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Song of a Captive Bird

February 19, 2018

song

Remember its flight, for the bird is mortal.  -Forugh Farrokhzhad I was looking forward to learning about a time and culture, far away from my own, but I never thought I’d be so thoroughly seduced by Jasmin Darznik’s debut novel, Song of a Captive Bird. It is a fictionalized account of Forugh Farrokhzhad, the first woman in Iran to defy her country’s cultural bias and ... Read More...

1 Comment
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: Ballantine, book clubs, cultural, debut, historical fiction, Iran, literary, women

Asymmetry by Lisa Halliday

February 14, 2018

asymmetry

  Asymmetry is a novel split into three separate and seemingly unrelated parts. I know, sounds like short stories, but there is supposed to be a thread connecting the three. The question is whether I was able to find it or not. The first section is Folly, wherein 27-year-old Alice meets Pulitzer Prize winning author, Ezra Blazer, in Central Park. They talk and after ... Read More...

7 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: contemporary fiction, debut, family, Iraq, literary, Manhattan, relationships, Simon & Schuster

The Transition by Luke Kennard

January 15, 2018

transition

What if you had broken the law and rather than being sent to prison you could opt into a program that would make you a better person? The upside is it’s not prison, you get to keep your job, you have no living expenses, and when you’re finished after six months you’ll be provided with a down payment on a new home and will be on your way to personal and profession success. The ... Read More...

9 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: contemporary life, debut, Farrar Straus Giroux, marriage

December Reading Wrap-Up

December 28, 2017

december

  So ends December and 2017! It was not an easy year. Initially, books didn’t even help but eventually reading became my escape again (to the tune of 183 books read). 2017 ended strong with November providing me with some of my favorite books of all time. December was a bit more hit or miss, with what I read below. You can check out my favorites for the year here and ... Read More...

11 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Feature Tagged: debut, historical fiction, lists, mini-reviews, mystery, thriller

Festivus: The Airing of Grievances

December 22, 2017

festivus

  Now that I’ve gotten the sugar and spice and everything nice posts about best and favorite books out of the way I’m going to channel my Frank Costanza curmudgeon and embrace his cherished anti-Christmas holiday: Festivus. If you’re a Seinfeld fan then you know what I’m talking about and if you’re not you can google it. The important thing to know is that one of the key ... Read More...

4 Comments
Filed Under: Feature, Reading Tagged: debut, lists

When Breath Becomes Air

December 13, 2017

breath

Science may provide the most useful way to organize empirical, reproducible data, but its power to do so is predicated on its inability to grasp the most central aspects of human life: hope, fear, love, hate, beauty, envy, honor, weakness, striving suffering, virtue. Paul Kalanithi knew he would split his life in two—the first half would be devoted to his passion for ... Read More...

10 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Non-fiction Tagged: debut, life, memoir, Random House

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