Title: Summerwater Writer: Sarah Moss Publishing House: Picador Date of Publication: August 20th 2020 Rating: 5 stars ‘’Dawn. There’s no sunrise, no birdsong. Light seeps over the water, through the branches. The sky is lying on the loch, filling the trees, heavy in the spaces between the pine needles, settling between blades of grass and…
Month: May 2020
Thank you, Miyuki
Title: Thank you, Miyuki Writer: Roxanne Marie Galliez, Seng Soun Ratanavanh (Illustrations) Publishing House: Princeton Architectural Press Date of Publication: September 1st 2020 Rating: 5 stars ”Miyuki, look at the water. Not the flow. Not the twigs floating by. Only the water in front of your eyes.” Our beloved Miyuki is curious about meditation and her grandpa is always…
Man With A Seagull On His Head
Title: Man With A Seagull On His Head Writer: Harriet Paige Publishing House: Biblioasis Date of Publication: February 2017 Rating: 5 stars ”The fibrous contents of her shop – so much wool and linen and cotton – seemed a dry and tangled trap around her. But here was a face that opened up a space above her head that was…
The Cure For Dreaming
Title: The Cure For Dreaming Writer: Cat Winters Publishing House: Harry N. Abrams Date of Publication: October 14th 2014 Rating: 5 stars ”Olivia Gertrude Mead, my hope for you since the day your mother left was that you would grow up to be a rational, respectable, dignified young woman who understands her place in the world.” Olivia has problems. She…
One of the most horrible ”books” I’ve ever read…
I don’t want a ‘’fictionalized’’ account. I don’t want the POV of a Nazi. I don’t want a ludicrous fictional character -whose only thought is SEX SEX SEX!!!! – that has nothing to do with the actual regiment. I don’t want a boy’s wet dream about these heroic women who sacrificed everything for freedom. I…
Birdsong
Title: Birdsong Writer: Sebastian Faulks Publishing House: Vintage International Date of Publication: June 2nd 1997 (first published September 27th 1993) Rating: 5 stars “But you must live your own life eventually. You have one chance only.” A poetic, heart-breaking novel, about the atrocities of war and the hope that springs even under the most harrowing circumstances. Sebastian Faulks…
Mouthful of Birds
Title: Mouthful of Birds (original title Pajaros en la Boca) Writer: Samantha Schweblin, translated by Megan McDowell Publishing House: Riverhead Books Date of Publication: September 7th 2010 Rating: 5 stars ‘’Calderón, on the other hand, stands motionless. He can’t bring himself to lift his foot from the one he has killed. He is, perhaps, afraid of recognizing his girl’s…
Tales of the Peculiar
Title: Tales of the Peculiar Writer: Ransom Riggs Publishing House: Dutton Books Date of Publication:September 3rd 2016 Rating: 5 stars A marvellous addition to the wonderful universe of the Peculiar Children and their surroundings, created by Ransom Riggs and every bit as interesting and special as Miss Peregrine’s Series. No. It’s even better. You won’t find our familiar…
Honey on the Page
Title: Honey On The Page Writer: Various, edited and translated by Miriam Udel Publishing House: New York University Press Date of Publication: October 6th 2020 Rating: 5 stars A beautiful collection of children’s stories, fables, myths, poems, allegories and fairy tales of Yiddish culture. Through Folklore and customs, family stories, we travel from the beginning of the 20th century…
Blue Ticket
Title: Blue Ticket Writer: Sophie Mackintosh Publishing House: Hamish Hamilton Date of Publication: August 27th 2020 Rating: 5 stars ”We lined up, waiting to pull our tickets from the machine, the way you would take your number at the butcher’s counter. The music popular that year played from speakers on the ceiling. Just gravity enough. Not necessarily such an important…
The Mermaid Atlas: Merfolk of the World
Title: The Mermaid Atlas: Merfolk of the World Writer: Anna Claybourne, illustrated by Miren Asiain Lora Publishing House: Laurence King Publishing Date of Publication: June 1st 2020 Rating: 5 stars ”She is a mermaid, but approach her with caution. Her mind swims at a depth most would drown in.” J. Iron Word Mermaids. Complicated, controversial, mysterious, endlessly fascinating creatures…
American Midnight
Title: American Midnight: Tales of the Dark Writer: Various, selected and introduced by Laird Hunt Publishing House: Pushkin Press Date of Publication: August 25th 2020 Rating: 5 stars ‘’We have been put in the mood for ghosts, that evening.’’ The Eyes, Edith Wharton As this year’s summer approaches with remarkable hesitation, a different time for ghost stories begins. Ghost stories…
Μiss Iceland
Title: Miss Iceland (original title: Ungfrú Ísland) Writer: Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir (translated by Brian FitzGibbon) Publishing House: Grove Atlantic Date of Publication: June 16th 2020 (first published November 2018) Rating: 5 stars ”If I die Leave the balcony open!” Farewell, Federico Garcia Lorca Hekla is a child of the 60s. A young woman full of talent, wit and kindness,…
The Harpy
Title: The Harpy Writer: Megan Hunter Publishing House: Grove Press Date of Publication: September 17th 2020 Rating: 5 stars ”Three. I’d said it out loud, after he did. It made a kind of neat sense, something religious about its structure. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Peter betrayed Jesus three times. A familiar number, for a good Christian girl like…
The Bass Rock
Title: The Bass Rock Writer: Evie Wyld Publishing House: Pantheon Date of Publication: September 1st 2020 (first published February 4th 2020) Rating: 2 stars ”The crow takes off and flies to the top branches of the monkey puzzle tree. It yells at me from there.” Three women, three different eras. Sarah, Ruth, Viviane. Witchcraft, abusing relationships, loss, depressions, danger…
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