in this volume is dry man with an empty heart. He has been journeying for a long, with nothing but his father's guns. His doesn't give a shit about anyone or anything beside the Tower.

However, as the series advances, and Roland meets new people (his Ka-Tet), his life is changed forever: He becomes a man of great empathy, with a wonderful heart, and someone who could love and be loved. His character arc is without any reasonable doubt one of King's best accomplishments.

And now we come to Roland's Ka-Tet (his companions on his journey to the Tower): Eddy, Susannah, Jake, and the billy-bumbler Oy. Let me tell you at once: These characters has become a family of mine on the pages and in my mind. Think about it, you spend more than a year reading and following these characters' footsteps as they face the unfathomable. As they fall in love. As they learn how to survive in this alien place. And eventually, as face their fates.

Regarding the Dark Tower's world-building, this I consider is Stephen King's best accomplishment in his entire writing career. You got to go to so many great places, crafted in the most imaginative and sophisticated manner only Stephen King can achieve.

Now that I spoke about the whole series, let me tell you about my thoughts about this last volume, for I have a few that I need to highlight.

This book is a roller-coaster of ups and downs, though more ups than downs. The Dark Tower, though it was great, wasn't the strongest in the series--which for me that would always be The Waste Lands, book 3.

It suffers from a disorientation in pacing; just when I feel like flying through, there would come a large part where the pacing would drastically suffer and slow . . . and then the fast-pacing would come back again. For example, throughout the last 100 pages, I came to a point where I just want to finish from the whole thing because I just can't take it anymore. The last 100 pages were a pain in the back since nothing epic happened . . . but that's okay, because the very, very finality of Roland's journey would make you disregard that bad part and focus on this wonderful and epic END to the series.

Though many would say it wasn't that great of an ending, I would tell them FU, because it was . . . and the only Ending it would fit.

Mordred and the Crimson King's parts were sadly anti-climatic . . . even Randall Flagg's. This book itself was a lonnnng journey, but that made it more epic, because we needed to feel the suffering and anticipation of our main characters on their last journey to the Tower.

All these battles, deaths, murders, love, friendships, revenge, and betrayals . . . It is all for the Dark Tower (I know, I stole this line from the Game of Thrones promo for season 8 . . . but in its own way, it fits for the Dark Tower; ha-ha!).

I say thank ya for reading this review. Long days and pleasant nights.]]> 4.27 2004 The Dark Tower (The Dark Tower, #7)
author: Stephen King
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2004
rating: 5
read at: 2019/01/10
date added: 2021/02/22
shelves: my-stephen-king-collection, january-2019-tbr, read-stephen-king-books, favorites-by-stephen-king, 1-multiple-copies
review:
I started my journey with the Dark Tower series on the 26th of July 2017, and now the journey is over.

I am both glad and sad that I am done with the series. Glad, because the journey was too long and I needed to see the end of it. Sad, because I will miss everyone.


The Dark Tower series is an epic tale of chivalry, friendship, adventure, love, and obsession. The tale grows in a very organic way with each book, and with it we see and feel the remarkable change and development of each character.

In The Gunslinger, we meet Roland this unlikable man, who has been traveling on the road for years, and years, and years, seeking the Dark Tower. Roland in this volume is dry man with an empty heart. He has been journeying for a long, with nothing but his father's guns. His doesn't give a shit about anyone or anything beside the Tower.

However, as the series advances, and Roland meets new people (his Ka-Tet), his life is changed forever: He becomes a man of great empathy, with a wonderful heart, and someone who could love and be loved. His character arc is without any reasonable doubt one of King's best accomplishments.

And now we come to Roland's Ka-Tet (his companions on his journey to the Tower): Eddy, Susannah, Jake, and the billy-bumbler Oy. Let me tell you at once: These characters has become a family of mine on the pages and in my mind. Think about it, you spend more than a year reading and following these characters' footsteps as they face the unfathomable. As they fall in love. As they learn how to survive in this alien place. And eventually, as face their fates.

Regarding the Dark Tower's world-building, this I consider is Stephen King's best accomplishment in his entire writing career. You got to go to so many great places, crafted in the most imaginative and sophisticated manner only Stephen King can achieve.

