News Blog @ Wellington City Libraries

Here is a collection of our latest additions in Dutch, Italian and Spanish books, featuring numerous highly acclaimed works including fiction, war romances and biographies. A perfect way to brush up your foreign language skills and have fun!

Italian
Il filo che brucia / Jeffrey Deaver ; [traduzione di Maria Baiocchi e Anna Tagliavini].
“Lincoln Rhyme is back, on the trail of a killer whose weapon of choice cripples New York City with fear. The weapon is invisible and omnipresent. Without it, modern society grinds to a halt. The killer harnesses and steers huge arc flashes with voltage so high, and heat so searing, that steel melts and his victims are set afire.
Rhyme, a world-class forensic criminologist known for his successful apprehension of the most devious criminals, is immediately tapped for the investigation.” – (adapted from Amazon.com summary)

Il pendolo di Foucault / Umberto Eco.“This book presents a large assortment of conspiracy theories. At the heart of these are the Knights Templar who supposedly were not destroyed but went underground and now have a plan to control the world. The central characters invent their own conspiracy theory that lands them in a lot of trouble. The book is interesting and complex.” – (adapted from Amazon.com summary)

La ragazza di via Maqueda / Dacia Maraini.
“This is a story of an important journey by Dacia Maraini. It is a journey through time and has revealed interesting places, intriguing female characters and a map of life experiences and ideas. It starts in Sicily, an island of severe and archaic unwritten rules, where the author lived as a child, arriving after the ugliness of war. It carries on through various cities including Rome and the happy times of classicism and Abruzzo the enchanted land of maturity, with the legends of ancient civilizations, the forests inhabited by animals, the traditions and the devastated earthquakes. Dacia Maraini’s story is written from a female perspective and is brave and sweet.” – (Book cover)

Dutch
Joop den Uyl, 1919-1987 : dromer en doordouwer / Anet Bleich.
“Anet Bleich presents a subtle, colourful portrait of Joop den Uyl, the strict young idealist who became the symbol of the sixties in the Netherlands. A socialist politician and a controversial figure, who evoked both admiration and aversion. He was a dedicated father, albeit mostly absent from his home. He loved debating and literature and was tireless and tiresome. But above all he was a democrat close to his people. These and other aspects are described in the first great and insightful biography of Joop den Uyl who was Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 1973 to 1977.” – (Book cover)

De vliegeraar / Khaled Hosseini ; vertaling Miebeth van Horn.
A story about friendship, lies and treachery.
“The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, follows the maturation of Amir, a male from Afghanistan who needs to find his way in the world as he realizes that his own belief system is not that of his dominant culture. Set in Afghanistan and the United States, The Kite Runner illustrates the similarities as well as the differences between the two countries and the two vastly different cultures. It is the story of both fathers and sons and friends and brothers, and it is a novel about right and wrong and the nature of evil. Published in 2003 to great critical and popular acclaim, The Kite Runner is considered a contemporary classic.” – (adapted from Amazon.com summary)

Spanish
En llamas / Suzanne Collins ; traducción de Pilar Ramírez Tello.
“There are only a few books that have such an impact as this second book of “The Hunger Games” series. The author used elements of the first book and has improved it by telling an even stronger story, increasing Katniss and Peeta’s problems. The characters are overwhelming and the plot is intriguing.
It is a wonderful read.” – (adapted from a href=”http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/9876092006/ref=ase_wellingtoncit-20″>Amazon.com summary)

La dama del viento sur / Javier García Sánchez.
“The ‘Lady of South Vento’, is one of the many love stories the author has published and received several awards, fur hailed by critics, both Spanish and international, as one of the most shocking and beautiful love stories published in Castilian in recent times. This novel is about the passion of the sole, a portrait of an impossible love.” – (Book cover)

Crónica de una muerte anunciada / Gabriel García Márquez.Cronica de una Muerte Anunciada
“This mysterious and haunting tale of romance and murder begins with the marriage of a man and a woman in love. But when he inexplicably mistreats his beloved on the night of the wedding, he is in turn murdered by her brothers, and readers are left with a strange sense of inevitability and passions gone terribly awry.” – (Book cover)

La soledad de los números primos / Paolo Giordano ; traducción del italiano de Juan Manuel Salmerón Arjona.
“The intricacy of the psychological traits of the characters, the depth and complexity of the story, as well as the reaction of the readers highlight the literary insight of this young author, including an essence of loneliness.” – (Book cover)

La pianista de Varsovia : una mujer atrapada entre la pasión por la música, el amor y sus ideales / Walter Zacharius ; traducción, Jofre Homedes Beutnagel.
“The story is about a beautiful Jewish teenager in Lodz, Poland who, during World War II, lost everything including all her family. Rich in historical detail, passion and intrigue, the story takes full advantage of the author’s personal experience as a soldier in World War II to enliven the story with a freshness and exceptional emotional honesty.” – (Book cover)