Svetlana's Reads and Views

Name of Book: Spring Author: Leila Rafei ISBN: 9781982672577 Publisher: Blackstone Publishing Type of book: Egypt, religion, 2011, rioting, revolution, lemons, gardening, history, secrets, mysteries, Africa, refugees, class, gender, attention, possibilities, gossip  Year it was published: 2020 Summary: Three stories. One revolution. Eighteen days in Egypt. Sami is no revolutionary. When the Arab Spring breaks out in 2011, he's busy finishing school in Cairo and hiding his relationship with an American woman from his conservative mother, Suad. It's a task that's becoming impossible as events take a catastrophic turn. But Suad won't be fooled -- her son has been distant and she knows it's not about politics. Far away in the Nile Delta, she spends her days tending obsessively to her lemon grove, which is quickly becoming her last vestige of control. The only child who remains by her side is her daughter, but as she, too, gets involved with the protests, Suad realizes i...

 Next year, Hannah Mary McKinnon will have an amazing new novel coming out titled YOU WILL REMEMBER ME. I already have scheduled in some reading time and I can't wait to get a chance to read it! Meanwhile, while I wait, I can look at this stunning cover and imagine the twisted possibilities... COVER REVEAL! YOU WILL REMEMBER ME by @hannahmarymckinnon pubs on May 25, 2021 and I can’t wait for this twisted psychological thriller. Look at that cover! “Forget the truth. Remember the lies. He wakes up on a deserted beach in Maryland with a gash on his head and wearing only swim trunks. He can’t remember who he is. Everything—his identity, his life, his loved ones—has been replaced by a dizzying fog of uncertainty. But returning to his Maine hometown in search of the truth uncovers more questions than answers. Lily Reid thinks she knows her boyfriend, Jack. Until he goes missing one night, and her frantic search reveals that he’s been lying to her since they met, desperate to escape a...

Name of Book: The Education of Delhomme Author: Nancy Burkhalter ISBN: 978-1-7329508-3-2 Publisher: History Through Fiction Type of book: France, piano tuners, Frederic Chopin, 1830s-1850s, England, music, class struggle, industrial revolution, friendships, relationships, music, techniques, talents  Year it was published: 2020 Summary: Frédéric Chopin’s piano tuner, hungry for money, is lured into a royal spy ring but later condemned for treason by Napoleon III during the 1848 Paris Uprising. His one-time competition for Chopin’s affections, George Sand, might be his only hope. Filled with real historical characters and events, The Education of Delhomme is a captivating tale of struggle and hope amidst the social and political upheavals of mid-nineteenth century Europe. Characters: Main characters are Beau Delhomme as well as Fredric Chopin, George Sand and Eugene Francois Vidocq. Beau is a man who tried to become a doctor but couldn't and when his sisters family moves to England, ...

Name of Book: Don't You Know There's a War On? Author: Janet Todd ISBN: 978-1909572072 Publisher: Fentum Press Type of book: England, 1920s-1976, WW2, LGBTQ+ themes, hiding self, mother/ daughter relationship, incest, lesbianism, being single, living, year in England, survival,  Year it was published: 2020 Summary: The Second World War is over. England is losing its empire, world status and old elite values. The Empire strikes back with mass immigration, while the government soothes its people with welfare, the NHS, televisions and refrigerators. At the centre of the novel is the contemptuous Joan Kite, at odds with all the changes imposed on the country in the post war period. Shut up in a house with her only daughter, she refuses to compromise and adapt, pouring vitriol on anyone who seeks to enter their lives. After years of frugality, patriotism, service and excitement, she is angry at the contracted existence she’s been delivered and at the manner in which her aspirations ...

Title of the book: Hello Darkness, My Old Friend; How Daring Dreams, and unyielding friendship turned ones mans blindness into an extraordinary vision for life  Author: Sanford D. Greenberg Publisher: Post Hill Press Publishing Date: 2020 ISBN: 978-1-64293-497-7 Summary: As seen on the Today Show and as featured in People Magazine! The remarkable and inspiring story of a Columbia undergrad from a poor Jewish family who, after losing his eyesight to disease during his junior year, finds the power to break through the darkness and fulfill his vision for a life of great professional success and distinguished public service. It’s a bitterly cold February in 1961, and Sandy Greenberg lies in a hospital bed in Detroit, newly blind. A junior at Columbia University from a Jewish family that struggled to stay above the poverty line, Sandy had just started to see the world open up to him. Now, instead of his plans for a bright future—Harvard Law and politics—Sandy faces a ne...

