Books and freakiness

Book #14 - The Alchemist by Paul Coelho - I was about to complain that it wasn't until the teaching notes at the end of this that I found out the boy's name. Not true, it's the first sentence. This was the big detractor and distractor of the book, for me. After that first sentence, I don't think the boy's name is ever mentioned. He is just "the boy". I found that an over-simplification that made it seem almost artificial.
Otherwise, I like the concept of the need to follow your dream. I found the plot satisfying, even though J thought the end was a little too neat.

Book #15 - Strange Pilgrims by Gabriel Garcia Marquez - These are stories of the displaced, no matter how settled they've become in their new lives away from their native Latin America. I found the majority of them powerful, inriguing, and well done. The last, the tale of a new husband who take his wife to the hospital and never sees her again, especially dwelt in my mind. The "why"s and "what if"s. Garcia Marquez is a master storyteller.

Book #16 - The Devil and Tom Walker by Washington Irving - actually a collection of his short works. The short stories were classic, almost fireside, tales. The essays were a mixed bag - some were quite dull. Others, such as the cloisters of Westminster or the ghosts in its library of authors past, could have been developed into entertaining fiction, but weren't. Probably indicative of his time, but I was quite annoyed that every main character got into trouble because he was trying to evade his shrew of a wife - all wives were shrews or nags. Seems a bit bitter to me.

Finally, a rather gross, but just incredibly freaky story that also harks to at least one CSI episode, a Simpsons Halloween episode, and more...

The condition is known as "foetus in foeto", or inclusion twin.
"In this case the foetus of the baby entered into the foetus of the boy and continued to grow like a tumour in the boy's abdomen," gynaecology specialists Nurun Nahar said.
Hundreds of curious locals flocked to the hospital on hearing a rumour that a boy had given birth to a baby.