en-US Sat, 05 Apr 2025 06:05:57 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 275 117 Marguerite Duras Mishma 4 3.79 1984
author: Marguerite Duras
name: Mishma
average rating: 3.79
book published: 1984
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/04
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: favourites, literary-fiction, novellas, translation
review:

]]> 153853 Peter Pan is edited with an introduction by Jack Zipes in Penguin Classics.

When Peter Pan and his fairy companion Tinker Bell fly in through the window of Wendy's nursery one night, it is the beginning of an adventure that whisks Wendy and her brothers Michael and John off to Neverland. There they will find mermaids, fairies, pirates led by the sinister Captain Hook, and the crocodile who bit off his leg - and still pursues him in hope of the rest! Peter Pan originally appeared as a baby living a magical life among birds and fairies in J.M. Barrie's sequence of stories, Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens. His adventures capture the spirit of childhood - and of rebellion against the role of adulthood in conventional society.

This edition includes the novel and the stories, and reproduces the original illustrations by Francis Donkin Bedford and Arthur Rackham. In his introduction, Jack Zipes sifts through the psychological interpretations that have engaged critics, explores the cultural and literary contexts in which we can appreciate Barrie's enduring creation, and shows why Peter Pan is fundamentally a work that urges adults to reconnect with their own imagination.]]> 234 J.M. Barrie 014243793X Mishma 0 3.85 2005
author: J.M. Barrie
name: Mishma
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2005
rating: 0
read at: 2019/04/01
date added: 2025/02/16
shelves: read-for-class, fantasy, middle-grade
review:

]]> 30091914 A riveting, poetic, and fearless portrait of political unrest and the universal struggle for justice by the acclaimed author of The Vegetarian.

In the midst of a violent student uprising in South Korea, a young boy named Dong-ho is shockingly killed.

The story of this tragic episode unfolds in a sequence of interconnected chapters as the victims and the bereaved encounter suppression, denial, and the echoing agony of the massacre. From Dong-ho’s best friend, who meets his own fateful end, to an editor struggling against censorship; to a prisoner and a factory worker, both suffering from traumatic memories; and to Dong-ho's own grief-stricken mother, their collective heartbreak and acts of hope tell the tale of a brutalized people in search of a voice.

An award-winning, controversial bestseller, Human Acts is a timeless, pointillist portrait of a historic event with reverberations still being felt today, by turns tracing the harsh reality of oppression and the resounding, extraordinary poetry of humanity.]]> 218 Han Kang 1101906723 Mishma 0 to-read 4.26 2014
author: Han Kang
name: Mishma
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 38318462
As you follow her story from forest to habitation, independence to motherhood, you recognise in its significant moments the depth and magnitude of your own fears and longings, fuelled by the instinct for survival that animates all life. Masterly and nuanced, Perumal Murugan’s tale forces us reflect on our own responses to hierarchy and ownership, selflessness and appetite, love and desire, living and dying. Poonachi is the story of a goat who carries the burden of being different all her life, of a she-goat who survives against the odds. It is equally an expression of solidarity with the animal world and the female condition. The tale is also a commentary on our times, on the choices we make as a society and a nation, and the increasing vulnerability of individuals, particularly writers and artists, who resist when they are pressed to submit.

Reviews for Poonachi

“Murugan’s sarcasm speaks of the robustness of his spirit �� As in all his novels, (his) story is rich in detail �� (He) sustains the narrative tension right from the start.��- Elizabeth Kuruvilla, The Hindu Literary Review]]> 179 Perumal Murugan Mishma 4 4.11 2018
author: Perumal Murugan
name: Mishma
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/10
date added: 2025/01/11
shelves: south-asian, literary-fiction, translation, novellas, asian-authors
review:
Don't mind me, just sobbing over a goat
]]> 39890002 We Need New Names with the mythmaking of One Thousand and One Nights.

Twelve-year-old Marwand’s memories from his previous visit to Afghanistan six years ago center on his contentious relationship with Budabash, the terrifying but beloved dog who guards his extended family’s compound in Logar. Eager to find an ally in this place that’s meant to be “home,�� Marwand approaches Budabash the way he would any dog on his American suburban block—and the results are disastrous: Marwand loses a finger and Budabash escapes.

