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Non Fiction, Review Shots |
It has been a while since we spoke about Non Fiction books here, hasn’t it? In the May’s edition of review shots I am going to talk about three different kinds of non fiction – a poetry from a new age poet that I love, a comic about us, and a world war II memoir. Did I pique your interest? So let us get started!
Disclaimer
Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for sharing a copy for review and it no way affected my unbiased and honest opinion.
Love Looks Pretty on You
Author: Lang Leav
Genre: Non Fiction – Poetry
No. of Pages: 224
I am sure Lang Leav is no stranger to any of us. And in her sixth book she has brought her magic back. I kept underlining her and highlighting so many of her lines, especially the ones about abuse in relationships and being a strong woman.
When my best friend told me
she was in love
my first thought was,
‘I hope he is good to her.’
And it suddenly occurred to me,
what I held in my heart for her
was hope, when it should
have been expectation.
I love that her prose/poetry has always been easy to read and relate. I have felt in her earlier works she talks a little too much about heartbreak and being in love for my taste, and there is nothing wrong about that and it is just me, not her. But she has proved herself as a matured writer in this one.
Final thought: Though monotonous at times, the author moved past from the heartbreaks to more mature subjects.
Recommended to: If you liked her previous works, this should be on your list as well
Book love
Author: Debbie Tung
Genre: Non Fiction – Comic
No. of Pages: 143
Have you ever thought about the crazy things that you been doing as a bookworm? Of course I would not blame you because I do them as well. And this book is for you. I can’t recommend this enough to anyone who loves books.
Book love kept me grinning throughout the book because it was all true. And it was as if someone took a peek into my life and just drew them but in a less clumsy way.
Though it would hardly take an hour to finish this one, I would suggest to go through this book slowly and enjoy taking a laugh at yourself.
Final thought: Catch yourself smiling at the quirky bookworm habits
Recommended to: Must read for book lovers!
The Zookeeper’s Wife
Author: Diane Ackerman
Genre: Non Fiction – Historical
No. of Pages: 368
I read The Zookeeper’s Wife for the A-Z reading challenge last year and I have no idea why I had not reviewed it until now, other than the fact that I forgot to. And there is a well known movie as well adapted from this historical drama.
The invasion of Germany into Poland and the consequent bombing affected not only the people but also the animals that were held in the Polish zoos. The zookeepers Jan and Antonina Zabinski save Jews by letting the stay in the empty cages. The Zookeeper’s wife follows the life of a ‘sorta’ family that socializes with ‘guests’ after the dark and caring for the animals during the day.
I love reading the Holocaust and WW II novels so I quickly jumped at the chance to read this one. But I didn’t enjoy it as much as I expected to. There were more interesting parts, like where Jan tries to help the prisoners escape than the zoo life at home.
Final thought: Interesting premise even if it is slow and dragging at places
Recommended to: History buffs.
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Let us talk
Have you read any of these books? Do you read poetry as much as you like to? What is your feedback ratio on Netgalley? Let us talk.
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Sunday Musings |
If I say that April flew fast, it is not an exaggeration. It just seems like it was just yesterday that I was planning for my birthday and it is already one month past the D-day. But April did bring in some fun and yes it is time for the April’19 Wrap up already.
I live in the middle east, if you didn’t already know, and we are getting ready for the holy season of Ramadan, which would be starting tomorrow.
During the month, most people here fast through the day. Most of the shops, stores, and eateries will have a different timing than usual, and some may be open all through the night. Even for outsiders like me this season is a big deal, especially since the normal working hours is reduced to six per day and there are lots of night bazaars and discount sales.
So there is more to look forward this month.
Quick April 19 updates
I celebrated my birthday on a cruise and though the food was nothing to write about, the view was amazing. And the highlight was that it started drizzling when we were out in the sea.
It was equally hilarious and exasperating because it rarely rains here, and when it does it is only to spoil my plans. Anyway, it was fun.
One of the highlights this month would be attending my first book club meet and it was so much fun. Read more about the meet up here.
I am surprisingly still continuing my evening runs, even if it is not daily. The rising temperature is not helping the matters and I kinda have to wait for it to turn dark before I could venture out.
What I read this month:
I did fairly well this month, even when I didn’t read much during the first two weeks of April. Four is not a bad number based on my past track records.
- Bell Jar, The by Sylvia Plath
- Truth or Beard by Penny Reid
- Murder of Roger Ackroyd, The by Agatha Christie
- Persuasion by Jane Austen
My monthly top picks
Working from home has a huge advantage when it comes to binging on Netflix. I know I sometimes abuse that freedom but hey as long as the work gets done, even if it is just at the nick of the time right?
So here is a list of my top pick of movies and TV series I watched in April’19
- Avengers – Endgame
- Avengers – Infinity war (rewatched before the epic finale)
- Meteor Garden – Chinese drama
- Boys over Flowers – Korean drama
- Cuckoo Season 4
- Lucifer – Season 2 (kinda giving up on it!)
On my blog
Here is a quick look on what I posted this week on my blog
Sunday Musings #45: One About The Book Club Meet And Catching Up On Movies
Monday Review: Ghachar Ghochar
Wednesday Tag: Seven things I like in a book
On Friday I posted this list of Book Covers That Made Me Question My Sanity – Part Two
I will be linking today’s post with Caffeinated reviewer’s Sunday post Meme.
Around the blogosphere
Let us talk about posts I loved from the blogging community last week now.
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Let us chat
How was your week and the month? What are your currently reading? Let us talk.
