My Top Five Reads of 2015

Last year, I looked back at my top five reads in 2014 and as it was a pretty fun experience to relive some of the highlights of that year, I see no reason not to try the same thing again. It was not easy this time either, since there were quite a few books that I had given the same ratings, but one must be ruthless sometimes and make decisions.

Review: The Club Dumas by Arturo Pérez-Reverte

Arturo Pérez-Reverte's The Club Dumas was used as the basis of the 1999 Roman Polanski film The Ninth Gate, but the two have very little to do with each other. So little, in fact, that I only became faintly aware that the two might be connected when I was reading the novel - but I only checked and verified the connection after I had finished the book (out of unnecessary fear of spoiling the story). Whereas the film was a slight disappointment to me back in the day, the novel is one of the best I've read in a long time. Perhaps because what it actually is: a treat to all those readers who love the old serial novels, such as Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers. And, if you've ever taken a look at this particular blog, you'll know that I'm just such a person.

Pérez-Reverte's Pirates of the Levant

The sixth book in Arturo Pérez-Reverte's Alatriste series continues the adventures of the "Spanish musketeers". After having found themselves in a position at the end of the previous installment of the series where they deem it best to stay away from Spain for a while, Alatriste and his companions travel to Naples and take part in some very exciting sea adventures.

Adventures of Captain Alatriste by Pérez-Reverte

For a few years now, I've enjoyed Pérez-Reverte's Alatriste novels at a suitable pace so as not to catch up with his writing speed too quickly. Unfortunately, the author has been writing the latest additions to the series with three year gaps, and my hunger for the period is too great for me to delay that long.