This is the second part of my 2018 third quarter book haul. To check the first part, click here.
Here’s the rest of my book haul.
Title: The Autumn of the Patriarch
Author: Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Translator: Gregory Rabassa
Publisher: Penguin Books
Publishing Date: 2014
No. of Pages: 229
Synopsis: “As the citizens of an unnamed Caribbean nation creep through dusty corridors in search of their tyrannical leader, they cannot comprehend that the frail and withered man lying dead on the floor can be the self-styled General of the Universe. Their arrogant, manically violent deader, known for serving up traitors to dinner guests and drowning young children at sea, can surely not die the humiliating death of a mere mortal?
Tracing the demands of a man whose egocentric excesses mask the loneliness of isolation and whose lies have become so ingrained that they are indistinguishable from truth, Marquez has created a fantastical portrait of despotism that rings with an air of reality.
Title: Sputnik Sweetheart
Author: Haruki Murakami
Translator: Philip Gabriel
Publisher: Vintage International
Publishing Date: April 2002
No. of Pages: 210
Synopsis: “K is madly in love with his best friend, Sumire, but her devotion to a writerly life precludes her from any personal commitments. At least, that is, until she meets an older woman to whom she finds herself irresistibly drawn. When Sumire disappears from an island off the coast of Greece, K is solicited to join the search party – and finds himself drawn back into her world and beset by ominous visions. Subtle and haunting, Sputnik Sweetheart is a profound meditation on human longing.
Title: Warlight
Author: Michael Ondaatje
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Publishing Date: 2018
No. of Pages: 285
Synopsis: “It is 1945, and London is still reeling from the Blitz and years of war. Fourteen -year-old Nathaniel and his older sister, Rachel, are seemingly abandoned by their parents, left in the care of an enigmatic figure they call The Moth. They suspect he may be a criminal and grow both more convinced and less concerned as they get to know his eccentric crew of friends, all of whom seem determined now to protect, and educate, Rachel and Nathaniel. But are they really what and who they claim to be? And how should the siblings feel when their mother returns without their father after months of silence, explaining nothing? A dozen years later, Nathaniel begins to uncover all he didn’t know or understand during that time, and it is this journey – through reality, recollection, and imagination – that is told in this magnificent novel.
Title: The Hate U Give
Author: Angie Thomas
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Publishing Date: 2017
No. of Pages: 444
Synopsis: “Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor black neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend, Khalil, at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed.
Soon afterward, Khalil’s death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Starr’s best friend at school suggests he may have had it coming. When it becomes clear the police have little interest in investigating the incident, protesters take to the streets and Starr’s neighborhood becomes a war zone. What everyone wants to know is: What really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr.
But what Starr does – or does not – say could destroy her community. It could also endanger her life.”
Title: Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda
Author: Becky Albertalli
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Publishing Date: 2018
No. of Pages: 343
Synopsis: “Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier prefers to save his drama for the school musical. But when an email falls into the wrong hands, his secret is at risk of being thrust into the spotlight. Now Simon is actually being blackmailed: If he doesn’t play wingman for class clown Martin, his sexual identity will become everyone’s business. Worse, the privacy of Blue, the pen name of the boy he’s been emailing with, will be jeopardized.
With some messy dynamics emerging in his once tight-knit group of friends and his email correspondence with Blue growing more flirtatious every day, Simon’s junior year has suddenly gotten all kinds of complicated. Now change-averse Simon has to find a way to step out of his comfort zone before he’s pushed out – without alienating his friends, compromising himself, or fumbling a shot at happiness with the most confusing, adorable guy he’s never met.”
Title: Circe
Author: Madeline Miller
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Publishing Date: 2018
No. of Pages: 385
Synopsis: “In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. But Circe is a strange child – not obviously powerful like her father, nor viciously alluring like her mother. Turning to the world of mortals for companionship, she discovers that she does possess power – the power of witchcraft which can transform rivals into monsters and menace the gods themselves.
Threatened, Zeus banishes her to a deserted island, where she hones her occult craft, tames wild beasts, and crosses paths with many of the most famous figures in all of mythology, including the Minotaur; Daedalus and his doomed son, Icarus; the murderous Medea; and, of course, wily Odysseus.
But there is danger, too, for a woman who stands alone, and Circe unwittingly draws the wrath of both men and gods, ultimately finding herself pitted against one of the most terrifying and vengeful of Olympians. To protect what she loves most, Circe must summon all her strength and choose, once and for all, whether she belongs with the gods she is born from or the mortals she has come to love.”
Title: The House of Broken Angels
Author: Luis Alberto Urrea
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Publishing Date: 2018
No. of Pages: 321
Synopsis: “In his final days, beloved and ailing patriarch Miguel Angel de la Cruz, affectionately called Big Angel, has summoned his entire clan for one last legendary birthday party. But as the party approaches, his mother, nearly one hundred, dies herself, leading to a farewell doubleheader in a single weekend. Among the guests is Big Angel’s half brother, known as Little Angel, who must reckon with the truth that although he shares a father with his siblings, he has not, as a half gringo, shared a life.
Across two bittersweet days in their San Diego neighborhood, the revelers mingle among the palm trees and cacti, celebrating the lives of Big Angel and his mother and recounting the any inspiring tales that have passed into family lore, the acts both ordinary and heroic that brought these citizens to a fraught and sublime country and allowed them to flourish in the land they have come to call home.”
“Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers.” ~ Charles W. Eliot
That’s my third quarter book haul. How about you, what books were you able to purchase the past three months? Comment and share below!
Happy reading!
The Pine-Scented Chronicles 