Svetlana's Reads and Views

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...

Name of Book: Nancy's Mysterious Letter Author: Carolyn Keene ISBN: 9780448095080 Publisher: Grosset and Dunlap Part of a Series: Nancy Drew series Type of book: Mystery, young adult, 1930s, letter, heiress, Lonely Hearts Club, football game, college, wealth Year it was published: 1932 Summary: BY mistake Nancy Drew receives a letter from England intended for an heiress, also named Nancy Drew. When Nancy undertakes a search for the missing young woman, it becomes obvious that a ruthless, dangerous man is determined to prevent her from finding the heiress or himself. Clues that Nancy unearths leads her to believe that the villainous Edgar Nixon plans to marry the heiress and then steal her inheritance. During her investigation Nancy discovers that Nixon is engaged in a racket that involves many innocent, trusting persons. The thrilling hunt for Nixon and the heiress takes Nancy in and out of many perilous situations. How the teen-age detective saves the Britis...

Name of Book: The Clue in the Diary Author: Carolyn Keene ISBN: 9780807216767 Publisher: Grosset and Dunlap Part of a Series: Nancy Drew Series Type of book: Mystery, Swedish, immigrants, lost mail, puppy love, translation, helping out, young adult Year it was published: 1932 Summary: Nancy and her friends witness an explosion and the burning of a beautiful country mansion. Fearing its occupants may be trapped in the blazing building, they rush to the rescue--and unexpectedly find themselves confronted with a mystery that seems insoluble. The first clue is an anonymous diary--its entries in a handwriting difficult to decipher. Who dropped the diary? Was it the stranger Nancy saw running away from the fire? What was he doing there? Finding out how Nancy discovers the answers to these questions makes for another exciting Nancy Drew mystery. Characters: In this one Nancy knows a little bit of Swedish and yet once more she's right and correct and on target about ...

Name of Book: Sons Author: Pearl Buck ISBN:  0786274948 Publisher: World Publishing Company Part of a Series: House of earth series Type of book: China, late 1800s? to 1900s, family saga, wars, warlord, merchant, desire Year it was published: 1932 (version I have 1945) Summary: Second in the trilogy that began with The Good Earth, Buck's classic and starkly real tale of sons rising against their honored fathers tells of the bitter struggle to the death between the old and the new in China. Revolutions sweep the vast nation, leaving destruction and death in their wake, yet also promising emancipation to China's oppressed millions who are groping for a way to survive in a modern age. Characters: One might remember the eldest son, the one that's lusty, restless and a real lord's son, the one that spends money without thought and concocted the idea of addicting a cousin's parents to opium. In this book he remains the same, except that he gains a...

Name of book: Little House in the Big Woods Author Name: Laura Ingalls Wilder ISBN: 0-06-44001-8 Publisher: Harper Trophy Part of Series: Little House series (9 original books) Type of book:  woods,1872?-1873? semi-autobiographical, memoir Year it was published: 1932 (version I have 1971?) Summary:  Deep in the woods of Wisconsin...Wolves and panthers and bears roamed the deep Wisconsin woods in the 1870s. In those same woods, Laura Ingalls lived with her Pa and Ma, and her sisters Mary and Baby Carrie, in a snug little house built of logs. Pa hunted and trapped. Ma made her own cheese and maple sugar. All night long, the wind howled lonesomely, but Pa played his fiddle and sang, keeping the family safe and cosy. Characters: Most of the characters are one dimensional or else there was not enough screen time to form opinions about them. Laura's Ma and Mary as well as Carrie do not exhibit a lot of personality. (Perhaps it might change in future seri...