Now that I spoke about the whole series, let me tell you about my thoughts about this last volume, for I have a few that I need to highlight.

This book is a roller-coaster of ups and downs, though more ups than downs. The Dark Tower, though it was great, wasn't the strongest in the series--which for me that would always be The Waste Lands, book 3.

It suffers from a disorientation in pacing; just when I feel like flying through, there would come a large part where the pacing would drastically suffer and slow . . . and then the fast-pacing would come back again. For example, throughout the last 100 pages, I came to a point where I just want to finish from the whole thing because I just can't take it anymore. The last 100 pages were a pain in the back since nothing epic happened . . . but that's okay, because the very, very finality of Roland's journey would make you disregard that bad part and focus on this wonderful and epic END to the series.

Though many would say it wasn't that great of an ending, I would tell them FU, because it was . . . and the only Ending it would fit.

Mordred and the Crimson King's parts were sadly anti-climatic . . . even Randall Flagg's. This book itself was a lonnnng journey, but that made it more epic, because we needed to feel the suffering and anticipation of our main characters on their last journey to the Tower.

All these battles, deaths, murders, love, friendships, revenge, and betrayals . . . It is all for the Dark Tower (I know, I stole this line from the Game of Thrones promo for season 8 . . . but in its own way, it fits for the Dark Tower; ha-ha!).

I say thank ya for reading this review. Long days and pleasant nights.
]]> Sleeping Beauties 34466922
If they are awakened, and the gauze wrapping their bodies is disturbed or violated, the women become feral and spectacularly violent; and while they sleep they go to another place.

The men of our world are abandoned, left to their increasingly primal devices. One woman, however, the mysterious Evie, is immune to the blessing or curse of the sleeping disease.

Is Evie a medical anomaly to be studied, or is she a demon who must be slain?]]> 702 Stephen King 150116340X Medhat The Fanatic Reader 4
This book has a very special place in my heart. After years and years of dreaming to have one, I now finally own a signed book by my icon, Stephen King. I cannot tell you enough how this is the very BEST thing that ever happened to me as a reader.

As for the review,

Sleeping Beauties, written by the Master of Horror, Stephen king, and his talented son, Owen King, is a very fun ride.

The book itself isn't King's greatest effort, and though it isn't exactly scary in terms of what King is known by, the concept is dark, and can create a discussion, and a debate, about the serious issues that it tackles.

This father-son collaboration discusses national, and, most importantly, present-wise crises that the United States is currently struggling through, such as racism and police-brutality and the American politics, and feminism. It also opens a thread of thoughtfulness and offers a vision, real and vivid, expertly mastered, about a community built by women and communities destroyed by men.

In terms of characters, I disliked and liked them equally. Some, more or less, I wanted them to die, especially Frank. Goddamn it what an asshole he was. However, I loved Evie Black, she is a real charmer and you can surely depend on her to make you laugh even when you shouldn't be.

Masterfully executed is the sense of place the Kings have evoked within my mind. I felt like I am there in the town of Dooling, watching everyone behind their shoulders while the Aurora illness and the intensity within this small town are spreading, building up to that epic climax.

To be honest, the climax of the book at the end keeps reminding me of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, when the chaotic events unfold at the last quarter or so in both books.

This book is far from being great. I dislike the fact that King's hallmarks of darkness and gore aren't as much there as I was hoping. The novel is too long and needed some cuts up to 200 pages. Moreover, I wanted more major events to happen, and less endless talks and walks around and other random stuff. Also, there aren't as much resolutions as I wanted to. I still have unanswered questions about Evie, her whereabouts and origin.

Lastly, what else can I say, this novel is eye-opener and needs to be read, by men and women alike. It is a good experimental novel that operates by the hands of one of the world's greatest living author and a skillful author with a building-up talent.]]> 3.71 2017 Sleeping Beauties
author: Stephen King
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2017/12/02
date added: 2021/02/22
shelves: signed-by-the-author, my-stephen-king-collection, read-stephen-king-books, hardcovers, 1-multiple-copies
review:
Technically 3.6 stars.

