Booklist

Books I recommend, love, hate and adore.

1. My favourite book of all time, I've read it at least 4 times...
"Consuelo" by George Sand and its sequel "La Comtesse de Rudolstadt".

A Romance of Venice (1842-1843) by George Sand is a glorious story of true love, a paean to music and the creative power of art, and a personal crossroads of choices.
Consuelo, a plain young woman with a divine operatic voice and a heart of sterling integrity, rises from her lowly zingarella (gypsy) beginnings to become a prima donna in Venice and in several courts of Europe, bewitching all with her uncompromising artistic excellence and her profound interpretation of music. At the same time romantic choices are laid before her in the shape of a beautiful but frivolous comrade of childhood, a loyal friend and fellow adventurer, a mysterious holy madman who may also be a saint and her one true love, and finally, a king.
And yet, every artist must choose the nature of their personal fulfillment, and Consuelo's life path appears to be ever-dissonant with ecstasy and sorrow, duty and joie de vivre, love and sacrifice. What will the pure-hearted zingarella choose?
Great historical composers and other personages make delightful and surprising appearances all throughout this emotionally intense and exalted novel, often verging on the realm of the supernatural, and considered by many to be George Sand's masterpiece.

2. I tried to read the book in original but halfway through got lost in the complex language. So I read it in Russian and then English. It is a strange, cruel and dark story but there is so much beauty in it as well... 
"Wuthering Heights" by Emily Brontë .

Wuthering Heights is a wild, passionate story of the intense and almost demonic love between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff, a foundling adopted by Catherine's father. After Mr Earnshaw's death, Heathcliff is bullied and humiliated by Catherine's brother Hindley and wrongly believing that his love for Catherine is not reciprocated, leaves Wuthering Heights, only to return years later as a wealthy and polished man. He proceeds to exact a terrible revenge for his former miseries. The action of the story is chaotic and unremittingly violent, but the accomplished handling of a complex structure, the evocative descriptions of the lonely moorland setting and the poetic grandeur of vision combine to make this unique novel a masterpiece of English literature.

3. A nonfiction thriller, a bizarre tale about a forensic sculptor in Philadelphia and the 40 murders and 7 fugitives he helped to investigate. 

"The Girl with the Crooked Nose" by Ted Botha.

MORE THAN THIRTY MURDERS, NINE FUGITIVES, AND ONE OBSESSED MAN
In this thrilling and fascinating account of Frank Bender and his work, readers will be drawn into the cases he has solved, the intricacies of his art, the colorful characters he encounters, and the personal cost of his strange obsession. Through breathtakingly realistic sculptures, Frank Bender reconstructs the faces of the missing and the dead based in part on forensic science, and in part on deep intuition, an uncanny ability to discern not only a missing face but also the personality behind it.
His skills have led to the solving of many murders and other serious crimes, and have given faces to the victims, including the infamous case of the feminicidios—in which hundreds of murdered women were found outside Juarez, Mexico.
With a conclusion as shocking as its story is gripping, The Girl with the Crooked Nose will haunt readers long after the last page is turned.

 “A compelling glimpse into a gruesome profession.”—Simon Winchester, author of The Professor and the Madman

“Frank Bender is one of the unsung heroes of crime detection . . . In an original and highly readable nonfiction thriller, this book brims with authenticity and the complexities of crime-solving procedurals . . . [A] fascinating story of a brilliant forensic artist’s quest to solve some of the most baffling murder cases ever. It is exceptional crime writing that is timely and informative.”—Tucson Citizen

 

“Action-packed . . . Botha’s work relays Bender’s surprising conclusions about the case and imparts more information about reconstructing the faces of the dead than most readers will expect.” —Booklist

 

“[A] crackling account of a quirky, maverick forensics artist, Frank Bender, and his largely successful efforts in facial reconstruction of murder victims . . . What is extraordinary is Botha’s writing, with his unerring depiction of Bender’s painstaking work and the eventual unraveling of the brutal crimes it solves . . . The tales in this book accurately capture the dark motives and complexities of senseless murder, and even the most savvy true crime reader will not be able to resist the author’s insightful storytelling.”—Publishers Weekly

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