The resulting search for the family dog is an expertly told adventure, a ninety-nine-night quest that sends Marwand and his cousins across the landscape of Logar. Moving between celebrations and tragedies, deeply humorous and surprisingly tender, 99 Nights in Logar is a vibrant exploration of the power of stories—the ones we tell each other, and the ones we find ourselves in.]]> 288 Jamil Jan Kochai 0525559191 Mishma 0 to-read 3.41 2019
author: Jamil Jan Kochai
name: Mishma
average rating: 3.41
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 89723 The Lottery, one of the most terrifying stories written in this century, created a sensation when it was first published in The New Yorker. "Power and haunting," and "nights of unrest" were typical reader responses. This collection, the only one to appear during Shirley Jackson's lifetime, unites "The Lottery:" with twenty-four equally unusual stories. Together they demonstrate Jackson's remarkable range--from the hilarious to the truly horrible--and power as a storyteller.]]> 302 Shirley Jackson 0374529531 Mishma 0 to-read, wishlist 4.05 1949
author: Shirley Jackson
name: Mishma
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1949
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/07
shelves: to-read, wishlist
review:

]]> 89717 182 Shirley Jackson 0143039989 Mishma 4 3.85 1959
author: Shirley Jackson
name: Mishma
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1959
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/25
date added: 2024/12/28
shelves: horror-and-gothic, read-for-class
review:

]]> 12948
A very young woman's first job: governess for two weirdly beautiful, strangely distant, oddly silent children, Miles and Flora, at a forlorn estate... An estate haunted by a beckoning evil. Half-seen figures who glare from dark towers and dusty windows- silent, foul phantoms who, day by day, night by night, come closer, ever closer. With growing horror, the helpless governess realizes the fiendish creatures want the children, seeking to corrupt their bodies, possess their minds, own their souls. But worse-much worse- the governess discovers that Miles and Flora have no terror of the lurking evil. For they want the walking dead as badly as the dead want them.

Excerpt:
I remember the whole beginning as a succession of flights and drops, a little seesaw of the right throbs and the wrong. After rising, in town, to meet his appeal, I had at all events a couple of very bad days - found myself doubtful again, felt indeed sure I had made a mistake. In this state of mind I spent the long hours of bumping, swinging coach that carried me to the stopping place at which I was to be met by a vehicle from the house.]]> 121 Henry James 0140620613 Mishma 0 horror-and-gothic 3.42 1898
author: Henry James
name: Mishma
average rating: 3.42
book published: 1898
rating: 0
read at: 2024/09/11
date added: 2024/12/28
shelves: horror-and-gothic
review:

]]> 76507 The Emigrants appears simply to document the lives of four Jewish émigrés in the twentieth century. But gradually, as Sebald's precise, almost dreamlike prose begins to draw their stories, the four narrations merge into one overwhelming evocation of exile and loss.

Written with a bone-dry sense of humour and a fascination with the oddness of existence The Emigrants is highly original in its heady mix of fact, memory and fiction and photographs.]]> 237 W.G. Sebald 0099448882 Mishma 0 4.20 1992
author: W.G. Sebald
name: Mishma
average rating: 4.20
book published: 1992
rating: 0
read at: 2024/10/24
date added: 2024/12/28
shelves: literary-fiction, read-for-class
review:

]]> 112801 Old Masters (subtitled A Comedy) is a novel by the Austrian writer Thomas Bernhard, which was first published in 1985. It tells of the life and opinions of Reger, a ‘musical philosopher��, through the voice of his acquaintance Atzbacher, a ‘private academic��.

The book is set in Vienna on one day around the year of its publication, 1985. Reger is an 82-year-old music critic who writes pieces for The Times. For over thirty years he has sat on the same bench in front of Tintoretto’s White-bearded Man in the Bordone Room of the Kunsthistorisches Museum for four or five hours of the morning of every second day. He finds this environment the one in which he can do his best thinking. He is aided in this habit by the gallery attendant Irrsigler, who prevents other visitors from using the bench when Reger requires it.]]> 156 Thomas Bernhard 0226043916 Mishma 0 4.17 1985
author: Thomas Bernhard
name: Mishma
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1985
rating: 0
read at: 2024/10/03
date added: 2024/12/28
shelves: read-for-class, literary-fiction
review:

]]> 2524055 In this globe-scattered Sri Lankan family, we speak of only two kinds of marriage. The first is the arranged marriage. The second is the love marriage. In reality, there is a whole spectrum in between, but most of us spend years running away from the first toward the second.

The daughter of Sri Lankan immigrants who left their collapsing country and married in America, Yalini finds herself caught between the traditions of her ancestors and the lure of her own modern world. But when she is summoned to Toronto to help care for her dying uncle, Kumaran, a former member of the militant Tamil Tigers, Yalini is forced to see that violence is not a relic of the Sri Lankan past, but very much a part of her Western present.