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Bookish talks |
If it were up to us, the bookworms, every book would have a great plot and well written. But sadly that is not the case! And we come across some not so great books often and a few even test our sanity.
Earlier, we came up with some books with ridiculous titles and insane book covers that made us wonder if the authors were being satirical. It has been a while since we had a laugh around here, so I am sharing the next edition of book covers that made me question my sanity.
Insane book covers I found recently
Burglary anyone? Don’t worry this book will teach how to do that effectively!
I didn’t think the unlocking was quite this literal
I don’t wanna say anything anymore!
Say what? Is it weird that I am genuinely curious now?
Whoa! What is this thing?
There are worse things to live with, don’t you agree?
This is definitely creepy. And also, we are talking about musical instruments right?
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Let us talk
How many of these covers caught your fancy? Have you come across such weird ones yourself? Did these make you
![Review shots: A comic, poetry and World War memoir]()
Quizzes & Tags |
Let us be honest. Not all books are equal nor do they all make us weep or laugh with them. They all tell us a story but yet not all of them become our favorites. Have you given a thought about what are the things that make us like a book?
I found this #7ThingsILikeInABook tag on the bookstagram and I thought I will give it a try in here. So let us do this and try to name seven things I like in a book.
7) Unexpected plot twists
I mean do I even talk about this? Give me a strong plot with enough twists that would keep me hooked for hours together. Sadly for me I can usually I smell the twists from miles away and it is becoming more and more difficult to be surprised.
If you know any books with unexpected twists, let me know in the comments section.
6) Witty banter and some humor
I am a snarky person myself and while I love that lengthy philosophical monologue, I can’t get enough of books that make me laugh out loudly. And some humorous banter among the character makes it all the more realistic and appealing right?
5) Sassy females
Anyone else like badass heroines? I recently read Truth or beard by Penny Reid and I realized what I have been missing for a while now. Maybe I don’t want women who renounce men or maybe I do. Maybe I want the clinically insane or I would read about the ones that cure them.
Whatever they are just make your woman interesting, strong (in their own way) and more importantly witty and sassy.
4) Strong friendship bonding
I love reading a story with a real friendship, even if it is on the villain side of the story. Be it a fun, quirky and light hearted like in The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson or the heart warming friendships that would last a life time.
Don’t you love it when these friends not only play a formidable sidekick but also put in some sense to the leads?
3) Multiple time lines
I guess I love my books complicated. I get all perked the minute I realize that there are various timelines in a book. A multigenerational family saga or a murder mystery, either way having more than a timeline to follow makes it merrier for me.
So go ahead, confuse me all you can with multiple time lines and point of views!
2) Unreliable narrators
I know I have talked about this so many times now, but I love unreliable narrators. I mean who wouldn’t like the risk of trusting the narrator too much, only to find out they have been misled all along? Okay, just me!
1) Flawed characters
Nobody is perfect and I would not want my fictitious characters to be too perfect, will I? I love the flawed and morally grey ones more so than anyone sane should.
Show me characters that suffer making their choices, that are devil’s advocates or maybe the ones that will do anything to save their asses off and I will be hooked to your book till the end.
I Tag:
So I am gonna tag
- Sahi @ My World of Books
- Charvi @ Not Just Fiction
- Dany @ Ambivert Words
- Nandini @ Unputdownable Books
- Charlotte from Wonderfully Bookish
- Carrie from Cat on the Bookshelf
- Kristina @ Books And Dachshunds
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Let us talk
Go on, tell me the things that make you not put the book down at all. Or yet better, consider yourself tagged and you want to give this tag a try and link it back to this post. Let us talk.
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Sunday Musings |
This week turned out quite interesting. I attended my first book club meeting in person on Tuesday. We spoke a lot about reading habits and obviously books we loved and hated.
You know the usual bookworm scenes. And then we conveniently forgot to discuss about the BOTM for March, The Woman in the Window.
What I read this week
Would you all judge me if I say I have been stuck up with a book for about 3 months now?
Yes, it is Persuasion by Jane Austen. In my defense, I promised myself that I will be hearing only the audio version and that is not definitely not my cup of tea. But I will finally complete it this week, just about 45 min or so pending.
Also I have been reading 1984 by George Orwell, another banned book which I hope to complete in a day or two.
What I watched this week
On Wednesday we caught up on the Avengers: Infinity War again to find out clues for the Avengers: Endgame on last time, before we watched the movie on Thursday. And needless to say, I loved the movie and felt it was worth all the hype and the wait.
And today I finally took the bait and started watching Game of Thrones. I know I am about eight years late but at least I don’t have to wait for each season like others had to. I can binge on it like I usually do. I think I like this way better.
On my blog
Sunday Musings #44: A Restful Week With A Lot Of ME Time
On Monday I reviewed The Woman In The Window by A J Finn
I will be linking today’s post with Caffeinated reviewer’s Sunday post Meme.
Around the blogosphere
- Have you been procrastinating writing reviews on your blog? Dani from Perspective of a writer wrote a post on helping you tackle that problem.
- Trang from Bookidote talks about Instagram pods and why she avoids them. What is your take on pods and do you like being a part of it?
- I am addicted to exclamation points to the extent that I am not sure if I am even using them at the right places. Nicole opened up a discussion on her blog and needless to say that we are everywhere!!
- If you are looking to read YA books by international authors Pages Unbound just compiled a list on their blog.
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Let us chat
So that is it for this week. Let me hear what are your plans for your weekend. What have you been reading? What did you watch? How did you like the Endgame movie? Let us talk.