General Information: Name of Book: Places I['ve Taken My Body; Essays ISBN: 978-0-89255-513-0 Publisher: Persea Year it was published: 2020 Summary: In seventeen intimate essays, poet Molly McCully Brown explores living within and beyond the limits of a body—in her case, one shaped since birth by cerebral palsy, a permanent and often painful movement disorder.  In spite of—indeed, in response to—physical constraints, Brown leads a peripatetic life: the essays comprise a vivid travelogue set throughout the United States and Europe, ranging from the rural American South of her childhood to the cobblestoned streets of Bologna, Italy. Moving between these locales and others, Brown constellates the subjects that define her inside and out: a disabled and conspicuous body, a religious conversion, a missing twin, a life in poetry. As she does, she depicts vividly for us not only her own life but a striking array of sites and topics, among them Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and th...

 I am pretty sure that a lot of us are familiar with book titles that one could use as song titles. ( At least I am!) My focus will be more on drama/ romance songs.  1. The Thread of a Thousand Miles  2. Bad taste in men 3. Night in Shanghai  4. White Girl in La Casa  5. If you leave me 6. Riding the east wind 7. The idea of him 8. Somewhere between life and death  9. Lead me home  10. Down this road 

  Name of Book: A Snake Lies Waiting Author: Jin Yong ISBN: 978-1-250-25012-4 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Part of a Series: Legend of Condor Heroes 3 Type of book: Fantasy, martial arts, wuxia, historical fiction, romance, survival, China, 1200s, Song Dynasty, beginnings of Mongolian dynasty, exploring, martial art greats  Year it was published: 2020 Summary: China: 1200 A.D. Guo Jing has confronted Apothecary Huang, his sweetheart Lotus' father, on Peach Blossom Island, and bested the villainous Gallant Ouyang in three trials to win her hand in marriage. But now, along with his sworn brother, Zhou Botong of the Quanzhen Sect, and his shifu, Count Seven Hong, Chief of the Beggar Clan, he has walked into a trap. Tricked by Huang into boarding a unseaworthy barge, they will surely drown unless Lotus - who has overheard her father's plans - can find a way to save them. Yet even if they are to survive the voyage, great dangers lie in wait on the mainland. The Jin Prince Wanya...

 The invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer 131/758  The Kennedy Moment by Peter Adamson 106/345 Hello darkness my old friend by Sanford D Greenberg 131/228

Name of Book: Alina, a song for the telling Author: Malve von Hassell  ISBN: 978-1-64397-104-9 Publisher: bhc Press  Type of book: 1172, France, Crusades, Medieval Israel, politics, music, poetry, religion, YA, political marriage, travel, poetry  Year it was published: 2020 Summary: A coming-of-age story of a young woman from Provence in the 12th century. “You should be grateful, my girl. You have no dowry, and I am doing everything I can to get you settled. You are hardly any man’s dream.” Alina’s brother, Milos, pulled his face into a perfect copy of Aunt Marci’s sour expression, primly pursing his mouth. He had got her querulous tone just right. Maybe Alina’s aunt was right. She could not possibly hope to become a musician, a trobairitz—impoverished as she was and without the status of a good marriage. But Alina refuses to accept the life her aunt wants to impose on her. At the first opportunity that presents itself, Alina and her brother embark on a pilgrimage to the ...

 Possibly like others, I am elated at the news that Biden/Harris won the election, but at the same time I doubt that either one way or another Trumps effect on America will go away soon. It is calm before the storm, eye of the hurricane. We all want normalcy, but normalcy will have different meanings for everyone. For Trump supporters normalcy will be conspiracy theories and attempts to subvert system. For democrats, normalcy will include in fighting between progressives and radicals. Either way, while there is a glimmer of light, the hurricane isn't over. 

 No new books to report. 

It's very VERY common to open up a book- any book- and be drawn into romance, be it happy or sad or bittersweet. (Aside from nonfiction, I can't even recall a fiction title that didn't have romance!) For better or worse romance is in all of the fiction titles that I had that chance of reading.  Why is romance a common subplot of the story? I think mainly it's because it's universal and it's something all people can identify with. It also makes the story a lot more interesting or it helps add elements that both male and female heroes will dare to fight for.  Whether or not romances add or take away from the stories depends on a story being told and it also depends on an authors writing skill. Most of time romances add more depth to the characters and stories. After all, Gone with the wind wouldn't be the same without romantic elements. Yet there are books that feel, well, fake when it comes to romance. ( I want to say Mansfield Park by Jane Austen or Comet Se...