While Kumaran’s loved ones gather around him to say goodbye, Yalini traces her family’s roots—and the conflicts facing them as ethnic Tamils—through a series of marriages. Now, as Kumaran’s death and his daughter’s politically motivated nuptials edge closer, Yalini must decide where she stands.

Lyrical and innovative, V. V. Ganeshananthan’s novel brilliantly unfolds how generations of struggle both form and fractures families.]]> 302 V.V. Ganeshananthan 1400066697 Mishma 0 to-read 3.52 2008
author: V.V. Ganeshananthan
name: Mishma
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 15745474 நாவல�� என்பதை மிகஉறுதியா�� சொல்லமுடியும��.]]> C.S. Chellappa Mishma 0 to-read 4.24 1959
author: C.S. Chellappa
name: Mishma
average rating: 4.24
book published: 1959
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 11100788
In prose that veers between the comic and tragic, the self-contemptuous and the inspired, Leaving the Atocha Station is a portrait of the artist as a young man in an age of Google searches, pharmaceuticals, and spectacle.]]> 181 Ben Lerner Mishma 4 wishlist, literary-fiction he's just like me 3.81 2011
author: Ben Lerner
name: Mishma
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/27
date added: 2024/12/27
shelves: wishlist, literary-fiction
review:
he's just like me
]]> 55145261 A deeply moving and mind-expanding collection of personal essays in the first ever work of non-fiction from #1 internationally bestselling author John Green

The Anthropocene is the current geological age, in which human activity has profoundly shaped the planet and its biodiversity. In this remarkable symphony of essays adapted and expanded from his ground-breaking, critically acclaimed podcast, John Green reviews different facets of the human-centered planet - from the QWERTY keyboard and Halley's Comet to Penguins of Madagascar - on a five-star scale.

Complex and rich with detail, the Anthropocene's reviews have been praised as 'observations that double as exercises in memoiristic empathy', with over 10 million lifetime downloads. John Green's gift for storytelling shines throughout this artfully curated collection about the shared human experience; it includes beloved essays along with six all-new pieces exclusive to the book.]]> 304 John Green 0525555218 Mishma 4 audiobook, non-fiction 4.37 2021
author: John Green
name: Mishma
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2022/04/23
date added: 2024/12/27
shelves: audiobook, non-fiction
review:

]]> 48615751
As a child, Nezhukumatathil called many places home: the grounds of a Kansas mental institution, where her Filipina mother was a doctor; the open skies and tall mountains of Arizona, where she hiked with her Indian father; and the chillier climes of western New York and Ohio. But no matter where she was transplanted--no matter how awkward the fit or forbidding the landscape--she was able to turn to our world's fierce and funny creatures for guidance.

"What the peacock can do," she tells us, "is remind you of a home you will run away from and run back to all your life." The axolotl teaches us to smile, even in the face of unkindness; the touch-me-not plant shows us how to shake off unwanted advances; the narwhal demonstrates how to survive in hostile environments. Even in the strange and the unlovely, Nezhukumatathil finds beauty and kinship. For it is this way with wonder: it requires that we are curious enough to look past the distractions in order to fully appreciate the world's gifts.

Warm, lyrical, and gorgeously illustrated by Fumi Nakamura, World of Wonders is a book of sustenance and joy.]]> 165 Aimee Nezhukumatathil 1571313656 Mishma 0 4.05 2020
author: Aimee Nezhukumatathil
name: Mishma
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at: 2024/12/25
date added: 2024/12/26
shelves: essay-collections, audiobook, non-fiction, south-asian
review:
i love aimee's poetry and was excited to read these but god those nature analogies were so far fetched and obtuse I could not get through this
]]> 26883558
Charles Thomas Tester hustles to put food on the table, keep the roof over his father's head, from Harlem to Flushing Meadows to Red Hook. He knows what magic a suit can cast, the invisibility a guitar case can provide, and the curse written on his skin that attracts the eye of wealthy white folks and their cops. But when he delivers an occult tome to a reclusive sorceress in the heart of Queens, Tom opens a door to a deeper realm of magic and earns the attention of things best left sleeping.

A storm that might swallow the world is building in Brooklyn. Will Black Tom live to see it break?]]> 149 Victor LaValle 0765387867 Mishma 0 3.81 2016
author: Victor LaValle
name: Mishma
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at: 2024/12/11
date added: 2024/12/26
shelves: historical-fiction, horror-and-gothic
review:

]]> 8526694
But it is not only a physical landscape he covers; Julius crisscrosses social territory as well, encountering people from different cultures and classes who will provide insight on his journey—which takes him to Brussels, to the Nigeria of his youth, and into the most unrecognizable facets of his own soul.]]> 259 Teju Cole 1400068096 Mishma 0 3.50 2011
author: Teju Cole
name: Mishma
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at: 2024/12/12
date added: 2024/12/26
shelves: literary-fiction, read-for-class
review:

]]> 40961543
Changez is living an immigrant's dream of America. At the top of his class at Princeton, he is snapped up by an elite valuation firm. He thrives on the energy of New York, and his budding romance with elegant, beautiful Erica promises entry into Manhattan society at the same exalted level once occupied by his own family back in Lahore.

