Svetlana's Reads and Views

 The Sunday Post The Sunday Post is a blog news meme hosted here @ Caffeinated Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on your blog for the week ahead. Join in weekly, bi-weekly or for a monthly wrap up. See rules here:  Sunday Post Meme # 50 Failure and Dating To be honest I have tried, but I have failed when it comes to finding someone. So yeah, no more I suppose. I have also been watching fantasy lands explanations (think Dragon Age Origins or even Forgotten Realms) which is complicated as well, a Gordian knot. We had cub scouts and first piano lesson. My son loved piano lessons and also enjoyed cub scouts where he got a chance to learn to tie different knots. This coming week, his father is coming for a week. I have finished watching the Bollywood movie Sholay and have watched a bit of Squid Games (The extended version of Liar Game as I call it...) O...

 Name of Book: The Sun and the Void  Author: Gabriela Romero-Lacruz  ISBN: 9780316336543 Publisher: Orbit  Part of a Series: The Warring Gods  Type of book: Fantasy based on Venezuela, lower castes, myths, legends, magic, witches, family, love, relationships, desire, revenge, pain, LGBtQIA+, sapphic romance, colonialism, conqueror  Year it was published: 2023  Summary: In a lush world inspired by the history and folklore of South America, a sweeping epic fantasy of colonialism, ancient magic, and two young women's quest for belonging unfolds. Reina is desperate. Stuck living on the edges of society, her only salvation lies in an invitation from a grandmother she’s never known. But the journey is dangerous, and prayer can’t always avert disaster. Attacked by creatures that stalk the region, Reina is on the verge of death until her grandmother, a dark sorceress, intervenes. Now dependent on the Doña’s magic for her life, Reina will do anything to earn—an...

  Name of Book: The Phoenix King Author: Aparna Verma  ISBN: 9780316522779 Publisher: Orbit  Part of a Series: The Ravence Trilogy  Type of book: India, Rajasthan, politics, mix of fantasy and science fiction, rulers, assassins, charisma, religion, magic system, relationships, secrets, miscommunication  Year it was published: 2023  Summary: In a kingdom where flames hold magic and the desert hides secrets, an ancient prophecy comes for an assassin, a princess, and a king. But none are ready to face destiny—and the choices they make could burn the world.   “If we carry the burdens of our fathers, we’ll never know what it means to be free.”   For Elena Aadya Ravence, fire is yearning. She longs to feel worthy of her Phoenix god, of her ancestors who transformed the barren dunes of Sayon into a thriving kingdom. But though she knows the ways and wiles of the desert better than she knows her own skin, the secrets of the Eternal Flame elude her. And wi...

  Name of Book: Dayswork Author: Chris Bachelder and Jennifer Habel ISBN: 978--324-06540-1 Publisher: W.W. Norton  Type of book: COVID, Pandemic 2020, Herman Melville, marriages of the past, obsession, Nathaniel Hawthorne, poets, biographers of Melville, facts, fiction, literature  Year it was published: 2023  Summary: In wry, epigrammatic prose, Dayswork tells the story of a woman who spends the endless days of the pandemic sorting fact from fiction in the life and work of Herman Melville. Obsessed by what his devotion to his art reveals about cost, worth, and debt, she delves into Melville’s impulsive purchase of a Massachusetts farmhouse, his fevered revision of Moby-Dick there, his intense friendship with neighbor Nathaniel Hawthorne, and his troubled and troubling marriage to Elizabeth Shaw. As the narrator’s fascination grows and her research deepens, she examines Melville’s effect on the imagination and lives of generations of biographers and writers, includin...

 The Sunday Post The Sunday Post is a blog news meme hosted here @ Caffeinated Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on your blog for the week ahead. Join in weekly, bi-weekly or for a monthly wrap up. See rules here:  Sunday Post Meme #49 Lonely Days So labor day. I was sick, sorry to say so nothing special happened. Four of us pretty much spent time at home trying to get better. I have been lonely, but I don't think it makes any difference does it? Next week it promises to be a bit more fun; my son's father is coming for a week, my son will also begin piano lessons and, of course, cub scouts.  Last Week On The Blog This Week On The Blog New Arrivals At Svetlana's Reads And Views It's Monday! What Are You Reading?  (From The Book Date) It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? a place to meet up and share what you have been, and are about to be rea...

  The Sunday Post The Sunday Post is a blog news meme hosted here @ Caffeinated Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on your blog for the week ahead. Join in weekly, bi-weekly or for a monthly wrap up. See rules here:  Sunday Post Meme #48 Last Week. Books! Books! Books! This week...nothing! Nothing! Nothing! Much to mine amazement and part disappointment (I am still awaiting Daniel Abrahams' BLADE OF DREAM...) I got about six or so books last week. This week, well it feel as if the number will be at zero so to speak. The week was kind of good; I had a good date (I hope he did too!) with a guy eleven years my junior (eerily we are very similar) and I also met up with another guy and watched an old Bollywood movie titled Sholay. (Well half of it honestly) I have also been trying to find a childhood movie I watched at about seven or eight years of age, ...