 This week's neglected book: A history of Japan: from stone age to superpower  Published date: 1999 Publisher: Palgrave  Why did I add A History of Japan to my bookshelf?  At the time I found it in half price books and it seemed a good solution to have something short and complete, so to speak. At least that's what I desired. I wanted to learn a bit more about Japan at the time, and if I remember right, I bought this book in early 00s, so it didn't seem out of date at the time. 

Title: On Gold Mountain; The One Hundred Year Odyssey of my Chinese-american family Author: Lisa See Published: 1995  Length: 394 pages  Summary: How and when I got it:  I am pretty sure I  bought it in half price books, merely out of curiosity rather than anything else. I remember trying to read it it for one reason or another I abandoned it. 

 Outside reading and reviewing, I sort of have a semi life as well. I am not sure if it will be the top ten, but it's worth a try.  1. Listening to oldie music. Something I love to do is listen to old K-pop. ( How old? 90s to 00s.) I also listen to old K-indie music like Humming Urban Stereo for instance.  2. Watching old Korean dramas. It's a bit inevitable: if I love Korean music, then I love Korean Dramas, or K-Dramas. Dramas I love watching aren't "cute" rom-coms, but instead they are cerebral/emotional that are serious in tone and subject. ( La Dolce Vita for instance...)  3. Play Love Nikki. In real life, I don't care for clothing or fashion, so it seems odd that I love Love Nikki, a fashion game that I dedicated almost three years to. ( Logging on, collecting stuff, and amassing hundreds of clothing and costumes.)  4. Play Dragon vale. I also have began to love a game called Dragon Vale where one collects very cool and awesome dragons. ( my favorite are...

Places I've taken my body by Molly McCully Brown 177/ 208 The Kennedy moment by Peter Adamson 72/345 Hello darkness my old friend by Sanford D. Greenberg 61/228 

 For a sweet lover, Halloween is a favorite holiday. Free candies of all sorts, walking around, admiring decorations and free candies. As a child it was one of my favorite holidays. As an adult, I dreamt of having a child that I can take trick or treating with me. In 2016 that wish came true, but the child wasn't quite ready for experience. In 2017 and 2018 we didn't go trick or treating either due to weather or something else. 2019, the child experienced his first trick or treat and he loved it. ( No, did not let him eat candy...) and ever since he has been bugging me about next time. 2020 came around, and the world flushed into a virtual potty as life we took for granted changed and shifted. I didn't go trick or treating with him this year. Instead, I was lucky that his lovely aunt sent him a marble run toy which he fell in love with, and that is how he spent his Halloween. 

 Wow, it's November already and the year is still not over? Pity. I am hesitant in asking about the future, about December. This month there will be at least two book tours, both from France Book Tours as well as a book spotlight. All I think of is that I should really write some reviews this month, which will be good news for my readers I imagine.  Book Tours/ Spotlights  The Witch Hunter  Spotlight by Max Seeck  Alina a song for the telling by Malve von Hassell ( November 6th, 2020)  The education of Delhomme by Nancy Burkhalter (TBD) Possible Reviews:  A SNAKE LIES WAITING by Jin Yong  Don't you know there's a war on by Janet Todd  Possible Reads:  Lonesome you by Park Wansuh  Burnt toast makes you sing good by Kathleen Flinn  Flight of the sparrow by Amy Balding Brown  The lost girls of Paris by Pam Jenoff  The lover by Marguerite Duras  God has no grandchildren by Kim Gyung UK  Does anybody else look li...

 The Kennedy moment- Peter Adamson SR: October 29th, 2020 FR: November 23rd, 2020 The invisible bridge- Julie Orringer  SR: November 5th, 2020 FR:  Spring- Leila Rafei  SR: November 10th, 2020 FR: November 24th, 2020 Nobody's angel- Karen Robbards  SR: November 23rd, 2020 FR: Styx and stones- James W Ziskin SR: November 24th, 2020 FR:  Non-fiction Places I've taken my body- Molly McCully Brown  SR: October 28th, 2020 FR: November 5th, 2020 Hello darkness, my old friend; how daring dreams and unyielding friendship turned one man's blindness into an extraordinary vision for life- Sanford D. Greenberg  SR: October 31st, 2020 FR:  November 5th, 2020