Svetlana's Reads and Views

Name of Book: Rina (Rina) Author: Kang Young-Sook, Kim Boram (Translator) ISBN: 978 1 62897 115 6 Publisher: Dalkey Archive Press Type of book: North Korea, China, concrete, prostitution, sex, friendship, loyalty, sacrificing life, murder, modern times, chemicals, progress Year it was published: 2015 (originally in 2011) Summary: Rina is a defector from a country that might be North Korea, traversing an "empty and futile" landscape. Along the way, she is forced to work at a chemical plant, murders a few people, becomes a prostitute, runs a lucrative bar, and finds a solace in a motley family of wanderers all as disenfranchised as she. Brutal and unflinching, with elements of the mythic and grotesque interspersed with hard-edged realism, Rina is a pioneering work of Korean postmodernism. Characters: Main characters include Rina, a young woman who is sixteen in beginning and is from the country of M (maybe North Korea?) who is traveling to the country ...

Name of Book: Roma Amor Author: Sherry Christie ISBN: 9780692596326 Publisher: Bexley House Type of book: Rome, Italy, 37 ME, Caligula, politics, daily life, slavery, survival, soldier, captives, ruling, guilt, conscience, Germany Year it was published: 2016 Summary: How far will a father go to keep an old promise? And how far will a son go to obey him? Riding home from the Danube frontier, Marcus Carinna hears a voice whisper, “Your turn,” as he passes his family tomb. An unseen presence also startles the Germanic priestess Aurima, whom he is bringing to Rome. But hardheaded Romans scoff at ghosts, and Marcus can’t believe it’s a warning from his brother, who killed himself three years earlier. 37 AD: To great acclaim, 25-year-old Caligula Caesar has become Rome’s new master. No one is more pleased than Senator Titus Carinna, who helped him succeed to the throne. It’s a shame the Senator’s older son—Caligula’s closest friend—committed suicide after being char...

Title of the book: Sipmly Dickens Author: Paul Schlicke Publisher: Simply Charly Publishing Date: 2016 ISBN: B01EDAWD34 Summary: The quintessential Victorian author, Charles Dickens not only created some of the most vivid characters in English classic literature, but he also lived his own life with a zest and drama that were novelistic in their intensity. In Simply Dickens, author Paul Schlicke explores the fascinating link between Dickens the writer and Dickens the person—a dynamic and driven social reformer who worked to improve the living conditions of the poor. Paul Schlicke is the author of Dickens and Popular Entertainment and the editor of the Oxford Companion to Charles Dickens, and has served as president of the Dickens Society and the Dickens Fellowship, and as chairman of the trustees of the Charles Dickens Museum. Prior to his retirement in 2010, he taught English at the University of Aberdeen for 40 years. Author Info: Paul Schlicke, an international...

Title of the book: David Travels to the Past Author: Martinez De Antonana & Mosquera Publisher:  Saure Publisher Publishing Date: 2016 ISBN: 978-84-16197-69-9 Summary: David is a young and restless apprentice painter who wants to know everything about painting. His intelligent teacher, the Master Messina, invents a way of transporting David through time to the prehistory. They go there looking for the origins of art, but once they are there nothing will be as they thought. In a second adventure they travel towards the unknown art of Mesopotamia. This time they won't go alone. The sympathetic and intelligent Angela will travel to the past with them bringing her particular point of view. Author Info: (From iRead Book Tours) Buy the Book: ​USA:  Amazon   ~   Kindle  ~   Barnes & Noble ​UK:  Amazon   ~  Kindle Australia:  Fishpond   ~   Booktopia  ~  Kindle ...