This book has a very special place in my heart. After years and years of dreaming to have one, I now finally own a signed book by my icon, Stephen King. I cannot tell you enough how this is the very BEST thing that ever happened to me as a reader.

As for the review,

Sleeping Beauties, written by the Master of Horror, Stephen king, and his talented son, Owen King, is a very fun ride.

The book itself isn't King's greatest effort, and though it isn't exactly scary in terms of what King is known by, the concept is dark, and can create a discussion, and a debate, about the serious issues that it tackles.

This father-son collaboration discusses national, and, most importantly, present-wise crises that the United States is currently struggling through, such as racism and police-brutality and the American politics, and feminism. It also opens a thread of thoughtfulness and offers a vision, real and vivid, expertly mastered, about a community built by women and communities destroyed by men.

In terms of characters, I disliked and liked them equally. Some, more or less, I wanted them to die, especially Frank. Goddamn it what an asshole he was. However, I loved Evie Black, she is a real charmer and you can surely depend on her to make you laugh even when you shouldn't be.

Masterfully executed is the sense of place the Kings have evoked within my mind. I felt like I am there in the town of Dooling, watching everyone behind their shoulders while the Aurora illness and the intensity within this small town are spreading, building up to that epic climax.

To be honest, the climax of the book at the end keeps reminding me of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, when the chaotic events unfold at the last quarter or so in both books.

This book is far from being great. I dislike the fact that King's hallmarks of darkness and gore aren't as much there as I was hoping. The novel is too long and needed some cuts up to 200 pages. Moreover, I wanted more major events to happen, and less endless talks and walks around and other random stuff. Also, there aren't as much resolutions as I wanted to. I still have unanswered questions about Evie, her whereabouts and origin.

Lastly, what else can I say, this novel is eye-opener and needs to be read, by men and women alike. It is a good experimental novel that operates by the hands of one of the world's greatest living author and a skillful author with a building-up talent.
]]> Wuthering Heights 507157 am Heathcliff! He's always, always in my mind: not as a pleasure... but as my own being." Wuthering Heights is the only novel of Emily Bronte, who died a year after its publication, at the age of thirty. A brooding Yorkshire tale of a love that is stronger than death, it is also a fierce vision of metaphysical passion, in which heaven and hell, nature and society, are powerfully juxtaposed. Unique, mystical, with a timeless appeal, it has become a classic of English literature.]]> 324 Emily Brontë 0553212583 Medhat The Fanatic Reader 4
Now that I have finally read and loved the masterpiece 'Wuthering Height' can I die in lasting peace (If you thought this was dramatic, booooy you need to read this novel, because Drama is what this book is).

It is a novel that needs no introduction. So beloved by so many that it is also (well, semi-)equally hated at the same time. You either hate it or love it: There is no middle-ground.

But actually, there is: Because, for the first 220-ish pages, I loved this book with all my heart; and then I hated it with every cell in my body, especially Heathcliff's parts, whose character involved assault over racism and injustices (on him during his boyhood) and attack on morality (by him during his manhood) as endless pain and cruelty were inflicted over everyone around him, including himself.

The pain that this book thundered even over its reader was no doubt matchable to that on its characters, for it is between pages 220-ish and 270 that I had the urgency during some moments to leave the book unfinished, for nothing light could come out and ooze of that bleakness.

I was wrong.

The last 45-ish pages were so wonderful, so satisfying, and so touching that my faith in Wuthering Heights reappeared, for it never left; it was always there, hiding in plain sight.

This reading experience is dedicated to my awesome friend Italo, for whom I re-read Wuthering Heights, his favorite book of all-time, and finished it this time as a celebration of his 24th birthday.

Equally important, it was thanks to Wuthering Heights that Italo and I got introduced to each other and to our immensely great friend Emilio in August 2019 when we decided to buddy-read it.
]]> 3.80 1847 Wuthering Heights
author: Emily Brontë
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 3.80
book published: 1847
rating: 4
read at: 2020/08/14
date added: 2021/02/22
shelves: victorian-literature, on-hold, to-read-in-2nd-half-2020, 1-multiple-copies
review:
4.3 stars

Now that I have finally read and loved the masterpiece 'Wuthering Height' can I die in lasting peace (If you thought this was dramatic, booooy you need to read this novel, because Drama is what this book is).

It is a novel that needs no introduction. So beloved by so many that it is also (well, semi-)equally hated at the same time. You either hate it or love it: There is no middle-ground.

But actually, there is: Because, for the first 220-ish pages, I loved this book with all my heart; and then I hated it with every cell in my body, especially Heathcliff's parts, whose character involved assault over racism and injustices (on him during his boyhood) and attack on morality (by him during his manhood) as endless pain and cruelty were inflicted over everyone around him, including himself.

The pain that this book thundered even over its reader was no doubt matchable to that on its characters, for it is between pages 220-ish and 270 that I had the urgency during some moments to leave the book unfinished, for nothing light could come out and ooze of that bleakness.

I was wrong.

The last 45-ish pages were so wonderful, so satisfying, and so touching that my faith in Wuthering Heights reappeared, for it never left; it was always there, hiding in plain sight.

This reading experience is dedicated to my awesome friend Italo, for whom I re-read Wuthering Heights, his favorite book of all-time, and finished it this time as a celebration of his 24th birthday.

Equally important, it was thanks to Wuthering Heights that Italo and I got introduced to each other and to our immensely great friend Emilio in August 2019 when we decided to buddy-read it.

]]> <![CDATA[Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage]]> 19288239 A mesmerising mystery story about friendship from the internationally bestselling author of Norwegian Wood and 1Q84

Tsukuru Tazaki had four best friends at school. By chance all of their names contained a colour. The two boys were called Akamatsu, meaning ‘red pine�, and Oumi, ‘blue sea�, while the girls� names were Shirane, ‘white root�, and Kurono, ‘black field�. Tazaki was the only last name with no colour in it.

One day Tsukuru Tazaki’s friends announced that they didn't want to see him, or talk to him, ever again.

Since that day Tsukuru has been floating through life, unable to form intimate connections with anyone. But then he meets Sara, who tells him that the time has come to find out what happened all those years ago.]]> 386 Haruki Murakami 0385352107 Medhat The Fanatic Reader 4 3.82 2013 Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage
author: Haruki Murakami
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2020/12/30
date added: 2021/02/22
shelves: summer-readalongs-2019, 1-multiple-copies
review:
I can't stop thinking about Tsukuru Tazaki or his years of pilgramage.
]]> <![CDATA[Hercule Poirot's Christmas (Hercule Poirot, #20)]]> 826760 257 Agatha Christie 0425177416 Medhat The Fanatic Reader 5
I have bought Hercule Poirot's Christmas 13/12 years ago, and I have been considering reading it for the past 6-7 Christmases. I have always saw myself reading this book and finishing it on Christmas day, and each time, I'd either remember its existence after Christmas or on Christmas, or I'd already be in the middle of another book. So it has never worked, until now.

Hercule Poirot's Christmas is another breathtaking novel and genius in each and every detail.

This is a rich and layered novel that I had never expected I'd enjoy and love this much.

Poirot, as always, by studying the psychology of the crime, the suspects, and, most importantly, the victim himself, comes to a very intelligent conclusion that would shock almost anyone.

I loved the interactions between the Lee family members. I thought they were fleshed out and crafted carefully.

My only negative was that I wish this book felt more Christmas-y.

And with finishing this book, my ŷ 2019 challenge has completed]]> 3.87 1938 Hercule Poirot's Christmas (Hercule Poirot, #20)
author: Agatha Christie
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 3.87
book published: 1938
rating: 5
read at: 2019/12/25
date added: 2021/02/22
shelves: classics, my-agatha-christie-collection, my-read-agatha-christie-collection, my-favorite-agatha-christie-books, 1-multiple-copies
review:
WOW! Just WOW!

I have bought Hercule Poirot's Christmas 13/12 years ago, and I have been considering reading it for the past 6-7 Christmases. I have always saw myself reading this book and finishing it on Christmas day, and each time, I'd either remember its existence after Christmas or on Christmas, or I'd already be in the middle of another book. So it has never worked, until now.

