Category Archives: Year

One Amazing Thing, by Chitra Divakaruni

Posted on March 2, 2011 by Thistle

Nine people are in a basement Visa office when an earthquake strikes and traps them inside. They are unable to escape as the basement slowly floods, and are short on food, water, and good air. Several of them have injuries, … Continue reading →

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The Inferno, by Dante Alighieri

Posted on March 1, 2011 by Thistle

The Inferno is the first in a trio of epic poems where Dante is led through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven. Virgil, the classical Roman poet, leads him through Hell, where Dante sees all the different ways that sinners are punished … Continue reading →

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I Capture the Castle, by Dodie Smith

Posted on February 24, 2011 by Thistle

Seventeen-year-old Cassandra lives in an old, broken-down castle with her family. They are very poor and live mostly off the charity of others, but their lives change when new neighbors move into their late landlord’s home next door. The book … Continue reading →

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Aurora Leigh, by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Posted on February 20, 2011 by Thistle

Note: This review will contain spoilers both for this book and for Jane Eyre. This epic poem tells the life of Aurora Leigh, whose parents died in her childhood and who was raised by her aunt. She is romantically pursued … Continue reading →

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Complete Stories, by Zora Neale Hurston

Posted on February 18, 2011 by Thistle

This is the third short story collection I’ve read for my personal short story project this year, and by far the best. The other two (by Nabokov and Chopin) have both been sort of middle of the road sorts of … Continue reading →

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Harry Potter et la Chambre des Secrets, by JK Rowling

Posted on February 17, 2011 by Thistle

The adventures continue for Harry and the gang, en français. Sigh. This was actually a pretty discouraging read, for two reasons. The first has to do with myself, the second with the translation. Reading this book, I realized something about … Continue reading →

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Orlando, by Virginia Woolf (audio)

Posted on February 16, 2011 by Thistle

I don’t even begin to know how to describe Orlando. On the surface, I suppose I could say this is about a person, Orlando, who lives for hundreds of years, from the 1500s to the early 1900s. Orlando begins life’s … Continue reading →

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Delirium, by Lauren Oliver

Posted on February 15, 2011 by Thistle

The world has changed. Love has been identified as a disease, and everyone receives the cure for it around their eighteenth birthday. Lena is nearly eighteen and very excited that she will finally be safe, until she meets Alex and … Continue reading →

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Mary, by Vladimir Nabokov

Posted on February 12, 2011 by Thistle

Ganin is a Russian ex-pat living in Germany in a boarding house with a bunch of other Russian ex-pats and exiles. One of his neighbors is particularly chatty and intrusive, which bothers Ganin until the man shows him a picture … Continue reading →

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The Woman Who Fell from the Sky, by Jennifer Steil

Posted on February 11, 2011 by Thistle

In the mid-2000s, Jennifer Steil agreed to teach a three-week course on proper journalism in Yemen. At the end of her time there, she was offered a year-long contract managing the newspaper, and after a few weeks of reflection back … Continue reading →

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