Arab Crescent
February and March 2021: Reading Recap
Well, go figure. The first quarter of 2021 is already behind us, never mind that I’m still having to remind myself on occasion to write “2021” instead of “2020” … (and we’re even a week into April already, but let that go). Anyway, since I never got around to doing a “February in review” post, […]
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Zahra Hankir & Various Authors: Our Women on the Ground: Essays by Arab Women Reporting from the Arab World
One of the last books I read in the first quarter of 2021 was, at the same time, also one of my reading highlights to date — and next to the likes of Barack Obama, Kamala Harris, Zora Neale Hurston and Toni Morrison (as well as Agatha Christie’s multiple appearances in the area of mysteries), […]
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Agatha Christie: Death on the Nile (Kenneth Branagh audio)
24 Festive Tasks: Door 22 – Kwanzaa, Book: Read a book written by an author of African, African American or Caribbean descent or a book set in Africa or the Caribbean, or whose cover is primarily red, green or black, or with crops of the earth or a native African animal on the cover (lion, […]
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Books Read for School
24 Festive Tasks: Door 9 – World Philosophy Day, Task 4: Did you love or hate the books you had to read for school? Looking back, which ones (good or bad) stand out to you the most? By and large, I think it’s fairest to say “I didn’t mind” the books we read in […]
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An “Out of My Reach” Book Wishlist to St. Nick
24 Festive Tasks: Door 14 – St. Nicholas’ Day / Sinterklaas, Task 1: Write a book wish list to St. Nick / Santa Claus for books that you’ve been eyeing but can’t justify the expense of purchasing. (E.g., art books? Collector’s editions? Boxed sets?) Dear Saint Nick, it would be really nice if one […]
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2019: The Year’s Greatest Book Catches from my TBR
24 Festive Tasks: Door 12 – St. Andrew’s Day, Task 3: St. Andrew was a fisherman by trade: Which book(s) from your TBR that you read this year turned out to be the year’s greatest “catch”? Of my favorite reads of 2019, surprisingly few already were on my TBR at the beginning of the year, […]
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Books With Antonyms in Their Titles
24 Festive Tasks: Door 5 – Bon Om Touk, Task 4: The South Korean flag features images of ying / yang (the blue and red circle in the center) and four sets of three black lines each representing heaven, sun, moon and earth and, in turn, the virtues humanity, justice, intelligence and courtesy. Compile a […]
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Kofi Annan: Interventions: A Life in War and Peace
Mr. Annan was far and away the most influential and important Secretary General of the United Nations in its more recent history; his memoirs set forth with great passion and understanding how the experience of a lifetime, from growing up in post-WWII Ghana all the way to serving as Under-Secretary for Peacekeeping under Boutros Boutros-Ghali, […]
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Redeeming Renée Ahdieh’s “The Wrath and the Dawn”
24 Festive Tasks: Door 7 – International Day for Tolerance, Task 1: Find a redeeming quality in a book you read this year and didn’t like. I’ve never understood the rave reviews that this book is getting, but then, I’m not its target audience; and I suppose if you read it as a straight-up […]
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Halloween Bingo 2019 PreParty — Question for 08/03 (Day 3): Favorite Ghostly Tales?
As I said in my first pre-party post, I’m not much of a horror reader, and the ghost stories I like almost all either feature a ghost who is the author’s messenger for some larger point, or they’re chiefly characters who have had such an impact on another character’s life, or on […]
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BL-opoly: Robot Card for Square 17 (“Why?”)
Here’s my robot card selection: 1. Cary Elwes: As You Wish 2. Sarah Bakewell: At the Existentialist Café 3. Banine: Days in the Caucasus 4. Gertrude Bell: A Woman in Arabia 5. Nelson Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom 6. Helene Cooper: The House at Sugar Beach 7. Gerald Durrell: My Family and Other Animals 8. […]
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Renée Ahdieh: The Wrath and the Dawn
DNF @ 146 out of 432 pages …. and I’m out. This is insufferable. Granted, I’m not the target audience to begin with. But it’s not even the concept of “1001 Nights as a YA love story” that is putting me off the most, even though that does have at least something to do with […]
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BL-opoly: Dice Roll #21 & Scottie Dog: Please pick my next book!
Well, I’m not sure what I’ve just read (John Le Carré’s A Small Town in Germany certainly hasn’t aged very well, generally speaking, though in some parts it’s eerily prescient); anyway, having finished it, I’m allowed to roll again. This takes me to square 10: Beach Week — read a book that appears on any […]
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BL-opoly: Scottie Dog Selection (Square #9) — Please pick my next book!
Reblogged from: Themis-Athena’s Garden of Books Laura Restrepo: Hot Sur Laura Esquivel: Like Water for Chocolate Ann Leckie: The Raven Tower Renee Adieh: The Wrath and the Dawn UPDATED July 21: The votes are in: The Raven Tower it is. Original post: ThemisAthena.booklikes.com/post/1922170/bl-opoly-scottie-dog-selection-square-9-please-pick-my-next-book
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BL-opoly: Scottie Dog Selection (Square #9) — Please pick my next book!
Laura Restrepo: Hot Sur Laura Esquivel: Like Water for Chocolate Ann Leckie: The Raven Tower Renee Adieh: The Wrath and the Dawn Original post: ThemisAthena.booklikes.com/post/1921664/bl-opoly-scottie-dog-selection-square-9-please-pick-my-next-book
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More Favorite / Essential Historical Fiction: Towards the 200!
OK, so I did get to another full list after all. Here goes, without any further ado: Virginia Woolf: Orlando I’m happy I’m getting another shot for this book alone — could have kicked myself for leaving it off my first list. I’m not a big fan of either time travel or main character sex […]
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BL-opoly: Dice Roll #4
Moving on after Memorial Day: I move to square 23: The Cape-to-Cairo Railway — read a book set in Africa or by an author from an African country. Kofi Annan’s Interventions: A Life in War and Peace is by an African (Ghanaian) author and covers U.N. peacekeeping missions all over the world, including in several […]
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Summer Reading 2019
So, summer reading is shaping up as rather busy this year: First of all, there is Summer of Sherlock, for which my reading list is already as long as a whole year’s worth of reading would have been for me once upon a time. I’ll also be watching the two Rivals of Sherlock […]
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Agatha Christie: Death on the Nile (Buddy Read): Umm. So …
… I binged and finished this in one go yesterday. Is that a bad thing? I mean, it’s still a buddy read of sorts, isn’t it? Related Posts Death on the Nile Buddy Read (David Suchet Audio): Buddy Read Announcement Opening Post Death on the Nile: Kenneth Branagh Audio Version Murder on the […]
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Agatha Christie: Death on the Nile – Buddy Read, Reading Progress Update: 1%
… aaaand … they’re off. (Finally.) If only Mr. Suchet’s narration were to stay as lovely and engaging as it does in the beginning. Oh well. I’ll happily revisit this for his Poirot if for nothing else nevertheless. Related Posts Death on the Nile Buddy Read (David Suchet Audio): Buddy Read Announcement Second and […]
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