Hercule Poirot's Christmas is another breathtaking novel and genius in each and every detail.

This is a rich and layered novel that I had never expected I'd enjoy and love this much.

Poirot, as always, by studying the psychology of the crime, the suspects, and, most importantly, the victim himself, comes to a very intelligent conclusion that would shock almost anyone.

I loved the interactions between the Lee family members. I thought they were fleshed out and crafted carefully.

My only negative was that I wish this book felt more Christmas-y.

And with finishing this book, my ŷ 2019 challenge has completed
]]> The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon 493816
What if the woods were full of them? And of course they were, the woods were full of everything you didn't like, everything you were afraid of and instinctively loathed, everything that tried to overwhelm you with nasty, no-brain panic.

The brochure promised a "moderate-to-difficult" six-mile hike on the Maine-New Hampshire branch of the Appalachian Trail, where nine-year-old Trisha McFarland was to spend Saturday with her older brother, Pete, and her recently divorced mother. When she wanders off to escape their constant bickering, then tries to catch up by attempting to shortcut through the woods, Trisha strays deeper into a wilderness full of peril and terror. Especially when night falls.

Trisha has only her wits for navigation, only her ingenuity as a defense against the elements, only her courage and faith to withstand her mounting fear. For solace she tunes her Walkman to broadcasts of Boston Red Sox games and the gritty performances of her hero, number 36, relief pitcher Tom Gordon. And when her radio's reception begins to fade, Trisha imagines that Tom Gordon is with her--her key to surviving an enemy known only by the slaughtered animals and mangled trees in its wake.

A classic story that engages our emotions at the most primal level, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, explores our deep dread of the unknown and the extent to which faith can conquer it. It is a fairy tale grimmer than Grimm, but aglow with a girl's indomitable spirit.]]> 224 Stephen King 0684867621 Medhat The Fanatic Reader 0 3.62 1999 The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon
author: Stephen King
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 3.62
book published: 1999
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/02/22
shelves: my-stephen-king-collection, short-books, unread-stephen-king-books, hardcovers, to-read, 1-multiple-copies, 0-10-before-the-end-2024
review:

]]> City on Fire 24189224 New York Times

New York City, 1976. Meet Regan and William Hamilton-Sweeney, estranged heirs to one of the city’s great fortunes; Keith and Mercer, the men who, for better or worse, love them; Charlie and Samantha, two suburban teenagers seduced by downtown’s punk scene; an obsessive magazine reporter and his idealistic neighbor—and the detective trying to figure out what any of them have to do with a shooting in Central Park on New Year’s Eve.

The mystery, as it reverberates through families, friendships, and the corridors of power, will open up even the loneliest-seeming corners of the crowded city. And when the blackout of July 13, 1977, plunges this world into darkness, each of these lives will be changed forever.

City on Fire is an unforgettable novel about love and betrayal and forgiveness, about art and truth and rock ’n� roll: about what people need from each other in order to live . . . and about what makes the living worth doing in the first place.


From the Hardcover edition.]]> 911 Garth Risk Hallberg 0385353774 Medhat The Fanatic Reader 0 3.39 1997 City on Fire
author: Garth Risk Hallberg
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 3.39
book published: 1997
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/02/22
shelves: to-read, long-listed-2018-tbr, literary-fiction, challenging-books-2019, 1-multiple-copies
review:

]]> Jude the Obscure 35224454
Jude Fawley's hopes of an education at Christminster university are dashed when he is trapped into marrying the wild, earthy Arabella, who later abandons him. Moving to Christminster to work as a stonemason, Jude meets and falls in love with his cousin Sue Bridehead, a sensitive, freethinking 'New Woman'. Refusing to marry merely for the sake of religious convention, Jude and Sue decide instead to live together, but they are shunned by society, and poverty soon threatens to ruin them. Jude the Obscure, with its fearless and challenging exploration of class and sexual relationships, caused a public furore when it was first published and marked the end of Hardy's career as a novelist.

