Friday Finds (1)

Friday Finds is a weekly meme hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading, in which we share the books we've discovered during the week.

I read about the first book over at A Crowded Leaf, the second caught my attention on GoodReads.

Black Rain by Graham Brown
Covert government operative Danielle Laidlaw leads an expedition into the deepest reaches of the Amazon in search of a legendary Maya city. Assisted by a renowned university professor and protected by a mercenary named Hawker, her team journeys into the tangled rain forest—unaware that they are replacements for a group that vanished weeks before, and that the treasure they are seeking is no mere artifact but a breakthrough discovery that could transform the world.

Shadowed by a ruthless billionaire, threatened by a violent indigenous tribe, and stalked by an unseen enemy that leaves battered corpses in its wake, the group desperately seeks the connection between the deadly reality of the Maya legend, the nomadic tribe that haunts them, and the chilling secret buried beneath the ancient ruins. (GoodReads)

The City of Dreaming Books by Walter Moers
Optimus Yarnspinner, a young Zamonian writer, inherits very little from his beloved godfather apart from an unpublished short story by an unknown author. This manuscript proves to be such a superb piece of writing that he can't resist the temptation to investigate the mystery surrounding the author's identity. The trail takes him to Bookholm, the so-called City of Dreaming Books. On entering its streets, our hero feels as if he has opened the door of a gigantic second-hand bookshop containing millions of musty old volumes. His nostrils are assailed by clouds of book dust, by a hint of acidity reminiscent of lemon trees in flower, the stimulating scent of ancient leather, and the acrid, intelligent tang of printer's ink.

Yarnspinner not only falls under the spell of this book-obsessed city; he falls into the clutches of its evil genius, Pfistomel Smyke, who treacherously maroons him in the labyrinthine catacombs that extend for many miles beneath the surface. He finds himself in a subterranean world where reading books can be genuinely dangerous, where ruthless Bookhunters fight to the death for literary gems and the mysterious Shadow King rules a murky realm populated by Booklings, one-eyed beings whose vast library includes live books equipped with teeth and claws. (GoodReads)