I write book reviews through my feelings, and this is one way of admitting that I rarely go step by step exploring genre, themes, context, characters and places in my reviews. Instead I write about what I felt, related to, was intrigued by and since I haven’t been writing, reading books has become my solace.

I collect phrases, character descriptions, statements, places like I am collecting points. The result is an endless collection of notebooks which chronicle a journey of where I’ve been for the past year.

My latest trip is from Alan Furst’s Kingdom of Shadows. The story follows Nicolas Morath, a former Hungarian Calvary officer, and his escapades ranging from his assignments in Vienna, and the favor he did for his Uncle, Count Polanyi. He trades in conspiracy, and in his field, with his expertise, he knows not to take everything as it seems, especially not with Hitler edging Germany and other countries in Europe towards war.

In keeping with my collection, from this book I add two phrases to my notebook-and will say that it’s definitely worth those high reviews it’s gotten because this is espionage smoothly glossed over you cannot help but wonder who is wrong, who is right and the number of passports and identities Morath took on in his assignments.

“It had a life of its own, the war, like an immense rumor that wound its way through the newspapers, the cafes and markets. But somehow, in Polanyi’s voice, it was fact, and Morath, for the first time, believed it.”

“It was thunder that kept him awake, from a storm that never rained, yet never moved away.”

I hope your week goes well and I am still making my way back to writing, when I make it to the end, maybe there’ll be a book worth shouting to the world about.