Book Specs Author: Mario Vargas Llosa Translator: Helen R. Lane Publisher: Picador Publishing Date: August 2008 Number of Pages: 568 pages Genre: Historical Novel Synopsis Deep within the remote backlands of nineteenth-century Brazil lies Canudos, home to all the damned of the earth: prostitutes, bandits, beggars, and every kind of outcast. It is a place where history […]
Tag: Book Quotes
Book Review # 73: Catch-22
Book Specs Author: Joseph Heller Publisher: Vintage Publishing Date: 1994 Number of Pages: 519 pages Genre: War Novel, Satirical Novel Synopsis At the heart of Catch-22 resides the incomparable, malingering bombardier, Yossarian, a hero endlessly inventive in his schemes to save his skin from the horrible chances of war. His problem is Colonel Cathcart, who […]
Book Review # 72: The Master and Margarita
Book Specs Author: Mikhail Bulgakov Translator: Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky Publisher: Penguin Books Publishing Date: 2016 Number of Pages: 396 Genre: Magical Realism, Satirical, Romance, Historical Metafiction Synopsis Nothing in the whole of literature compares with The Master and Margarita. One spring afternoon, the Devil, trailing file and chaos in his wake, weaves himself […]
Book Review # 71: The House of the Spirits
Book Specs Author: Isabel Allende Translator: Magda Bogin Publisher: Everyman’s Library Publishing Date: 2005 Number of Pages: 488 pages Genre: Family Saga, Magical Realism, South American Fiction Synopsis In the triumph of magic realism, Allende constructs a spirit-ridden world and fills it with colourful and all-too-human inhabitants. The Trueba family’s passions, struggles and secrets span three generations […]
Quotable Quotes # 19: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
Honestly, I am not much into young adult fiction for a number of reasons. However, there are still some young adult fiction books that deserve highlight and commendation. One such work is Benjamin Alire Sáenz’ Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe which is truly a gem of a read. It has earned quite […]
Book Review # 70: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
Book Specs Author: Benjamin Alire Sáenz Publisher: Simon & Schuster Publishing Date: 2012 Number of Pages: 359 pages Genre: Romance, Young Adult, Bildungsroman Synopsis Dante can swim. Ari can’t. Dante is articulate and self-assured. Ari has a hard time with words and suffers from self-doubt. Dante gets lost in poetry and art. Ari gets lost […]
Quotable Quotes # 18: A Monster Calls
Patrick Ness’ A Monster Calls is a very powerful yet poignant prose that has the ability to captivate everyone. Its bittersweet story and backstory leaves one longing for more. I am no fan of young adult fiction but this laconic narrative about grief and sorrow is one that has truly won me over. I am falling in […]
Book Review # 68: Their Eyes Were Watching God
Book Specs Author: Zora Neale Hurston Publisher: Harper Perennial Modern Classics Publishing Date: 2006, first edition published on September 18, 1937 Number of Pages: 193 Genre: African-American Fiction, Classical Fiction, Classics Synopsis One of the most important works of twentieth-century American literature, Zora Neale Hurston’s beloved 1937 classic, Their Eyes Were Watching God, is an enduring […]
Book Review # 67: The Glass Palace
Book Specs Author: Amitav Ghosh Publisher: Harper Collins Publishers Publishing Date: 2001 Number of Pages: 547 pages Genre: Historical, Romance Synopsis An extraordinary epic, THE GLASS PALACE is a masterful novel of love, war and family and presents us with a band of memorable characters, spread across Burma, Malaya and India, and across three generations […]
Book Review # 66: A Monster Calls
Book Specs Author: Patrick Ness Publisher: Candlewick Press Publishing Date: 2013 Number of Pages: 205 pages Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Children’s Literature Synopsis The monster showed up after midnight. As they do. But it isn’t the monster Conor’s been expecting, the one from the nightmare he’s had nearly every night since his mother started her […]
