A Matter of Honour

Ummm...what to say about this book? It wasn't a book that impacted me, or made me think about life, want to be a better person, etc. etc. It was basically just a novel which was a good read during long boring bus ride hours, heh! I didn't understand the whole story and the style of writing is a bit old fashioned (specially when talking about "secret missions", sex and crime) but it's readable and makes time pass quicker.


Here is a  book review I found on it:

Plot Summary of Matter of Honour

"An unemployed ex-military man inherits a sealed letter in his father's will. It is an old letter that his father, at the insistance of his wife, had never opened. His father's letter to him instructed him that he was only to open the letter if a matter of family honour came up. This excellent book takes the reader over many countries in Europe as foreign agents try to take his inheritence from him. The item in question is worth far more than monetary value. This book could have been given a sub-title of "Chase" as there is a great one here. For anyone who likes a good book with a chase in it, this is one of the best. In the book the protaganist and the antagonist share the spotlight between right and wrong equally while an unknown protaganist is only briefly but effectivly seen. A highly recommended read."

Lying on the Couch

I don't know if I have ever mentioned this, but since I was young I was fascinated by the world of psychologists, psychiatrists and people that used to work with other people. Maybe the fact that they all tended to go to the crazy side made things a bit more interesting...lool!!!

Anyways, about two weekends ago I was rummaging through Ximena's books when I found one that instantly called my attention: "Lying on the Couch". I didn't know much what it was about other than the fact that it was related to psychology and so I snatched it for my new read (even though I was reading four books at once already). 

I started reading the book at once and couldn't drop the book until I reached page 75, and even then, it was for the sole purpose of digesting all I had just read. It was sexually explicit, polemic, made me question myself and others and want to enter a bit more into the inexplicable human mind.

Today I finished the book and am still digesting all that I read. It opened my eyes and head to many different aspects of human nature that I had never come to think about. Being real honest, I didn't completely like the end of the book. Wait. Let me refrase that: I liked the end of the book but it most definitely wasn't the one that I was wanting and must less expecting.

And so, for all those looking for a real polemic read, go ahead and pick up this book!

Here is the book review: From the bestselling author of Love's Executioner and When Nietzsche Wept comes a provocative exploration of the unusual relationships three therapists form with their patients. Seymour is a therapist of the old school who blurs the boundary of sexual propriety with one of his clients. Marshal, who is haunted by his own obsessive-compulsive behaviors, is troubled by the role money plays in his dealings with his patients. Finally, there is Ernest Lash. Driven by his sincere desire to help and his faith in psychoanalysis, he invents a radically new approach to therapy — a totally open and honest relationship with a patient that threatens to have devastating results.

Exposing the many lies that are told on and off the psychoanalyst's couch, Lying on the Couch gives readers a tantalizing, almost illicit, glimpse at what their therapists might really be thinking during their sessions. Fascinating, engrossing and relentlessly intelligent, it ultimately moves readers with a denouement of surprising humanity and redemptive faith.