In Tawada’s world, the old don’t age or die, and the young are cursed with ill-health and short life-spans. Learn more about why this dystopian novel haunted me for months after I read it. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Fiction
Book review of “My Dark Vanessa”: Nabokov’s “Lolita” re-imagined
Disclosure: This page may contain affiliate links. Clicking through for additional information or to make a purchase may result in a small commission. My Dark Vanessa feels very much like a modern take on Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita. But with a twist. Kate Elizabeth Russell writes this harrowing tale of manipulation, grooming, and assault from the … Continue reading
Review of Bae Suah’s “Untold Night and Day”: reflections and repetitions
Disclosure: This page may contain affiliate links. Clicking through for additional information or to make a purchase may result in a small commission. I received Bae Suah’s novel as an Easter present. Considering we are all in lock-down at the moment, I welcomed a new book to read. I am a fan of Korean literature … Continue reading
A Review of “The Dead Wife’s Handbook”: Moving through grief with the aid of fiction
Disclosure: This page may contain affiliate links. Clicking through for additional information or to make a purchase may result in a small commission. I bought this book in the first few months after arriving in Switzerland at the giant English bookshop, that used to be located on the Bahnhofstrasse in Zurich. I was so intrigued … Continue reading
Reading Class: A review of Sally Rooney’s “Normal People”
Disclosure: This page may contain affiliate links. Clicking through for additional information or to make a purchase may result in a small commission. That’s money, the substance that makes the world real. There’s something so corrupt and sexy about it. Sally Rooney’s novel, Normal People, follows the lives of Connell and Marianne, two high school … Continue reading
4 Easy Steps to Improve Your Foreign Language Reading
As some of you might already know, I have lived in Switzerland for the last six years. Before that, I lived for one year in Austria, which means that I have lived in German-speaking countries for a little over seven years now. In this time, I worked in multi-lingual companies as well as completing a … Continue reading
Complicated families and letting go: a review of Sarah Haywood’s “The Cactus”
Disclosure: This page may contain affiliate links. Clicking through for additional information or to make a purchase may result in a small commission. The Cactus is the debut novel from Sarah Haywood which is about letting go of who people want you to be and who you have made yourself become because of your past … Continue reading
Stepping outside your comfort zone with “Britt-Marie Was Here”: a review of Fredrik Backman’s novel
Disclosure: This page may contain affiliate links. Clicking through for additional information or to make a purchase may result in a small commission. Swedish author Fredrik Backman has become quite the buzz-worthy author of late with his books appearing all over my bookish social media feeds. His first novel, A Man Called Ove became extremely … Continue reading
“Pride & Prejudice & Passports”: a review of Corrie Garrett’s immigrant retelling of Jane Austen’s classic
Disclosure: This page may contain affiliate links. Clicking through for additional information or to make a purchase may result in a small commission. I’ve read some modern re-tellings of classics that have just fallen flat. Sometimes classics are named classics because they are indeed just that: stories that transcend time. They shape our culture and … Continue reading
A Review of “The Lie Tree”: the power of a lie
Disclosure: This page may contain affiliate links. Clicking through for additional information or to make a purchase may result in a small commission. Frances Hardinge’s The Lie Tree was the perfect read for my summer holidays in Catania last week. The book is fast paced with some good suspense and plot development. At the core … Continue reading