Wednesday, February 15, 2012

May all travellers...

My favorite quote from Seven Years in Tibet (starring Brad Pitt and David Thewlis):
May all travellers find happiness wherever they go. Without any effort may they accomplish whatever they set out to do. And have a safely return to the shore. May they joyfully reunited with their relatives. -- His Holiness Dalai Lama 

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Shangri-La

For quite a long time a novel failed to captivate me as "Shangri-La. Cross in Antarctica" did. The author exploits a flaw information to the end of the Second World War (or one of its storage labeled "top secret"), explaining some events of contemporary history seen from another perspective: we do not walk on water because we know that we will sink, but because we were taught so! Murillo manages to assemble and to reveal a stunning puzzle about the characters that appear to lead the destiny of this planet, members of The Last Thule organization. Because sometimes the action takes place against the clock (one of the protagonists receives the suggestion to change his Swiss watch just because it remained behind), but some of the characters are former participants of lesser-known events from end of the last World War, Julio Murillo takes us from Germany to the United States, from France to Spain and from Britain to Antarctica. He manages to keep the reader breathless and, when things seem to be heading on a normal track, new twists require new revelations, new information to complete the puzzle that is becoming more complicated, but nevertheless better outlined. Is it humanity on the way to a new world war, one for energy resources or just one for water? The ending of the book seems happy... but Murillo is not a Hollywood director, but a Prize for Historical Novel Alfonso X laureate!