I reluctantly put this book on hold at the library more out of a sense of duty as a book blogger, rather than a real desire to read it. Much like my 9 year old niece’s attitude to the Harry Potter series, I was reluctant to grab my board and join the wave of popularity that surrounded this book (my niece is totally wrong, by the way, but that doesn’t mean I am). I was something like 116th in line at the library. So I […]
Bleak
Thirty-second book reviewed as part of the 130 Challenge. This book was suggested to me by my dear friend, Pavitra Vijayaraghavan. But like most novels that sound emotional and perhaps draining, I decided to let this one be for as long as I could. But I was constantly reminded to read it by Pavitra. I still managed somehow to avoid it, but no more. On 29th of August, I received a small note from her wishing me a wonderful year ahead (31st of August is […]
The Willa Cather of Siberia?
Writer Kseniya Melnik moved with her family from Magadan to Alaska when she was 15. In this collection of short stories, she deftly introduces readers, who most likely are unfamiliar with Siberia — home of the Gulag prison camp system, to the people of the cold and remote city of Magadan in the Russian Northeast. The stories are set in the post-Stalin years, from the 1950s with the Khruschev thaw, through the Brezhnev stagnation and into the age of Glasnost and Perestroika. These are not […]
Uninvolving
When this book came out three years ago, it got a lot of attention, it won some prizes, it garnered excellent reviews and word of mouth. I put it straight on my to read list, as I love a bit of a historical novel and this one sounded kind of gruesome with it, which is always a winner. Yet somehow I only just got round to reading it now. I don’t know why. It was only after I started reading that I discovered it’s the […]
Fightin’ for Americaaaa!!!!
This one is technically a cheat because I’ve read it before, and I even reviewed it back in 2012 for CBR2. But with the talk of an HBO adaptation coming up over at Pajiba, I found myself straining to remember the details so I thought I’d revisit it since I still have it in my handy-dandy first-generation Kindle. It was good to rediscover bits I’ve missed before, such as the various different gods and deities that I didn’t recognize the first time around. Or to […]
Finishing it up
After a hiatus I picked this book back up. (Mad spoilers for The Hunger Games and Catching Fire) The third book in the Hunger Games series, Mockingjay follows Katniss Everdeen through a rebellion led by District 13 against the Capital. Peeta Mellark, her maybe boyfriend and definite ally in the games is in the hands of the Capital. Katniss is herself in the hands of the authorities of District 13 which is not exactly freedom. She signs on to be the Mockingjay, the face of the […]
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