Svetlana's Reads and Views

Name of Book: Ghost of Gods Author: Kevin Bohacz ISBN:  9780979181535 Publisher:  Mazel and Sechel Part of a Series: Immortality is the prequel Type of book: Science fiction, thriller, post plague, goddess, religion, faith, connected, human androids, hybrids, travels, romance, bacteria, battles, weapons Year it was published: 2014 Summary: Publisher's Weekly STARRED review: In this sequel to Bohacz's Immortality, two years after the devastation of mass human extinctions in kill zones, mankind is still grasping for survival. An oppressive union of government and big business controls an exhausted America, which is divided between walled-in Protectorates and the unpoliced Outlands. Against this chaotic backdrop, paleobiologist and genetic researcher Mark Freedman and policewoman Sarah Mayfair continue their evolution into transhumans--nanotech hybrids with a connection to the god machine, the artificial intelligence that caused the recent massacres, in an ef...

Name of Book: Blossoms and Bayonets Author: Hi-Dong Chai, Jana McBurney-Lin ISBN: 978-0-9884940-1-5 Publisher: Redwood publishing Type of book: Japanese Occupation, WWII, 1942-1945, brotherhood, being tough, science, identity, loyalty, faith, mistreatment, Korea, food, everyday life Year it was published: 2012 Summary: Hi-Dong Chai and Jana McBurney-Lin, the award-winning author of My Half of the Sky, turn their hands to a remarkable story of a family and country torn apart by outside forces. The time is 1942, the place, Japanese-occupied Seoul, Korea. Fifteen-year-old He-Seung is full of fire, ready to take on these Japanese...if only he could convince his father, a Christian minister more concerned about saving his flock in a time when Emperor-worship has become mandatory. Since occupation, the Japanese have eradicated the Korean language, names, even the country's flower. Now they are seeking Korean boys as volunteers for their army. When his father is arreste...

Title of the book: Ritual Tea How the 9 secrets of Tea can transform your life Author: Mario Zeleny Publisher: Sancti Spiritus Publishing Date: 2014 ISBN: 9780615999906 Summary: Media headlines abound these days saying, “Tea is trendy...” and we believe it until we read the first chapter of Ritual Tea: How the 9 Secrets of Tea Can Transform Your Life. Entitled, Tea’s Sordid and Holy Exploits, chapter one is a worldwide, whirlwind tour of tea history that leaves the reader knowing once and for all that tea has always been trendy for very good reasons. Next to water, tea is the world’s most popular drink. Author Mario Zeleny, lifelong tea lover and personal coach, extracts the magic of tea from its history, uses, and benefits but also from its power to change the world. He brings the secrets of tea into modern light, and makes them accessible for contemporary lifestyles. “We do not have to be a Buddhist monk, or study The Way of Tea for decades to be your own Tea Mas...

Name of Book: Sinners and the Sea Author: Rebecca Kanner ISBN: 978-1-4516-9523-6 Publisher: Howard Books Type of book: Biblical, prophecy, family, humanity, story of Noah and the flood, PME ancient times, accepting self, sinning, ancient times Year it was published: 2014 Summary: In the spirit of Anita Diamant, this ambitious and unforgettable novel about the story of Noah blends Biblical history, mythology, and the inimitable strength of women. Cursed with a birthmark that many think is the brand of a demon, the young heroine in The Sinners and the Sea is deprived even of a name for fear that it would make it easier for people to spread lies about her. But this virtuous woman has the perfect voice to make one of the Old Testament’s stories live anew. Desperate to keep her safe, the woman’s father gives her to the righteous Noah, who weds her and takes her to the town of Sorum, a land of outcasts. Noah, a 600-year-old paragon of virtue, rises to the role of pr...

Name of Book: Puritan Witch: The Redemption of Rebeckah Emes Author: Peni Jo Renner ISBN: 978-1-4917-0593-3 Publisher: iUniverse Type of book: Salem Witch Trials, Massachusetts, witchcraft, prison, 1692-1693, friendships, family, Puritans, marriage, secrets Year it was published: 2014 Summary: On a cold night in 1692, two young girls are caught up in the divining games of a slave woman—and then begin to act very strangely when the game goes wrong. Suddenly, Salem Village is turned upside down as everyone fears that witches may be involved. Six months later, as news of the girls’ strange behavior becomes known, fear and suspicion overwhelm a nearby farming community, pitting neighbors against neighbors and turning friends into enemies. When Rebecca Eames makes one careless utterance during a verbal attack on her family, she is falsely accused of witchcraft. After her fate is decided by three magistrates, Rebecca must endure a prison sentence during which she and h...

Name of Book: One Night in Winter Author: Simon Sebag Montefiore ISBN: 978-0-06-229188-2 Publisher: Harper Part of a Series: Sashenka is its prequel Type of book: Russia, forbidden love, end of WWII, relationships, Pushkin, unmemorable characters, Stalin, Moscow, movies, paranoia, state secrets Year it was published: 2013 Summary: The acclaimed novelist and prizewinning historian Simon Sebag Montefiore explores the consequences of forbidden love in this heartbreaking epic, inspired by a true story that unfolds in Stalin's Russia during the bleak days after World War II. A jubilant Moscow is celebrating the Soviet Union's victory over Hitler when gunshots ring out though the city's crowded streets. In the shadow of the Kremlin, a teenage boy and girl are found dead. But this is no ordinary tragedy, because these are no ordinary teenagers. As the children of high-ranking Soviet officials, they inhabit a rarefied world that revolves around the exclusive...

Name of Book: I mmortality Author: Kevin Bohacz ISBN: 978-0-9791815-1-1 Publisher: self published Part of a Series: Ghost of Gods is the sequel Type of book: Speculative fiction thriller, science, bacteria, water, environmental damage, COBIC, military, destruction, evolution, top secrets, USA government, martial law, plague, god-machine, drugs Year it was published: 2008 Summary: When human extinctions occur in South America and spread worldwide, paleobiologist and genetic researcher Mark Freedman senses a connection to the Chromatium Omri bacteria, the oldest known life form on Earth linked to previous extinctions. The growing virulence in the "kill zones" spurs Freedman to join forces with Kathy Morrison, expert on viral and bacterial pathogens with the Centers for Disease Control. Despite personal losses, Freedman and Morrison find romance and make discoveries about the devastation and what lies behind it. Other colorful characters include dedicated p...