Tag Archives: POC

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, by Haruki Murakami (audio)

Posted on May 21, 2012 by Thistle

I’ve never read anything by Murakami before. He’s one of those authors that scares me, probably because a long time ago I heard a rumor about some sort of animal brutality in his book Kafka on the Shore. I’m not … Continue reading →

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Pavilion of Women, by Pearl S. Buck

Posted on May 15, 2012 by Thistle

As Madame Wu reaches her fortieth birthday, she makes a decision that will change the life of everyone in her multi-generational housing complex. She decides that she will retire from being a woman, and bring a concubine to live with … Continue reading →

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Cinder, by Marissa Meyer

Posted on January 20, 2012 by Thistle

Cinder is a retelling of Cinderella, set in future-world China on a background of cyborgs and plague and intergalactic politics. I’ll be short with this review. I wasn’t sure I would like this book. It seemed everyone was reading it, … Continue reading →

Posted in 2012, Prose, Young Adult | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Castle in the Air, by Diana Wynne Jones (audio)

Posted on January 16, 2012 by Thistle

In Zanzib, a city in a land south of Ingary, a carpet merchant named Abdullah dreams of meeting and falling in love with a princess. He buys a magic carpet from a stranger one day, and that night, finds himself … Continue reading →

Posted in 2012, Prose, Young Adult | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Readathon: The Name of the Star, by Maureen Johnson

Posted on October 22, 2011 by Thistle

I think I have found my new favorite Maureen Johnson book. Seriously, this book was fantastic. Johnson does everything right. She makes her characters believable and real without glamorizing them. She makes them feel like teenagers without belittling or stereotyping … Continue reading →

Posted in 2011, 2013, Prose, Young Adult | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Habibi, by Craig Thompson

Posted on October 9, 2011 by Thistle

This could have been a really nice story, with beautiful illustrations, all woven together very well. However, the cultural portrayals made me very uncomfortable, and I was very distracted by the constant vomiting and juvenile humor written/drawn throughout. I noticed a … Continue reading →

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Siddhartha, by Hermann Hesse

Posted on September 16, 2011 by Thistle

I have been terrified of Hermann Hesse for years. I’m not sure how I got the impression that he was difficult and dense to read, but I’ve avoided him. Next year, however, my book club is reading Siddhartha, so I … Continue reading →

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Silver Sparrow, by Tayari Jones

Posted on June 8, 2011 by Thistle

Dana and Chaurisse are two girls about the same age who share the same father, but this isn’t a normal half-sister sort of relationship. Chaurisse and her mother believe that they are living a normal, one-family life. Dana and her … Continue reading →

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Shooting Kabul, by NH Senzai

Posted on April 18, 2011 by Thistle

I have a difficult time reading children’s or middle-grade fiction because I recognize too many of the elements that go into writing them. Shooting Kabul was no different, and at first I struggled, but the story was so engaging that … Continue reading →

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Complete Stories, by William Somerset Maugham

Posted on March 22, 2011 by Thistle

I love Maugham and wanted to read his short stories as part of my short story project this year. I’ve since decided to give up the project and just finished reading the stories. There are quite a bit of them … Continue reading →

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