Books: Summer Wrap-Up [2010 edition]
Aug 16, 2010 Books
I’m going to be spending the remainder of August out of the country (family vacation) and I have a lot to take care of when I return in September so I’m writing my summer wrap-up entry rather early. I didn’t read as much as last summer but I’ve read my share of interesting books and some that have been sitting on my shelf for a loooooong time.
Tags: books: general
Review: A Whole Slew of Them
Aug 12, 2010 Books
I’ve been meaning to make post a couple of reviews from a couple of books I’ve read recently but have been too busy with things offline. And because I’m gearing up and wrapping up a number of things before I go off on vacation next week, I’m just going to post them all in this entry (albeit really briefly).
Reviews ahead:
- Sarah Waters’s The Little Stranger
- Christopher Reich’s Rules of Betrayal & Rules of Vengeance
- Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited
- Lev Grossman’s The Magicians
- Jonathan Safran Foer’s Everything is Illuminated
Spoilers ahead! Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: books: classics, books: fantasy, books: fiction, books: review, books: suspense
Meme: Book Questionnaire
It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything book-related or whatnot (a result of the World Cup earlier this month, homework/research and re-watching old episodes of Babylon 5, Star Trek: DS9, Star Trek: ENT and now new episodes of Identity—it’s pretty much decreased my reading time substantially, lol) so here’s a questionnaire I snagged off from The Book Coop (who got it off from The Literary Lollipop =)
1. Favourite childhood book: The Madeline books by Ludwig Bemelmans and the Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? book series (learned a lot from the books).
2. What are you reading right now? Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited (at long last) and Joel Shepherd’s Killswitch (been in a major sci-fi kick at the moment).
3. What books do you have on request at the library? Ehhh, none *blushes*
Tags: meme: books
Review: The Forgotten Garden
Jun 21, 2010 Books
The Forgotten Garden
By: Kate Morton
A tiny girl is abandoned on a ship headed for Australia in 1913. She arrives completely alone with nothing but a small suitcase containing a few clothes and a single book-a beautiful volume of fairy tales. She is taken in by the dockmaster and his wife and raised as their own. On her twenty-fi rst birthday, they tell her the truth, and with her sense of self shattered and very little to go on, “Nell” sets out to trace her real identity. Her quest leads her to Blackhurst Manor on the Cornish coast and the secrets of the doomed Mountrachet family. But it is not until her granddaughter, Cassandra, takes up the search after Nell’s death that all the pieces of the puzzle are assembled.
It’s funny because the reason I learned of this novel was because I kept seeing it at Costco whenever I go with my mum. Reading the premise for the first time, I wasn’t so sure about it. So I put it back down. The next time I was there, I saw it again, thought about it some more and the decided not to again. Third time was the charm because I started reading a few pages and decided it was interesting enough to follow through. And I’m glad I did read it because it was much more interesting than I initially thought and apparently a lot of people over at GoodReads, both on my flist and from looking at the reviews, gave it good reviews. Spoilers ahead!
Tags: books: fiction, books: review
Review: Little Dorrit
Jun 17, 2010 Books
Apologies in advance if this entry is a bit meh; I had started this entry days ago but got busy with offline stuff and plus I’m recovering from my wisdom teeth surgery (got my remaining two removed yesterday) so the mind might be a bit la-la at the moment, lmao xD
Little Dorrit
By: Charles Dickens
Amy Dorrit’s father is not very good with money. She was born in the Marshalsea debtors’ prison and has lived there with her family for all of her 22 years, only leaving during the day to work as a seamstress for the forbidding Mrs. Clennam. But Amy’s fortunes are about to change—the arrival of Mrs. Clennam’s son Arthur, back from working in China, heralds the beginning of stunning revelations not just about Amy but also about Arthur himself.
I learned about Charles Dickens’s Little Dorrit after watching the 2008 BBC adaptation starring Matthew MacFadyen and Claire Foy (which I greatly enjoyed). I received both the DVD and the book last Christmas as a present but didn’t get around to reading it until recently. I’m surprised that this novel doesn’t get more love, it was highly enjoyable! Spoilers ahead!
Tags: books: classics, books: review
Review: Birds Without Wings
Jun 12, 2010 Books
Birds Without Wings
By: Louis de Bernieres
Set against the backdrop of the collapsing Ottoman Empire, the Gallipoli campaign and the subsequent bitter struggle between Greeks and Turks, “Birds Without Wings” traces the fortunes of one small community in south-west Anatolia – a town in which Christian and Muslim lives and traditions have co-existed peacefully for centuries. When war is declared and the outside world intrudes, the twin scourges of religion and nationalism lead to forced marches and massacres, and the peaceful fabric of life is destroyed. Philothei, a Christian girl of legendary beauty, and Ibrahim the Goatherd who has courted her since infancy are but two of the many casualties. With the end of a community that once transcended religious differences, their great love seems destined to end in tragedy and madness…
So as you may know, I read Captain Corelli’s Mandolin a few months ago and absolutely loved it (click here to read my review). So I browsed through his bibliography and Birds Without Wings caught my attention. I didn’t know much about life in the Ottoman empire but merely the basics of its place in European history so reading this book was an interesting experience for me. Spoilers ahead!
Review: Enduring Love
Jun 5, 2010 Books
Enduring Love
By: Ian McEwan
In one of the most striking opening scenes ever written, a bizarre ballooning accident and a chance meeting give birth to an obsession so powerful that an ordinary man is driven to the brink of madness and murder by another”s delusions.
This book has been on my want-to-read radar since I read Atonement back in 2007. A few years after my initial contact with the novel, I finally was able to pick it up and read it for myself. Spoilers ahead!
Tags: books: fiction, books: review
