Svetlana's Reads and Views

Name of Book: The Woman Behind the Waterfall Author : Leonora Meriel ISBN: 978-1-911079-34-7 Publisher: Granite Cloud Type of book: Ukraine, motherhood, mother/daughter relationship, depression, alcoholism, refusing help, friendship, death, alternative choices, love, shapeshifter, fantasy, magical realism, protection, struggles Year it was published: 2011, 2016 Summary: Heartbreak and transformation in the beauty of a Ukrainian village For seven-year old Angela, happiness is exploring the lush countryside around her home in western Ukraine. Her wild imagination takes her into birds and flowers, and into the waters of the river. All that changes when, one morning, she sees her mother crying. As she tries to find out why, she is drawn on an extraordinary journey into the secrets of her family, and her mother's fateful choices. Can Angela lead her mother back to happiness before her innocence is destroyed by the shadows of a dark past? Beautiful, poetic and ...

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:  Fumie's Teacup Author:  Richard McGowan ISBN:  9780738850849 Publisher: Smashed-Rat-on-Press Year it was published: 2011 Summary: Junichi is a young fashion designer; his after-hours obsession is with the paintings of Renoir. Kazue, a woman adrift, toils by day in an office, devoting her spare time to doll houses and night life. In the vast urban sprawl of Tokyo, they meet as the prospective partners in an arranged marriage. After the relationship falls apart, their influence on one another continues, catalyzed by the juxtaposition of traditional and modern forces around them. Junichi comes under the influence of Fumie's teacup and soon their separate lives begin to change in unanticipated ways. This is the best available edition to date, and the least expensive. It replaces the Spectrum (electronic) edition of 1995 and the XLibris edition of 2001; and contains author's corrections. Opinion: I do admit that the story and the book do so...

Name of Book: The Golden Lotus Vol II Author: Lanling Xiaoxiaosheng, Clement Egerton, Shu Qingchun ISBN: 978-0-8048-4171-9 Publisher: Tuttle Part of a Series: The Golden Lotus Vol I was the "prequel" This one covers chapters 54-100 Type of book: 1100s, Forbidden book, death, despicable deeds, bribing, finances, affairs, falling into place, China, reparations, revenge, loyalty, surprising heroes and heroines, women as main characters, officials, greed, second chances, lust, sloth, Year it was published: 2011 (1300s) Summary: The Golden Lotus (Jin Ping Mei) has been called the fifth greatest work in all of Chinese literature and one of the Four Masterworks of the Ming novel. Anonymously written, it was admired in its own time for its literary qualities and biting indictment of the immorality and cruelty of its age. Yet it has also been denigrated as a dirty book for its sexual frankness. It centers on Ximen Qing, a wealthy, young, dissolute merchant, and ...

Name of Book: The Golden Lotus, aka Jin Ping Mei aka The Plum in the Golden Vase Author: Lanling Xiaoxiaosheng, Clement Egerton, Shu Qingchun ISBN: 978-0-8048-4170-2 Publisher: Tuttle Part of a Series: This is first part of Jin Ping Mei, spanning from chapters 1-53 Type of book: China, "dirty book" sex, 1100s, corruption, women, poetry, ambition, murder, daily life, selfishness, widowhood, connections, wealth, city life, pride, envy, gluttony, lust, anger, greed, sloth Year it was published: 2011 (1590s or afterwards originally) Summary: The Golden Lotus (Jin Ping Mei) has been called the fifth greatest work in all of Chinese literature and one of the Four Masterworks of the Ming novel. Anonymously written, it was admired in its own time for its literary qualities and biting indictment of the immorality and cruelty of its age. Yet it has also been denigrated as a dirty book for its sexual frankness. It centers on Ximen Qing, a wealthy, young, dissolute ...

Title of the book: E.Q. Librium; Unleash the power of your emotional intelligence a proven path to career success Author:  Yvette Bethel Publisher: Organizational Soul Publishing Date: 2011 ISBN: 978-0-578-08360-5 Summary: E.Q. Librium: Unleash the Power of Your Emotional Intelligence; A Proven Path to Career Success is a collection of practical, proven strategies you can use to improve your emotional intelligence at work by managing your emotions and responses. This book will help you to: Become emotionally self-aware; manage your emotions; diffuse emotionally charged situations; strengthen your leadership skills, build healthy work relationships; and enhance your performance. Author Info: (From back of the book) An author, speaker, HR consultant, leadership coach, trainer and columnist, Yvette Bethel possesses the abiity to ignite the chain reaction necessary to bring about transformation. A Fullbright Scholar with an MBA, Bethel relies on her cumulative exp...

