Categories
Books Recommendations

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell: A Tough Scifi Must-Read

Not one sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it.

Matthew Ten, Verse Twenty-Nine

I read The Sparrow some time back, but I am reviewing it here only now. The book raises some uncomfortable questions about our perception of and our (according to the book, unfounded) expectations from God. Mary Russell does a spectacular job of blending science and religion in this book. For both agnostics and believers alike, this is a story that will send you reeling.

The Sparrow is set in the future, and revolves around Emilio Sandoz. Emilio is a devout Jesuit priest and a good man whose friends love him. Sandoz’s biggest strengths are his self-awareness, and his faith in God which can move mountains. But that faith is about to be tested.

Categories
Art & Illustration Books Music & Poetry Starred Recommendations Watchlist

More Japanese Recs: Folklore, Haiku & Anime

This is the final month for the Japanese Literature Reading Challenge, so I really had to hurry up with this one. I had two main recommendations for this month: Once and Forever: The Tales of Kenji Miyazawa, and an anthology of Japanese Haiku poetry compiled by Yamamoto and Addiss. And although not “literature”, also the superbly mind-bending scifi anime, Paprika.

Categories
Books Recommendations

Review: Thorn by Intisar Khanani

Thorn

Book: Thorn (Dauntless Path Book 1)
Author: Intisar Khanani
Published: March 2020
Trope: Goose Girl Retelling, Identity Theft with a Twist
Rating: 8 of 10 / Recommended

Thorn has been getting a lot of blogger attention lately, even though released much earlier. When I realized it was a cozy Goose Girl retelling, I knew I had to give it a try. I liked it exceedingly, but Thorn also turned out to be quite unusual.

Categories
Music & Poetry

Some Thoughts from Rumi in Translation

Poetry Friday Header

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing
and rightdoing there is a field.

I’ll meet you there.

When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about.

~ Rumi (1207-1273)

Categories
Books Starred Recommendations

Wild Sign by Patricia Briggs

Wild Sign Gifts from Santa
Wild Sign is Book #5 for Cloak & Dagger 2021

Wild Sign by Patricia Briggs was like water after a reading drought! I was half afraid that the series would have lost its charm, but I needn’t have worried. Happy to report that this was an awesome read.

Categories
Memes To Be Read Books

Top Ten Books on My Spring 2021 TBR

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl. Every Tuesday, you pick ten books on that week’s topic. This week, we get to spotlight books we plan to read in Spring 2021. Here are my picks — but not choosing by publication date!

Have you read any of these, or which ones should I prioritize from in here? Which books are on your Spring 2021 TBR?

Categories
Music & Poetry

Poetry by Alfred Kreymborg

It’s time for Poetry Friday! And here’s Kreymborg proposing a test for what makes a true “poem”:

Ladislaw the critic
is five feet six inches high,

Which means
that his eyes
are five feet two inches
from the ground,

which means,
if you read him your poem,
and his eyes lift to five feet
and a trifle more than two inches,
what you have done
is Poetry—

Should his eyes remain
at five feet two inches,
you have perpetrated prose,

And do his eyes stoop
—which Heaven forbid!—
the least trifle below
five feet two inches,
you
are an unspeakable adjective.

Categories
Memes Miscellany To Be Read Books

Ten Books I Said Nay To

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl. Every Tuesday, you pick ten books on that week’s topic. And this week, we have a Spring Cleaning freebie. So here are ten books I recently said Nay! to.

1 / The Beautiful by Renée Ahdieh Because it turned out to be Vampire + Melodrama + YA genre, and I’m afraid I’ve outgrown that.

2 / Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse Because it’s an amazing series but only the first book is out yet and I’d rather wait and then binge-read.

3 / Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City by K. J. Parker Because I was really looking forward to this till I came across a very different perspective.

4 / Soulswift by Megan Bannen Because I got to know it has a tragic end, and I can’t stomach one of those right now.

5 / Snake Eyes by Hillary Monahan Because although it was extremely well written, it was also a very grotesque (for me) tale about reptile humanoids.

6 / The Raging Quiet by Sherryl Jordan Because although it’s rare to find a YA book dealing with disability with such sensitivity, this book seemed relentlessly bleak.

7 / Death in the Stocks by Georgette Heyer Because this turned out to be exceptionally boring with characters that were all very “cold fish”.

8 / Lucy Anne Trotter Series by Anya Wylde Because this didn’t turn out to be as funny as I had hoped, and rather contrived.

9 / Corrag by Susan Fletcher Because it reminded me too much of Outlander, and I’m not sure I want to read something along similar lines at the moment.

10 / Planetfall series by Emma Newman Because I really liked the premise but other readers have warned it’s not a read for pandemic times.

Any of these sound familiar to you? What’s your spring-cleaning mission been like?

Categories
Art & Illustration Books Index Starred Recommendations

Throwback Thursday: A Few Old SFF Favorites

I was looking at some of my older reads, and rounded-up a few that I’d really liked. So here they are, and may be if you’re looking for new things to try out, you’ll discover a few gems here.

Categories
Books Memes Starred Recommendations

Ten Favorite Funny Books

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl. Every Tuesday, you pick ten books on that week’s topic. And this week, we spotlight our ten favorite funny books. In no order of priority, here they are!