Mini-Comments, again

And a new post with some smaller comments on books that I really don't have much to say, but that I still wanted to register in my "diary". 

Tainted by Julie Kenner is a UF story, the first of a series, and a book I had to read for several years. The story is quite in par with the usual stories one finds from this genre: the heroine, Lily, dies and somehow is brought back to life in the body of someone else, with the purpose of accomplishing a task, which is to save people from a demon threath, etc. 

Of course the idea isn't bad and I did like several situations the author invented/imagined, but the writing style is, as it has happened with many other books in the genre, very much about the heroine's process of what is happening and, since it's first person, her "voice" should be appealing, which was not much to me, personally. Thus, I was easily distracted from what I was reading.

The book isn't big and the main plot not that tricky but let it be said this is the start of the series and the end of the book isn't really an end, which means one needs to read more installments in order to know what will happen next. I wasn't that thrilled by this story to go and try the following ones, therefore this is it. One less off the pile.

Grade: 5/10

The Origin of the Conflict Israeli-Arab (1870-1950) by Georges Bensoussan is the literal translation of a small book I brought from the library. The contemporary theme seems to demonstrate that peace won't happen for the immediate future and I was interested enough in reading this "summary" by a Moroccon author. 

I won't go into the content for it is so complex and broader than what the media makes it seem, that of course I don't know enough to now determine if this book is as factually correct as it is supposed to be. What I can say is that, for a summary of the historical situations which led to the current war, this seemed to be a competent text. The author divides the book into dates and the main situations which happened in each time line, often a continuation of similar events, until the moment things got into an impasse in the 50s. Nothing changed in the meantime, except what is current knowledge.

In terms of a reading experience, I would consider this to be a good book, mainly because it does offer a chronology which can help understand what led to what we see nowadays. Some situations, more linked to political aspects weren't as easy to grasp, though.

Still, this isn't meant to be a book about offering solutions, or blaming more one side than the other.

Grade: 8/10