I read this book on my flight from Switzerland to Australia. Usually long haul flights tend to soften the sparkle of most reading experiences, in fact one could argue that they soften the sparkle of almost every experience. It is something about the snoring, the crying babies… not to mention the recycled stale air and … Continue reading
Tag Archives: book reviews
“The Age Of Magic”: a review of Ben Okri’s magic realist novel
There are two reasons why I bought this book: I had a gift voucher and the setting of the book was Switzerland (the country I call home). I wasn’t sure what to expect because I had not read anything by Ben Okri before and I must admit that I felt a bit apprehensive about magic … Continue reading
“Tricky Twenty-Two”: the latest Plum installment from Janet Evanovich
The latest Stephanie Plum book, “Tricky Twenty-Two” was released in November this year. I’ve been following the series since book number one, “One For The Money” and every November, which is usually the release month for the Plum series, is like a Crime Fiction Christmas. And so here we are again with another review of … Continue reading
The Fall of Serious Money: a review of John Lanchesters, “Capital”
This book started off like a small rock slowing rolling down a snowy hill that eventually turns into an avalanche. What you are left with at the end of the novel is silence and white powder. John Lanchester’s novel borrows its title from the famous Karl Marx and his “Das Kapital”. Although, the book is … Continue reading
The Not So Elegant Hedgehog: a review of Muriel Barbery’s novel, “The Elegance of the Hedgehog”
I feel that I should start this review by saying that I have wanted to read this book for such a long time. After discovering the book, I thought that the title sounded intriguing and I had lots of people recommend the book to me, French and English speakers alike. It seemed to be a … Continue reading
The question of dignity and being a ‘people pleaser’ in Kazuo Ishiguro’s “The Remains of the Day”
It has already been said that Ishiguro’s novel is a beautiful study of Englishness. The book for me, like all of Ishiguro’s works I have read, is extremely soothing to read. Somehow, Ishiguro has a way with words that not only calms, but also excites the reader. The book spans not only six days of … Continue reading
Sylvia Plath’s “The Bell Jar” still speaks to the modern struggles of academia and the pressures to succeed
I recently re-read The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. The book has been a favourite of mine, but this time around I really felt the book spoke to me in a way. Academia and I have a complicated relationship. I love to study and learn, and I also love to share that knowledge with fellow … Continue reading
The Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko: a book lost in translation
Readers! If there is a fantasy book or series that has you hooked, please let me know! From one desperate fantasy reader to another… I must get my fill of fangs, adventure, and the quest for good and evil! Continue reading
Mr Clive and Mr Page: pyschogeography and a different kind of review.
I recently read the book Mr Clive and Mr Page by Neil Bartlett. It is a truly fascinating book that makes you question your notions of reality and narrator reliability. The notion of the twin, or in this case double, plays a strong and central role in the novel since Mr Page and Mr Clive … Continue reading
Fluid Identity: what it means to be Bharati Mukherjee’s “Jasmine”
“We murder who we were so we can rebirth ourselves in the image of our dreams.” (29) This is, for me, the most powerful sentence in Bharati Mukherjee’s Jasmine. In this one sentence it summarises the story of the novel by embodying the nature of transcontinental lives and living. The main protagonist in Mukherjee’s novel … Continue reading
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