On paper, this book is the complete package for me: time travel, a mysterious epidemic, a spunky female protagonist, academia, Christmas. I should have loved it. But it was a little… um…. super duper incredibly boring. I’m really looking forward to the Book Club conversation about this, because it would be nice to put my finger on why I didn’t just totally love it. There’s plenty of action, but it’s very repetitive, and never feels like it’s going anywhere. No build, just introduction of characters, […]
Never get involved in a land war in Asia
I will admit, I thought I might be out-smarting these books, with the formula all figured out, but this one, the third in the “Temeraire” series, totally took me on a ride. Delightful, surprising, and exciting. Well played, Novik. Black Powder War bothers with barely any passage of time after Throne of Jade. The company is still in China, preparing for travel back to England, when natural disaster and politics coincide and intervene, causing Laurence and Temeraire to take their scrappy crew of aviators overland […]
The Other Blahter
3.5 stars (very mild spoilers herein) If I could sum this book up, it would be with the appropriately trite “interesting, but not memorable.” The Other Daughter follows Rachel Woodley, and, look, I’m just going to go with the Goodreads description on this one because it’s already pretty succinct: “Raised in a poor yet genteel household, Rachel Woodley is working in France as a governess when she receives news that her mother has died, suddenly. Grief-stricken, she returns to the small town in England where […]
A Shameful Reminder
Before the war, they had names. Identities. They had neighbors, friends, teachers, classmates. But as soon as Japan rained bombs down on Pearl Harbor, everything about these people was stripped away. Only their ethnicity remained. Japanese. Traitor. Other. Nameless, they were crowded onto trains, clutching their suitcases, trying to convince themselves they’d be home again soon. They were on their best behavior in the camps, trying to convince the guards they were “good Americans.” And they waited. Julie Otsuka’s When the Emperor was Divine follows […]
Another Series To Be Obsessed With
Once again, the Overdrive algorithm picked me a winner. Emily is a young Victorian woman fed up with her mother’s demands and criticism. To get out from under her thumb she marries the next man to propose, despite barely knowing him. A few months into their marriage, Lord Ashton goes on Safari with friends, and never returns. Mourning a man she hardly knew rubs Emily the wrong way, so she sets out to learn more about him, uncovering a ring of art thieves and forgers […]
If it no go so, it go near so.
We are five months into 2016 and this is my first book review. I’ve read a couple books this year, but between me trying to figure out my life and traveling a bit, it’s been difficult to force myself to sit still for a moment and collect my thoughts. And getting through this tome was a bit of a problem for me. I had heard about it because A Brief History of Seven Killings won the Man Booker prize award last year, and many reviewers — while […]
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