Svetlana's Reads and Views

Well, I've began to do Youtube Readings just like I planned on last year. Sorry for being late but stuff has happened. Anyways, here's the link and enjoy! The first video is of The Foreign Student by Susan Choi, first chapter anyways. The Foreign Student by Susan Choi-Chapter 1

Name of Book: The Black Song Inside Author: Carlyle Clark ISBN: 978-1-477-84916-3 Publisher: Thomas and Mercer Type of book: Mexico, African-American male/Latina female pairing, drugs, cartels, inhuman antagonist, message, mystery, human trafficking, investigators Year it was published: 2013 Summary: Atticus Wynn and Rosemary Sanchez, newly engaged private investigators, have seen the dark and violent side of life, but nothing has prepared them for an explosive murder investigation that threatens to tear their relationship apart. They struggle to solve a case that as a best result could leave them in prison or dead. Atticus's manipulative ex-girlfriend bursts back into their lives wielding a secret about Rosemary's family. She exploits the fact to force the couple into investigating the execution-style slaying of her lover. The case thrusts Atticus and Rosemary headlong into the world of human trafficking and drug smuggling, while rendering them pawns in Tij...

Title of the book:  Take Charge of Your Life: How to Get What You Need with Choice-Theory Psychology Author: William Glasser Publisher: iUniverse.com Publishing Date: 2011 ISBN:  9781462037438 Summary: Are you seeking a happier and more satisfying life? In "Take Charge of Your Life, " author Dr. William Glasser details the choice theory-a science of human behaviors and principles for regaining and maintaining internal control-and the role it can play in helping you regain your personal freedom and choice. "Take Charge of Your Life, " a revision of his 1984 book, "Control Theory, " includes choice-theory applications. He explains choice theory using personal examples and illustrative stories that allow you to learn how to improve your relationships and take charge of your actions. Topics include marital and relationship problems, parenthood, alcoholism, diseases, and psychosomatic disorders. For each situation discussed, Glasser ties behavi...

Hey everyone, next week I will be hosting a review for Shadows in the Sun by Gayathri Ramprasad, a wonderful true story about an Indian woman who explores how depression had an impact on her life, and today I'm doing a giveaway of one copy for it! In order to be in a giveaway, you must either live in Canada or America and must leave a meaningful comment on this entry along with your email. Here's a picture and summary of it and the day you'll see the review of this wonderful book is on March 2nd, 2014. The giveaway will be from February 25th, 2014 up until March 8th, 2014 Everyone who struggles with a mental illness, or who knows anyone with depression, anxiety, or any other mental illness, must read this engrossing true story of courage in the face of heartbreaking adversity.” —Dilip V. Jeste, MD, president, American Psychiatric Association As a young girl in Bangalore, Gayathri was surrounded by the fragrance of jasmine and flickering oil lamps, her family prote...

Name of Book: Three Souls Author: Janie Chang ISBN: 978-0-06-229319-0 Publisher: William Morrow Type of book: 1920s-1930s, China, Opium, wars, movies, afterlife, three souls, supernatural, dreams, marriage, first love, Communism, education, reading, ghost, making amends, friendship, sisterhood, status of women Year it was published: 2013 Summary: We have three souls, or so I'd been told. But only in death could I confirm this ... So begins the haunting and captivating tale, set in 1935 China, of the ghost of a young woman named Leiyin, who watches her own funeral from above and wonders why she is being denied entry to the afterlife. Beside her are three souls—stern and scholarly yang; impulsive, romantic yin; and wise, shining hun—who will guide her toward understanding. She must, they tell her, make amends. As Leiyin delves back in time with the three souls to review her life, she sees the spoiled and privileged teenager she once was, a girl who is concerned w...

Summary:  In acclaimed author Patricia McKissack's latest addition to the Dear America line, Lozette, a French slave, whose masters uproot her and bring her to America, must find her place in the New World. Arriving with her French masters in upstate New York at the tail end of the French-Indian War, Lozette, "Zettie," an orphaned slave girl, is confronted with new landscapes, new conditions, and new conflicts. As her masters are torn between their own nationality and their somewhat reluctant new allegiance to the British colonial government, Zettie, too, must reconsider her own loyalties. Since I am determined to read all of Dear America series along with Royal Diairies and My Name is America, I decided to give a try to Look to the Hills by Patricia C. McKissack which I had to borrow from a library that’s far away from my house. Patricia C McKissack has previously written A Picture of Freedom which I liked due to the picture of daily life of slavery as well as hav...

