Book Review:Brandenburg-Henry Porter

This spy novel written in 2004 was set in East Germany, based on the days leading up to the fall of the Berlin Wall on the 9^th November 1989.

This novel is about Dr. Rudi Rosenharte, a former agent of the Stasi (the German Ministry for State Security) who is set up by the British intelligence to go up against the West.  In the process, Konrad, the brother of Dr. Rosenharte is arrested by the Stasi for making private films which they did not approve of.  Dr. Rosenharte has to find a way to free his brother from prison. During a visit with his brother, the doctor noticed that he needed medical and dental care.  His brother’s teeth were rotten and he was sick because of the torture and the diet that he was receiving.  Later on in the story, he (Dr. Rosenharte) learns from a Russian named Vladimir, that his brother has died from a heart attack. He was so sad that he started to drink and he soon found out that the woman he loved had used him. He told the man  who killed his brother that seeing him trapped, was good enough revenge for him. At the end of the novel, Dr. Rosenharte meets his biological mother, Urszula Kusimack and they walk freely across the Glienicke Bridge after the Berlin Wall has fallen, securing the release of millions of Germans who were trapped by the Wall.

What I liked about the novel is that it tells us the history of the Berlin Wall and although it is a spy thriller, it shows us what lengths this person will go to in order to free his brother and make sure that his sister-in-law and her children are reunited and freed from the Stasi who had imprisoned her. I also liked the storyline which kept me very interested because it showed the way using your imagination to make a story work.  The different characters that I encountered in the story were very interesting because in a novel, the characters and the plot should keep the readers engrossed till the end of the novel.

What I didn’t like about the novel was the fact that many people died while being trapped by the Berlin Wall by either imprisonment or being executed by the Stasi because I feel that it is very cruel and inhumane for a person to take another person’s life.  Many people can relate to this story because in South Africa, we had our Berlin Wall, namely Apartheid, where people were struggling to survive behind the invisible wall which was built by the South African government of that time, in order to separate the black and white people from one another as it was illegal then for the two races to freely associate with each other.

I think that anyone who loves spy novels, will like this one especially because of the espionage and the suspense which as I said before will keep one interested for hours. This book will make a great gift.

My profile- Tarren-Lee Habelgaarn

She is a very outgoing and vibrant person likes enjoying life and going out. She is witty and friendly and has a great sense of humour. She is none other than 19 year old Tarren-Lee Habelgaarn from Kuils River.

Tarren likes to eat pasta and likes food. She can cook and she likes music and dancing and playing musical instruments such as the flute and the piano, etc. She says that she hates fruit and she is very afraid of heights. Habelgaarn says that photography is her favourite passion and she is a movie boffin because she always goes to the movies. Habelgaarn says that she is a huge fan of Hannah Montana, High School Musical and Justin Bieber but she is an even bigger fan of the pop and country singer Miley Cyrus.

My favourite verse from the Bible is “Enjoy life while young and do what you want find pleasure in what you see but remember God will judge you for everything that you do” and my favourite quote is “In life, it doesn’t matter what amount of breaths you take but the moments that take your breath away”, said Habelgaarn.

When she is done studying in 5 years time, Habelgaarn says that she sees herself getting engaged and travelling the world. She also says that in 5 years time, she sees herself becoming a good writer as well as living and loving life.

 Habelgaarn stated that after university, she would like to work in the magazine industry.

the importance of reading and journalism

Imagine a world without media or newspapers, people won’t be informed about happenings around the world or important events or important news coverage which concerns them.

Reading newspapers is extremely important as it enlightens us with knowledge which we can share with others, debate about, or research. Media show us live coverage as the story happens but it is up to us to make our own hypothesis as to what really happened and how it happened but we should not always believe what the media shows because some times the images that they show are false, like the Osama Bin Laden death story, for example, the media portrayed Barack Obama as a good Samaritan for getting rid of Osama bin Laden but it actually leaves one thinking as to why there was no pictures of a body released to the media and why they threw him overboard instead of having a proper burial and whether or not the president of Pakistan knew what was going on in his country.

In today’s day and age, Technology has taken over people’s lives tremendously because people have become lazy and feel that reading newspapers is boring and reading the news on a news website such as IOL or the UK Guardian is much better and hassle-free. Newspapers have become a thing of the past of teenagers because of the different social networks such as Facebook and Mxit which they have easy access to you just by pushing a button. Many teenagers in general don’t know what current issues and happenings important because to them reading is for old people.

Journalism is extremely important because it helps us keep journals of past events and how to tackle the truth of the matter head on. Journalism teaches us what it is to be an experienced journalist and how we should communicate with others. To be a better journalist, you have to put your time and effort in to your studies and not be relaxed and just hoped that everything will come your way.

As a journalist, it is extremely important that you do not make mistakes when writing your essays or when doing a blog and if you do make a mistake, edit it quickly because if you do make a mistake and don’t edit it then your whole essay or blog will be wrong and then you will have to start all from scratch.

Journalism teaches us about the different techniques and ways to writing a proper news piece or a proper script for a radio show. Many people think that journalists don’t get good jobs but many South African journalists get to go work overseas by Reuters, BBC, Sky News or CNN or Al-Jazeera. Journalism can also determine who you are as a person when you interview people or when you have to report about a particular event, either you are a person who loves talking or you are a shy person who does not like to talk in front of an audience.

Black Wind- Clive and Dirk Cussler- Book Review

Black Wind is a story about a discoverer named Dirk Pitt who is searching for answers for the mysterious toxin in the air known only as ‘black wind ‘ that killed so many people in many particular towns in America. His search takes him underwater where he finds a submarine known as I-411 to Korea where he finds out what this mysterious toxin is and during which era it was used.

What I liked about the book is the fact that it has so much mystery and action in it which makes one want to read further to find out what happens at the end of the book. I was intrigued by the different characters which make up this action-adventure novel because of the roles they play in bringing this novel and the different missions that the characters go on to life. The novel shows us that ordinary people can be heroes too.

What I did not like about the book was the fact that the novel plays in different time frames, like it will play in USA and then the next thing you know the novel is again taking place in Korea. I realized that to get people attracted and to read your book, one has to make worth it worth the reader’s while by adding thriller or evens adventure or comedy to give the book that extra funk. To me, it’s not whether or not the book has a cool cover or a good story name but the adventure and action or even humour if it is a funny book, that the novel contains which will make me hasten to read that book.

This book has shown me that just by turning the pages and just reading and using my imagination to imagine that I‘m the hero in the story can be an adventure. Like the saying goes “television is the opium of the masses”, I feel that “books are the opium of the mind” because books are like a drug because once you start with drugs then you wont want to stop, likewise with books because once you start opening the book and actually start reading, you will never want to put the book down again. I can see myself reading a book now and then the next moment I would read it over again because I found the storyline of the book so very interesting and because I liked the message that the book brings forth.

Black Wind is a great book for anyone who loves reading action-adventure novels. This book will make a great gift and it will be a great for those cold winter days when you can put your feet up and enjoy a good novel.

Sources

Sources are either documents or people that you interview. Sources are very important for a news story because Sources help you get clarification to your story.

Sources come in a wide variety such as Eyewitnesses, Archives and Resources.

On Tuesday we had to do an Interview to find out whether or not Jimmy Manyi was a Racist or Not and I could not get aany sources because some people did not know who Jimmy Manyi was or about his racial comment on Coloureds in the Western Cape.

I found a better solution to this problem: Be friendly and make people at ease when approaching them.

From that day I learnt a different approach for getting sources for my news story.