MY VERDICT: Witty prose, moody noir atmosphere, but too convoluted and sleazy for my taste.

MY VERDICT: A Frenchman’s bitter diary. Gorgeous prose, but the contempt for Japan and its inhabitants made it a painful read.

MY VERDICT: A love story and a meditation on memory and jealousy. Short, gripping, and impossible to forget. A Brazilian masterpiece that needs to be better known.

Here are a couple of wonderful scifi classics I just read for #scifimonth 2025. They would both deserve a long and detailed review, but many have done that before me, and in a fabulous way, so I&#8…

MY VERDICT: A gripping, fast-paced dive into Erle Stanley Gardner’s science-fiction short stories!

Book Review for “The Seven Dials Mystery” by Agatha Christie. Summary: "Gerry Wade had proved himself to be a champion sleeper, so the other house guests decided to play a practical joke on him. Eight loud alarm clocks were set to go off, one after the other, starting at 6.30 a.m. But when morning arrived, one clock was missing and the prank had backfired with tragic consequences.

VERDICT: Desperate unemployed man dives into a murky underworld, wrestling morals and facing murder in this Higashino-esque page-turner. A major revelation.

MY VERDICT: A brilliant theological thriller disguised as scifi. The battle between good and evil relies entirely on our choices right now.

MY VERDICT: More than a science fiction novel about a lunar catastrophe, The Hopkins Manuscript is a profound exploration of what makes us human—for better and for worse.

Book Review for “The Man in the Brown Suit” by Agatha Christie. Summary: "Pretty, young Anne came to London looking for adventure. In fact, adventure comes looking for her—and finds her immediately at Hyde Park Corner tube station. Anne is present on the platform when a thin man, reeking of mothballs, loses his balance and is electrocuted on the rails. 

Review for “The Veldt” a Short Story by Ray Bradbury. Summary: "The advanced technology of a house first pleases then increasingly terrifies its occupants." Age: Adult; Genres: Genre - Science Fiction; Settings: Era/s: Vintage Futuristic; Location/s: Somewhere on earth, I suppose; Other Categories: Short Story, Classics.

MY VERDICT: Excellent mystery, disappointing motive. But the twist makes it worth the read. A solid debut that earns its rediscovery.

Book Review for “Casino Royale” (James Bond #1) by Ian Fleming. Summary: "British Secret Service agent James Bond, a.k.a. 007, is sent to play in a high-stakes baccarat game in an effort to take down Le Chiffre, a financier for the villainous SMERSH. Things get more complex when Bond is partnered with Vesper Lynd, a beautiful and smart MI6 employee with a dark secret."

MY VERDICT: A haunting minimalist meditation on flawed relationships and generational wounds, creating a uniquely Japanese melancholy.

Book Review for “Miss Plum and Miss Penny” by Dorothy Evelyn Smith. Summary: "Miss Penny is a middle-aged spinster living a cheerful, contented life, complete with perfect housekeeper, in an idyllic English village. Her romantic life consists of an annual Christmas card from her old flame George, and her social swirl involves Stanley, a prissy neighbour who keeps her in mind for a future wife, and Hubert, a neurotic widowed priest with an alienated son.

MY VERDICT: A dystopian thriller in 1945, that feels more like a warning for our future than real fiction.

MY VERDICT: A startlingly modern 1930 short-story. Funny, strange, and quietly profound. Yes, imagination and kindness can be more powerful than any official system.

MY VERDICT: Lewis’s elegant, poetic prose and linguistic worldbuilding hooked me immediately. A unique first-contact story, packed with Christian themes.

MY VERDICT: Everything you didn’t know about owls: their science, and their place in art and symbolism. Fascinating.

MY VERDICT: A haunting collection that masterfully crafts psychological intensity – though readers like me may find the relentless focus on insanity, burial alive, and macabre horror more dis…

MY VERDICT: A  masterful exploration of obsession, emotional turmoil, and intellectual passion, in a complex mentorship with an enigmatic teacher.