Name of Book: Bianca's Vineyard Author: Teresa Neumann ISBN: 978-0-9831210-0-8 Publisher: All's Well House Type of book: Italy, America, mental illness, 1913, 1923-1930, 1931-1941, 1943-1946, 2001, travel, immigrants, family, culture, sacrifices, talents, WWII, occupation, laws, generations, vineyard, wines, survival Year it was published: 2011 Summary: Bianca Corrotti's vineyard is more than a piece of mouth-watering real estate in Tuscany. It's an inheritance; a storehouse harboring the secrets of her Uncle Egisto, a world-class sculptor, and his troubled wife -- a woman whose destiny converges with Mussolini's when WWII overtakes them all. Based on a true story, Bianca's Vineyard follows a devoted family of strong-willed men and lion-hearted women waging an epic battle against a gathering storm intent on destroying their lives. Characters: The main characters include Armida, Egisto's wife who becomes upset and jealous of another wo...

Name of Book: christmas at Tiffany's Author: Karen Snow ISBN: 978-0-06-236410-4 Publisher: William Morrow Type of book: travel, self discovery, New York, London, Paris, friendships between women, modeling, cooking, elegance, cultures, dating, trauma, 2000s, language of flowers Year it was published: 2011 Summary: What do you do when the man you pledged your life to breaks your heart and shatters your dreams? You pack your bags and travel the big, wide world to find your destiny--and your true love . . . Ten years ago, a young and naive Cassie married her first serious boyfriend, believing he would be with her forever. Now her marriage is in tatters and Cassie has no career or home of her own. Though she feels betrayed and confused, Cassie isn't giving up. She's going to take control of her life. But first she has to find out where she belongs . . . and who she wants to be. Over the course of one year, Cassie leaves her sheltered life in rural Scotla...

Name of Book: Letters from Wishing Rock Author: Pam Stucky ISBN/ASIN:  9781460960127 Publisher: Self published Part of a Series: Wishing Rock Type of book: community, starting over, Wishing Rock, Dogwinkle Island, Washington, epistolary, 2000s, contemporary women's fiction, spirit, friendship, neighbors, sisterhood, grandmother/granddaughters relationships, kindness Year it was published: 2011 Summary: Pam Stucky's charming debut novel is already garnering rave reviews and demands for book two in the Wishing Rock series. This engaging, fun read is written in the format of letters/e-mails amongst characters. It combines the easy readability of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and the sassy, irreverent tone of Bridget Jones' Diary, with the slice-of-life sensibilities of Alexander McCall Smith's 44 Scotland Street or Ladies' Detective Agency series. What would happen if everyone in town lived in the same building? Ruby Parker i...

Title of the book:  The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon: The Diary of a Courtesan in Tenth Century Japan Author:  Sei Shonagon, Arthur Waley Publisher: Tuttle Publishing Date: 2011/ written sometime in 10th to 11th century. ISBN: 978-4-8053-1108-0 Summary: Japan in the 10th century stood physically and culturally isolated from the rest of the world. Inside this bubble, a subtle and beautiful world was in operation, and its inhabitants were tied to the moment, having no interest in the future and disdain for the past. In a small diary, a young courtesan of the Heian period gives her account of the Japanese courts of the day, providing perspective on a unique time in Japanese history. A contemporary of Murasaki Shikibu, the author of The Tale of Genji, Sei Sho-nagon's commentary brings an added dimension to that timeless and seminal work. In a place and time where poetry was as important as knowledge and beauty was highly revered, Sei Shonagon's private writings g...

Name of Book: Mozart's Wife Author: Juliet Waldron ISBN: 9781461109617 Publisher: Createspace Type of book: 1700s, Mozart, Konstanza, music, partying, drinking, Opera, debt, birth, Vienna, Austria, marriage, rock star status, destruction Year it was published: 2011 Summary: Jon Baxley, Editor of Amazing Authors Showcase says it all in his review. "This author's fictionalized account of Constanze Webber--an extraordinary woman who just happened to marry an even more extraordinary man named Mozart--brings 18th Century Vienna and its people vividly alive. Constanze would have been a remarkable woman for any era, struggling with her own perspective on life while trying to cope and understand the icon composer with whom she chose to share her life. But as an 18th Century woman, she is all the more remarkable. This book is well written and thoroughly researched, that's obvious from the details in dialogue and events. I suspect little of this work is pur...

Title of the book: Semi-Coma: Evolution of My Intermittent Consciousness Author: Gulten Dye Publisher: Self published Publishing Date: 2011 ISBN: 978-0-9838290-0-3 Summary: This book is about self-discovery and the journey that awakened me to the many facets of life. The road hasn’t always been easy with its tolls and junctions. It’s about my struggle to discover who I really am, what I believe in and how I’ve arrived at a place where I am able to appreciate myself and my surroundings. Most of my life I lived in a state of arrested consciousness without being aware of it. Then one day out of nowhere my eyes opened just enough for me to question my way of living and my state of mind. That was the day questions started to arrive. They were nothing like the questions I had before. As if they weren’t even questions they were an unraveling string of realizations followed by overwhelming sorrow. How could I have lived my life as if I was in a semi coma and in turn induce m...