Farmer Giles of Ham 
Specifications: One of Tolkien's work (dated 1949 and released in 1975 for the first time) that Over the years it has undergone several modifications and variations. And several versions are available in the library. Even a hundred pages of all-inclusive, is a book that is read in a day.
Edition recommended and cost: The cover is next to the edition that I have read, perhaps the most complete. Preface and Appendix Tolkien's son, has the complete story of notes, changes, history, versions, notes the author. Let's say a version-proud, passionate, but very pleasant for the completeness and accuracy. (Edition 2005). Price: € 19.00.
Plot: Britain invented and In a time not specified, Tolkien tells the story of Farmer Giles, his hunting dragon that annoyed the country, the sword Tailbiter (Dragonslayer given to him by the king), Chrysophylax Dives and other inhabitants in the country.
Al Giles ride in search of the dragon, he will return in victory, rich and famous, so that will take the place of the king and become the true master of their land.
Comment: The story itself is not a great story, more than anything else is a fairy tale (which, in fact, Tolkien wrote for his children). Retraces the great myth of the Dragonslayer and simple people who can become real heroes, introducing the classic narrative of Tolkien, his characters a little unbelievable, a a little bit funny and wonderful, in a scene as simple as "functional", even if disguised as a fairy tale.
Read it in one day, do not be disappointed. But it must be understood for what it is, and inserted in a context of "study Tolkien" I can appreciate a new facet (compared to The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings or the Silmarillion, of course).
unpretentious, and with the desire to read a story that is almost as children, you can definitely tackle in an afternoon.
Overall Rating: sv (too particular, too short, too sector to give a simple vote)
Jackdaws 
Specifications: Ken Follett's novel was released in 2001, just over 400 pages in length.
Plot: The novel is set in World War II, and is inspired by a true story or an episode in which 50 women ivasori have helped to defeat Nazi Germany. The novel tells, then, of six women who through their courage and their ability to have caused extensive damage in occupied France by destroying the most important channel of German communications infiltrating enemy lines, posing as cleaning women.
action, told over five days in the book, is parallel to their personal histories, to finding love, the global landscape is changing in the meantime (Germany loses blow for blow, only to lose the war) and the distance duel between the leader of this team of girls, Flick, and the German General Dieter Franck for Throughout the novel hunts them down.
Comment: The war is the backdrop to this novel, full of twists and great insights of the actors who are the real fulcrum of the plot: Dieter Flick Cairet Franck and real characters are characterized with great care and emerge in driving is the real story as the action is, overall, the novel itself. Their duel at a distance without ever meeting (one chasing the other to run away forever and in any case) is very well engineered, but the story itself is not exactly a stroke of genius or a source of intuitions: the story is legible and, given the inspiration to the true story really happened, it is also believable, but there are too many bottlenecks that have made the success of the mission and stumbling in the end there are too many elements that make up the classic view of American film. Bella
phase of the initiative, the preparation and drafting of the mission, but when six women go into action, the story ends a little and in some places is obvious.
In any case, it is a chapter of World War II, one of thousands of different features that have marked victories and defeats determinants for the conclusion of the conflict.
not recommend it, but neither has thrown a reading, simply is not the novel of the century.
Overall Rating: 6
Saltatempo 
Specifications: volume in 2001, less than 300 pages in length. Fast story to read.
Plot: Saltatempo is a guy who lives in the 50's. His real name is Mock (among other things, the nickname Benni is "wolf", thus slightly autobiographical ...) that takes this strange nickname after his chance encounter with God, who gives him the power to go ahead over time thanks to a "orobilogio" mental. Since then it Saltatempo "island" is often the situation, noting that the future of his mountain village, its people, its friends, discovering things about himself ... more or less positive.
Its history is intertwined all'orobilogio a student grappling with the high school, the university, with its membership in the Communist thinking, with their own personal growth and the first experiences with the opposite sex.
Comment: the book runs off like a dream, the pieces that speak of his village and the people who live there are fantastic and the pace of the writing is insistent: rhythms tall, extremely funny moments and a few dead spots (in fact, almost none). Fabulous points with the descriptions of his fellow villagers, who almost think you have met them seriously. In many ways carefree, in others it is a link to our youth, the time of the middle and high school life that some staff have all done our country. The closure is an elusive mix of dreamy, impersonal and a bit nostalgic. In essence, 300 pages worth every time you spend.
Overall Rating: 8 +
Specifications: One of Tolkien's work (dated 1949 and released in 1975 for the first time) that Over the years it has undergone several modifications and variations. And several versions are available in the library. Even a hundred pages of all-inclusive, is a book that is read in a day. 
