Bogormen

Title: The Book of Life (All Souls Trilogy #3)
Author: Deborah Harkness
Genre: Fantasy, Paranormal
Rating: 5/5
# pages: 576, Audiobook ~23hrs
Date read: July 2016, December 2018

A world of witches, daemons and vampires. A manuscript which holds the secrets of their past and the key to their future. Diana and Matthew - the forbidden love at the heart of it. After travelling through time in SHADOW OF NIGHT, historian and witch Diana Bishop and vampire scientist Matthew Clairmont return to the present to face new crises and old enemies. At Matthew's ancestral home in France they reunite with their families - with one heart-breaking exception. But the real threat to their future is yet to be revealed, and when it is, the search for the elusive manuscript Ashmole 782 and its missing pages takes on a terrifying urgency. Using ancient knowledge and modern science, from the palaces of Venice and beyond, Diana and Matthew will finally learn what the witches discovered so many centuries ago.


Why did it take me this long to get started on this book? Once I did, I couldn't put it down, and finished it in just a few days.

Every bit as good as the first two books in the series, "The Book of Life" tied up all loose ends very nicely and served as a very satisfying ending to the trilogy. I'm actually kind of sad we won't get to hear more about Matthew and Diana, and feel positively book-hungover right now.

This trilogy is the kind of epic storytelling I love the most. It's "Outlander" with witches and vampires; just as rich in details and with just as large a supporting cast ;) It's difficult to say much about the plot without giving away spoilers for the two first books, but I think what I enjoyed the most was seeing Matthew and Diana's relationship with their families (both of blood and of loyalty) and watch Diana grow in powers and confidence as a witch. I'd love to have been a fly on the wall when Diana and Janet sat to talk magic after the end of the book ;)

Title: The Runaway Jury
Author: John Grisham
Genre: Suspense
Rating: 4/5
# pages: 565 pages
Date read: July, 2016

Every jury has a leader, and the verdict belongs to him. In Biloxi, Mississippi, a landmark tobacco trial with hundreds of millions of dollars at stake begins routinely, then swerves mysteriously off course.

The jury is behaving strangely, and at least one juror is convinced he's being watched. Soon they have to be sequestered. Then a tip from an anonymous young woman suggests she is able to predict the jurors' increasingly odd behavior.

Is the jury somehow being manipulated, or even controlled? If so, by whom? And, more importantly, why?


I was a huge John Grisham fan back in the day, but it has been literally years since I read anything by him last. Recently I felt inspired to reread "The Runaway Jury" and was once again reminded of how ridiculously readable books he writes.

I did have a problem with the main premise of the book though. It may be a sign of the times, but it seems utterly ridiculous to me to sue a tobacco company for going against all warnings and smoking their stuff anyway... but perhaps that's why they have warnings in the first place.

Anyway, putting that aside, I really enjoyed the book and will probably reread more of his earlier works in the near future.