Tag: recent history
Posted on February 17, 2021
by curlygeek04
5 Comments
You’ll have heard of this book because of the awards it won in 2020, including the Booker Prize. This story of a young boy growing up with an alcoholic mother in 1980s Glasgow is worth the read. It’s dark, but once I finished it,… Continue Reading “Review: Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart”
Category: Audiobook, Award winners, Contemporary Fiction, First Novels, Highly Recommended, New to Me AuthorTags: addiction, debut novel, dysfunctional family, LGBT, recent history, Scotland
Posted on June 6, 2020
by curlygeek04
1 Comment
I loved the first book by Knecht, Who is Vera Kelly? so I was very happy to receive a review copy of its sequel. These books combine a couple of things I really love – a complicated main character, a mystery, and the history… Continue Reading “Review: Vera Kelly is Not a Mystery by Rosalie Knecht”
Posted on March 25, 2019
by curlygeek04
2 Comments
The Great Believers was heartbreaking, but so good and very worth reading. I realize that reading a book about the AIDS crisis in the 80s isn’t a light read, but I feel like it’s really important to understand. It’s also a book for anyone… Continue Reading “Review: The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai”
Posted on February 9, 2019
by curlygeek04
1 Comment
I was recently in Chile and heard and saw a lot related to the Pinochet regime. We were told the country is still very divided amongst people who lived through that era. So S. R. Wilsher’s book, The Glass Diplomat, was particularly interesting. The… Continue Reading “Review: The Glass Diplomat by S. R. Wilsher”
Posted on May 5, 2018
by curlygeek04
3 Comments
This book wasn’t what I expected but I appreciated Stefanovic’s unique perspective. I especially liked that this book gave me a much better understanding of what happened in Serbia in the 1990’s, with a focus more on the politics of Slobodan Milosevic’s reign. I’ve… Continue Reading “Review of Miss Ex-Yugoslavia by Sofija Stefanovic”
Posted on November 24, 2017
by curlygeek04
13 Comments
I was excited to read this novel about Budapest by Jessica Keener. Annie and Will are a young American couple who take a leap of faith and move to Budapest with their infant child. Will has a business venture which he’s struggling to get… Continue Reading “Strangers in Budapest by Jessica Keener”
Posted on July 5, 2017
by curlygeek04
8 Comments
The Sympathizer is a first novel by Viet Thanh Nguyen, which won last year’s Pulitzer Prize for literature. It’s a fascinating look at the Vietnam War and its aftermath from the perspective of the Vietnamese. Right away it makes you realize how much Americans… Continue Reading “The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen”
Category: Award winners, Challenges, Diverse Reads, First Novels, Historical Fiction, New to Me AuthorTags: 20 Books of Summer, Diverse Reads, Reading Around the World, recent history, refugees, Vietnam War
Posted on June 5, 2017
by curlygeek04
5 Comments
I read this book for the Read Around the World challenge, where a specific country is selected for each month. May’s selection was Colombia. Vasquez is a noted author in Colombia, having won numerous awards, primarily for this novel and for The Informants. He… Continue Reading “The Sound of Things Falling by Juan Gabriel Vásquez”
Posted on May 26, 2017
by curlygeek04
3 Comments
This was a really interesting novel about a real-life serial killer in Scotland in the 1950’s. I say interesting because it wasn’t quite like anything else I’ve read. It’s not a mystery or a thriller, or a true crime novel. It’s a little closer… Continue Reading “The Long Drop by Denise Mina”
Posted on April 26, 2017
by curlygeek04
7 Comments
Part of my Reading All Around the World Challenge, this is a book written by a chef in the U.S. who was born in Iran. Café Leila tells the story of an Iranian family that experiences terrifying changes in the country after the revolution… Continue Reading “The Last Days of Café Leila by Donia Bijan”
Posted on October 27, 2016
by curlygeek04
6 Comments
I love T.C. Boyle because he takes really interesting true life events and people, and he always spins them into a fascinating story. I learn a ton from his books because he makes real events so memorable. At times he takes his characters a… Continue Reading “The Terranauts by T. C. Boyle”
Posted on April 13, 2015
by curlygeek04
2 Comments
I want to say I loved this book, but it was a little difficult for me to relate to, even though it’s well written and has important themes. Still, maybe this isn’t the kind of book you love. It’s more a book you read… Continue Reading “Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat”