After receiving a mysterious letter from a notary who had been dead for six-months, Armand Gamache, the suspended head of the Sûreté du Québec arrives at a rundown farmhouse in a secluded area on a snowy evening. There Armand finds out that he along with Myrna Landers, his neighbour in Three Pines and Benedict Pouliot, […]
The Third Person is one of the shorter works in Ali Smith’s anthology, and I feel like it might be related two other stories – The Second Person and The First Person – which I’ll be reading later. The Third Person is written in an interesting format. It’s a bunch of different stories/ moments in […]
I’ve neglected the British Library Science Fiction Classics series ever since I read Moonrise, so now I’m trying to play catch-up. 😀 Lost Mars edited by Mike Ashley contains ten stories focusing on one of Earth’s planetary neighbors, and it’s an insightful read if you are interested in finding out how SciFi writers’ perceptions of […]
It is late at night in the middle of November when the story’s unnamed narrator tries to find some peace and quiet in a roadside pub. At this time of the day, only a barmaid and a man are hanging around the pub. The man is a shameless flirt trying to lure the barmaid who […]
I’m glad I chose Little Culinary Triumphs to start my new reading year. Set in Montmartre, it’s a stellar novel both well-written and absorbing! The story’s protagonist is Sandrine Cordier, a civil servant who loves cooking. Sandrine’s childhood dream had been to open up her own restaurant. But with two grandmothers who had spent their […]
Because I didn’t do so well with my 2018 reading goals, I’m glad to start off 2019 fresh with new resolutions! This year I want to keep my goals simple. My big plan is to read all of William Golding’s novels in 2019. William Golding is a new author to me – I haven’t even […]
Once again I came ahead of my goal this year. My plan was to read 52 books, and I managed to read 74! However, I didn’t do well with my any of my big reading projects. I wanted to read 12 Persephone Books, but I ended up reading only 4! Same goes to my Vintage […]
Next up in The First Person and Other Stories is The Child, and it is just as amusing as True Short Story! It begins at a Waitrose supermarket where the story’s unnamed narrator – a young woman – goes to do her weekly shopping during her lunch break. The most extraordinary thing happens to her […]
When I saved this anthology to be read on Christmas Eve, I could imagine myself sitting by the window, enjoying the snowfall, while indulging in some crime classics and a hot brew. Alas, Michiganders didn’t have a White Christmas this time around – in fact not a whiff of snow yet – nonetheless, this book […]
I’m on to my next short story collection, and this time my pick is The First Person and Other Stories by Ali Smith. In its first story, our narrator’s name is also Ali. Ali is at a cafe when she overhears two men at the next table talking about literature, and literature being a subject […]
I’ve been a big fan of Jonathan Franzen ever since I read Freedom back in 2012. I think some of you would know how stingy I am with book ratings. The number of books that have received 5 stars from me is less than two dozens, and Freedom is one such ‘rare’ books to make […]
Fatherland, the final story in The Refugees, recounts the meeting of two half-sisters for the first time in their lives. Phuong is twenty-three-years-old when her namesake, who has now taken the name Vivien, visits Vietnam from America. Vivien is the daughter Phuong’s father Mr Ly had with his first wife. After the fall of Saigon, […]
I adored this book as much as Sebastian Faulks’s recent novel Paris Echo! Now I’m ashamed to admit that this is the first time I read one of Tatiana de Rosnay’s novels too. I’m yet to read her renown novel Sarah’s Key – so I guess this will serve as another reminder that I haven’t […]
Thomas, the protagonist in Someone Else Besides You, the penultimate story in The Refugees is a divorced, second-generation Vietnamese American. Thomas’s ex-wife, Sam had wanted to have a child with Thomas. But when she couldn’t get Thomas to agree to it, she had gone her separate way, although they still loved each other. Thomas’s marriage […]
This year, for the first time in the Man Booker award history, a book of verse made it to the shortlist. Now I only read VERY little poetry – I can’t even remember the last time I read a poem – because it is usually a struggle for me. More often than not, I end […]