This edition uses the unbowdlerized first-volume text of 1895, and includes a list for further reading, appendices and a glossary. In his introduction, Dennis Taylor examines biblical allusions and the critique of religion in Jude the Obscure, and its critical reception that led Hardy to abandon novel writing.

Thomas Hardy (1840-1928), born Higher Brockhampton, near Dorchester. Though he saw himself primarily as a poet, Hardy was the author of some of the late eighteenth century's major novels: The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886), Tess of the D'Urbervilles (1891), Far from the Madding Crowd (1874), and Jude the Obscure (1895). Amidst the controversy caused by Jude the Obscure, he turned to the poetry he had been writing all his life. In the next thirty years he published over nine hundred poems and his epic drama in verse, The Dynasts.]]> 484 Thomas Hardy Medhat The Fanatic Reader 0 4.00 1895 Jude the Obscure
author: Thomas Hardy
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1895
rating: 0
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]]> The Mayor of Casterbridge 2012129 400 Thomas Hardy 0451530926 Medhat The Fanatic Reader 0 3.79 1886 The Mayor of Casterbridge
author: Thomas Hardy
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 3.79
book published: 1886
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Wedding (The Notebook, #2)]]> 3466
Did You Know?

The Wedding is a follow-up to The Notebook?

The Wedding was inspired by a few unnamed couples that Nicholas knows well?

The novel is set in the North Carolina town in which Nicholas now lives?]]> 276 Nicholas Sparks 0446615862 Medhat The Fanatic Reader 0 to-read, 1-multiple-copies 3.99 2003 The Wedding (The Notebook, #2)
author: Nicholas Sparks
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2003
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Harry Potter, #2)]]> 822147 251 Rowling 0747538492 Medhat The Fanatic Reader 0 to-read, 1-multiple-copies 4.40 1998 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Harry Potter, #2)
author: Rowling
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 4.40
book published: 1998
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Harry Potter, #1)]]> 77523
All he knows is a miserable life with the Dursleys, his horrible aunt and uncle, and their abominable son, Dudley - a great big swollen spoiled bully. Harry’s room is a tiny closet at the foot of the stairs, and he hasn’t had a birthday party in eleven years.

But all that is about to change when a mysterious letter arrives by owl messenger: a letter with an invitation to an incredible place that Harry - and anyone who reads about him - will find unforgettable.

For it’s there that he finds not only friends, aerial sports, and magic in everything from classes to meals, but a great destiny that’s been waiting for him…if Harry can survive the encounter.
(front flap)]]> 309 J.K. Rowling Medhat The Fanatic Reader 0 to-read, 1-multiple-copies 4.47 1997 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Harry Potter, #1)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 4.47
book published: 1997
rating: 0
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]]> Misery 534679 Misery is it.

Paul Sheldon, author of a bestselling series of historical romances, wakes up one winter day in a strange place, a secluded farmhouse in Colorado. He wakes up to unspeakable pain (a dislocated pelvis, a crushed knee, two shattered legs) and to a bizarre greeting from the woman who has saved his life: "I'm your number one fan!"

Annie Wilkes is a huge ex-nurse, handy with controlled substances and other instruments of abuse, including an axe and a blowtorch. A dangerous psychotic with a Romper Room sense of good and bad, fair and unfair, Annie Wilkes may be Stephen King's most terrifying creation. It's not fair, for example, that her favorite character in the world, Misery Chastain, has been killed by her creator, as Annie discovers when Paul's latest novel comes out in paperback. And it's not good that her favorite writer has been a Don't-Bee and written a different kind of novel, a nasty novel, the novel he has always wanted to write, the only copy of which now lies in Annie's angry hands.

Because she wants Paul Sheldon to be a Do-Bee, she buys him a typewriter and a ream of paper and tells him to bring Misery back to life. Wheelchair-bound, drug-dependent, locked in his room, Paul doesn't have much choice. He's an entertainer held captive by his audience. A writer in serious trouble. But writers have weapons too...]]> 310 Stephen King Medhat The Fanatic Reader 0 to-read, 1-multiple-copies 4.23 1987 Misery
author: Stephen King
name: Medhat The Fanatic Reader
average rating: 4.23
book published: 1987
rating: 0
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]]>