Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes Keywords: fiction, war, Vietnam, marines, suffering, fear, boys, courage, friends First line: Mellas stood beneath the gray monsoon clouds on the narrow strip of cleared ground between the edge of the jungle and the relative safety of the perimeter wire. Last line: Only the shadows themselves could change. Thoughts: The author,… Continue reading Good books I read in April
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles Keywords: historical fiction, Russia, 1922-1954, the Metrepol Hotel, friends that are also family it's hard to tell, beautiful First line: At half past six on the twenty-first of June 1922, when Count Alexander Illyich Rostov was escorted through the gates of the Kremlin onto Red Square, it was… Continue reading Good books I read in March
Right now I'm reading The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson. It's a detailed chronicle of Winston Churchill and Great Britain from 1940 to 1941. During those two years, Londoners suffered the extreme anxiety and danger of regular, destructive bombing from the Germans. When I chose this book as my Book of the Month… Continue reading When times seem bad, read about a time that was even worse
If I had to defend why stories matter, I would first be exasperated and in disbelief unto the highest degree that I would even need to. Then I would say: It's because they let you see into somebody else's world through somebody else's eyes who most likely thinks, feels, and believes differently than you do.… Continue reading What I read in February // mini-reviews
H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald Keywords: memoir, grief, a hawk, loss of a father, reflections, falconry history, author T. H. White First line: Fifty-five minutes north-east of Cambridge is a landscape I've come to love very much indeed. Last line: And in I go, where the dogs lie flat on the kitchen floor,… Continue reading What I read in January // mini-reviews
Out of the following 12 books, 6 are historical fiction, 5 are non-fiction ( 1 collection of essays, 2 memoirs, 1 true-crime/narrative non-fiction, 1 psychology), and 1 contemporary romance. Where is the fantasy and contemporary YA and middle-grade? Weird. The Gown: A Novel of the Royal Wedding by Jennifer Robson Keywords: historical fiction, 1947 London,… Continue reading So many mini-reviews
For the past three years, I've read one super long non-fiction book every year. I wouldn't call it a tradition yet because I feel like it takes a solid ten years for something to become a tradition, but it's at least in its toddler stage. (A toddler tradition!) In 2016, I read Team of Rivals;… Continue reading Super long non-fiction books