Name of Book: The Contractors Author: Harry Hunsicker ISBN: 9781477808726 Publisher: Thomas and Mercer Type of book: Texas, Dallas, contractors, thriller, sinister plans, travel, small town, crimes, drugs, cartels, complications, strong heroines Year it was published: 2014 Summary: In THE CONTRACTORS (Thomas & Mercer; February 4, 2014), acclaimed thriller writer Hunsicker turns his attention to the shadowy world of private military contractors and the hypocrisies of the War on Drugs, delivering a heart-pounding, complex standalone thriller in the vein of James Ellroy’s Underworld U.S.A. series. Disgraced ex-Dallas PD officer Jon Cantrell carries a DEA badge, but he’s not a federal agent. Rather, he works for a private contracting company, busting drug shipments along the U.S.-Mexico border for commission. When Cantrell and his partner-slash-lover Piper confiscate the wrong load, they find themselves in possession of a star witness in an upcoming cartel trial, a...

Name of Book: The Isolation Door Author: Anish Majumdar ISBN: 9781494243036 Publisher: Ravanna Press Type of book: Schizophrenia, family, relationships, college, problems, acting, struggle, striving, friendship, Bengali male/American female, New York, Bengali community Year it was published: 2014 Summary: Neil Kapoor, 23, is desperate to create a life beyond the shadow of his mother’s schizophrenia. Years of successive relapses and rehabilitations have forced his father into the role of caretaker and Neil into that of silent witness. But there is no light within this joyless ritual, and any hope for the future rests on finding an exit. Amidst her latest breakdown, Neil attends drama school in pursuit of a role that might better express the truth of who he is. What started as a desperate gambit becomes the fragile threads of a new life. A relationship blooms with Emily, and each finds strength – and demons - in the other. New friendships with Quincy and Tim grow cl...

Name of Book: The Perfume Collector Author: Kathleen Tessaro ISBN: 978-0-06-225783-3 Publisher: Harper Type of book: 1920s-1950s, inheritance, death, mystery, secrets, perfume, scent, genius, muse, beautiful quotes, London, Paris, discovery, friendship, gray area, adult Year it was published: 2013 Summary: An inheritance from a mysterious stranger . . . An abandoned perfume shop on the Left Bank of Paris . . . And three exquisite perfumes that hold a memory . . . and a secret London, 1955: Grace Monroe is a fortunate young woman. Despite her sheltered upbringing in Oxford, her recent marriage has thrust her into the heart of London's most refined and ambitious social circles. However, playing the role of the sophisticated socialite her husband would like her to be doesn't come easily to her—and perhaps never will. Then one evening a letter arrives from France that will change everything. Grace has received an inheritance. There's only one problem: ...

General Information: Name of Book: Tree of Souls ISBN:  9780195086799 Publisher: Oxford University Press 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, in t...

General Information: Name of Book: The Greek Myths 2 ISBN: 0-14-001027=0 Publisher: Penguin Year it was published: 1955 Overall theme: "My method has been to assemble in harmonious narrative all the scattered elements of each myth, supported by little-known variants which may help to determine the meaning, and to answer all questions that arise, as best I can, in anthropological or historical terms. " (Vol. I 22) 105. Oedipus Issue: Laius, son of Labdacus marries Iocaste but they can't get children. Iocaste tricked Laius into impregnating her thus a boy was born who was then taken up to the mountain to die. He was found by shepherd, and was given to Polybus and Periboea to be raised. Found out his destiny, which was to kill his father and marry his mother. He kills Laius, gets rid of the Sphinx, marries Iocaste, plague comes over, Teiresias' history is revealed, and he tells Oedipus the truth which later was confirmed by a letter from Queen Periboea...

Name of Book: Ravenscliffe Author: Jane Sanderson ISBN: 978-0-06-230037-9 Publisher: William Morrow Part of a Series: Eve Williams Type of book: 1904-1906, England, marriage, coal, union, rights, women's suffrage movement, deaths, decorating, home, getting used to stepparent Year it was published: 2012 Summary: For fans of Downton Abbey . . . The peaceful beauty of the English countryside belies the turmoil of forbidden love and the apprehension of a changing world for the families of Netherwood Yorkshire, 1904. On Netherwood Common, Russian émigré Anna Rabinovich shows her dear friend Eve Williams a gracious Victorian villa—Ravenscliffe—the house Anna wants them to live in. There’s a garden and a yard and room enough for their children to play and grow. Something about the house speaks to Anna, and you should listen to a house, she believes…Ravenscliffe holds the promise of happiness. Across the square, Clarissa and her husband, the Earl of Netherwood,...