Title of the book: There's a Bumbie Under My Bed! Author: Bethany Ramos, Emiliano Billai Publisher: Saturn's Moon Press Publishing Date: 2016 ISBN: 9780997536362 Summary: There’s a Bumbie Under My Bed tells the story of a boy who can’t go to sleep because of all the monster bunnies keeping him up at night. Told in the first-person narrative, the little boy delays bedtime, using his flashlight and hand to create scary and silly bunny shadow puppets on the wall. According to the boy, friendly, spooky characters like the Bumbie (bunny zombie), Were-bunny (werewolf bunny), Bunny-stein (bunny Frankenstein), and Count Hop-ula come to visit him in the night. At the end of the book, his mother comforts him to sleep by telling him to let his imagination rest — and put the flashlight away. Author Info: (From Pump up your book) Amazon Meet the Author Bethany Ramos is a children’s book author, editor, and blogger. She is a regular contributor to  She...

Title of the book:  the can't-idates: running for president when nobody knows your name Author:  Craig Tomashoff Publisher: Bobtimystic Books Publishing Date: 2015 ISBN: 9780692606377 Summary: “A wonderful look at the personalities on the fringe of Presidential politics & the mind of Craig Tomashoff, who's drawn to them.” - Madeline Smithberg, co-creator of The Daily Show “Citizens have a responsibility to be part of the election process. And here’s a little read to help you along with that. - Michael Steele, former Republican National Committee chairperson “Add to your reading list.” - David Duchovny, famous actor man “If someone like Malcolm Gladwell or David Sedaris had written this book (and Craig, in my opinion, is just as good a writer—certainly wittier, well as witty as David) I imagine it would have hit the bestseller lists by now…The book is great. If you love This American Life, you're bound to enjoy The Can't-idates.” - Liz Alexander...

This is something I will do for fun: I picked out 7 books that take place in different continents and these books are ones I haven't read before. Africa: Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi “Homegoing is an inspiration.” —Ta-Nehisi Coates  The unforgettable New York Times best seller begins with the story of two half-sisters, separated by forces beyond their control: one sold into slavery, the other married to a British slaver. Written with tremendous sweep and power, Homegoing traces the generations of family who follow, as their destinies lead them through two continents and three hundred years of history, each life indelibly drawn, as the legacy of slavery is fully revealed in light of the present day. Effia and Esi are born into different villages in eighteenth-century Ghana. Effia is married off to an Englishman and lives in comfort in the palatial rooms of Cape Coast Castle. Unbeknownst to Effia, her sister, Esi, is imprisoned beneath her in the castle’s dungeons, sold with tho...

Name of Book: Son of Man (Original title Saramui adeul) Author: Yi Mun-Yol translated by Brother Anthony ISBN: 978 1 62897 119 4 Publisher: Dalkey Archive Type of book: religion, faith, place of G-d in life, murder, mystery, killer, friendship, wandering, theologies, philosophies, magic, discovery, ancient times of Augustus, curses, different gods and goddesses Year it was published: 2015 (original 1979) Summary: One of the greatest living Korean writers here details the quest of a young seminary student seeking transcendence, running through many Western and East Asian theologies in the process. Deciding that Jesus was not truly "the son of man," the student sets out to create his own alternative to Christ, and winds up dead. Soon, the detective called in to solve the killing winds up with more than a simple murder on his hands, as this metaphysical mystery advances to its unforgettable climax. Characters: The main characters include Sergeant Nam who i...

Title of the book:  Paris Nights my year at the Moulin Rouge Author:  Cliff Simon, Loren Stephens Publisher: Waldorf Publishing Publishing Date: 2016 ISBN: 978-19438492-8 Summary: Paris Nights: My Year at the Moulin Rouge opens with a bored twenty six year old Cliff Simon staring out at the ocean from his beachfront house, wishing he was somewhere else. Gavin Mills telephones him from Paris inviting him to join him at the iconic Moulin Rouge. Cliff sells everything he owns, leaving Johannesburg, South Africa for the City of Lights. He learns that his spot at the Moulin is not guaranteed, and is forced to audition. Making the grade, "he is put into can can" school before he is allowed into the company. His adrenaline is pumping from excitement and fear, both of which he has faced before. Taking a look back we see twelve year old Cliff helming a racing dinghy in the midst of a thunderstorm on the Vaal River. His father yells at him not to be a sissy, and he br...