Svetlana's Reads and Views

Name of Book:  13 Years in America;  One woman's pursuit of an American Dream Author:  Melanie Steele ISBN: Createspace Publisher:  9781475215663 Year it was published: 2012 Summary: 13 Years in America is a story of hope, sacrifice, and the modern search for happiness that is at once a moving personal journey and a sharp, hard look at the American Dream. After moving to the United States from Canada, a free-spirited young woman rejects the status quo and embarks on a journey to discover what it means to be truly happy and fulfilled in the Land of Opportunity. Her 13-year search spans half a dozen states, a bunch of fearless adventures, and ever-increasing crises, divisions, turmoil, and discontent. Through it all, she holds on to her fearless pursuit of happiness and fulfillment against ever-decreasing odds. Read free ebook by clicking "read book" or purchase a paperback copy to support the author. Opinion: From the pages I have read ...

Name of Book:  Fumie's Teacup Author:  Richard McGowan ISBN:  9780738850849 Publisher: Smashed-Rat-on-Press Year it was published: 2011 Summary: Junichi is a young fashion designer; his after-hours obsession is with the paintings of Renoir. Kazue, a woman adrift, toils by day in an office, devoting her spare time to doll houses and night life. In the vast urban sprawl of Tokyo, they meet as the prospective partners in an arranged marriage. After the relationship falls apart, their influence on one another continues, catalyzed by the juxtaposition of traditional and modern forces around them. Junichi comes under the influence of Fumie's teacup and soon their separate lives begin to change in unanticipated ways. This is the best available edition to date, and the least expensive. It replaces the Spectrum (electronic) edition of 1995 and the XLibris edition of 2001; and contains author's corrections. Opinion: I do admit that the story and the book do so...

Name of Book: Lucid Nightmares Author:  Daniel Xiao Wang ISBN/ASIN: B00C266IX8 Publisher: Createspace Year it was published: 2013 Summary: Open your eyes! Recognize everything you've known to be real is nothing but a mere deception of your mind, the daily mundane all too swiftly contorting and twisting into the harrowing. Prepare to see the world around you in whole new light. Welcome to your Lucid Nightmares. Opinion: I have to say that although I read the first story, I was a bit confused about how is it supposed to be scary? It was more confusing than scary, and very little was explained on the relationships between the characters and so forth. Verdict: I don't think I'll be reading it 3 out of 5 (0: Stay away unless a masochist 1: Good for insomnia 2: Horrible but readable; 3: Readable and quickly forgettable, 4: Good, enjoyable 5: Buy it, keep it and never let it go.)

Name of Book: Singmuldeurui sasaenghwal/ The Private Life of Plants Author: Lee Seung-U (Inrae You Vinciguerra and Louis Vinciguerra translated the novel) ISBN: 078-1-62897-116-3 Publisher: Dalkey Archive Type of book: 1990s? injury, sins, atonement, relationships, star crossed lovers, love triangle, forbidden love, doomed tree myths, photography, mistakes, Korea, songs, symbols, secrets Year it was published: 2003 (2015 translated) Summary: The Private Life of Plants is about the ways in which desire can both worsen and mitigate our flaws. We meet amputee sons whose mothers cart them from brothel to brothel; we meet brothers who love their brother’s lovers, and whose lovers in turn are stolen away by the husbands of their sisters. Sexuality in all its ugliness and wonder is put under the microscope by Lee Seung-U, who reminds us that love may come in various forms, but that it is, nonetheless, a force that unifies us all … whether we like it or not. Characters: T...

Name of Book: Huk/The Soil Author: Yi Kwang-Su (Hwang Sun-Ae and Horace Jeffery Hodges were translators) ISBN: 978-1-56478-911-2 Publisher: The Dalkey Archive Type of book: classes, 1920s? Korea, occupation of Japan, modern medicine, city life versus country life, selfishness, greed, helping, class divides, marriage, loyalty, fidelity, death, miscarriage, birth Year it was published: 2013 (originally 1932-1933) Summary: A major, never before translated novel by the author of "Mujong / The Heartless"--often called the first modern Korean novel--"The Soil" tells the story of an idealist dedicating his life to helping the inhabitants of the rural community in which he was raised. Striving to influence the poor farmers of the time to improve their lots, become self-reliant, and thus indirectly change the reality of colonial life on the Korean peninsula, "The Soil" was vitally important to the social movements of the time, echoing the effe...

General Information: Name of Book: Tree of Souls ISBN: 9780195086799 Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA Year it was published: 2004 Overall theme: "With only one God, heaven would be a barren place, at least in mythic terms. Yet the actual Jewish view of heaven is quite different. There are seven heavens, filled with angels and other divine beings, such as the Messiah [Not jesus!], who is said to have a palace of his own in the highest heaven. The clestial Temple can be found there- the mirror image of the Temple in the earthly Jerusalem- as well as an abundance of heavenly palaces, one for each of the patriarchs and matriarchs and sages, where he or she teaches Torah to the attentive souls of the righteous and the angels..." (xliii) "Drawing on the full range of Jewish sources, sacred and nonsacred, ten major categories of Jewish mythology can be identified: Myths of God, Myths of Creation...Each of these categories explores a mythic realm, and,...

General Information: Name of Book: Loss Angeles ISBN:  9780988249745 Publisher: Short Story American Press Year it was published: 2015 Summary: In this superb debut collection of short stories, Mathieu Cailler weaves tales which bring to life the deeply-human experience with loss and its range of outcomes. From loneliness to recovered relationships, from despair to redemption, from heartbreak to humor, these fifteen stories illuminate the sadness, bewilderment, conflict and ultimate hope which can come from each human being's inevitable encounters with loss. Author Laurie Alberts writes: "LOSS ANGELES doesn't focus on the bright lights of Tinseltown, but rather on the quiet day-to-day pain of marginalized people paralyzed by loss, poor choices, obsessions, and love. These subtle, beautifully wrought, and richly realized stories showcase Cailler as an intrepid fiction writer who is always compassionate to his characters and their moral quandaries." A...