But in the wake of September 11, Changez finds his position in his adopted city suddenly overturned, and his relationship with Erica shifting. And Changez's own identity is in seismic shift as well, unearthing allegiances more fundamental than money, power, and maybe even love.]]> 228 Mohsin Hamid Mishma 0 literary-fiction, south-asian 3.79 2007
author: Mohsin Hamid
name: Mishma
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at: 2024/12/21
date added: 2024/12/26
shelves: literary-fiction, south-asian
review:

]]> 49090884
His wife has left him, his father is sinking into dementia, and Marcos tries not to think too hard about how he makes a living. After all, it happened so quickly. First, it was reported that an infectious virus has made all animal meat poisonous to humans. Then governments initiated the “Transition.�� Now, eating human meat—“special meat”—is legal. Marcos tries to stick to numbers, consignments, processing.

Then one day he’s given a a live specimen of the finest quality. Though he’s aware that any form of personal contact is forbidden on pain of death, little by little he starts to treat her like a human being. And soon, he becomes tortured by what has been lost—and what might still be saved.]]> 209 Agustina Bazterrica 1982150920 Mishma 0 to-read 3.76 2017
author: Agustina Bazterrica
name: Mishma
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 8407189
In nine essays, Following Fish conducts rich journalistic investigations: among others, of the famed fish treatment for asthmatics in Hyderabad; of the preparation and the process of eating West Bengal's prized hilsa; of the ancient art of building fishing boats in Gujarat; of the fiery cuisine and the singular spirit of Kerala's toddy shops; of the food and the lives of Mumbai's first peoples; of the history of an old Catholic fishing community in Tamil Nadu; of the hunt for the world's fastest fish near Goa.

Throughout his travels, Subramanian observes the cosmopolitanism and diverse influences absorbed by India's coastal cities, the wthdrawing of traditional fishermen from their craft, the corresponding growth of fishing as pure and voluminous commerce, and the degradation of waters and beaches from over-fishing.

Pulsating with pleasure, adventure and discovery, and tempered by nostalgia and loss, Following Fish speaks as eloquently to the armchair traveller as to lovers of the sea and its lore.]]> 184 Samanth Subramanian 0143064479 Mishma 0 to-read 3.94 2010
author: Samanth Subramanian
name: Mishma
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 62069739
Shortlisted for the 2021 International Booker Prize and the 2021 National Book Award for Translated Literature

A fictional examination of the lives of real-life scientists and thinkers whose discoveries resulted in moral consequences beyond their imagining.

When We Cease to Understand the World is a book about the complicated links between scientific and mathematical discovery, madness, and destruction. 

Fritz Haber, Alexander Grothendieck, Werner Heisenberg, Erwin Schrödinger—these are some of luminaries into whose troubled lives Benjamín Labatut thrusts the reader, showing us how they grappled with the most profound questions of existence. They have strokes of unparalleled genius, alienate friends and lovers, descend into isolation and insanity. Some of their discoveries reshape human life for the better; others pave the way to chaos and unimaginable suffering. The lines are never clear.

At a breakneck pace and with a wealth of disturbing detail, Labatut uses the imaginative resources of fiction to tell the stories of the scientists and mathematicians who expanded our notions of the possible.]]> 193 Benjamín Labatut Mishma 4 4.10 2020
author: Benjamín Labatut
name: Mishma
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/21
date added: 2024/11/29
shelves: non-fiction, literary-fiction, read-for-class, wishlist
review:

]]> 52045757 Minor Detail begins during the summer of 1949, one year after the war that the Palestinians mourn as the Nakba �� the catastrophe that led to the displacement and expulsion of more than 700,000 people �� and the Israelis celebrate as the War of Independence. Israeli soldiers capture and rape a young Palestinian woman, and kill and bury her in the sand. Many years later, a woman in Ramallah becomes fascinated to the point of obsession with this ‘minor detail�� of history. A haunting meditation on war, violence and memory, Minor Detail cuts to the heart of the Palestinian experience of dispossession, life under occupation, and the persistent difficulty of piecing together a narrative in the face of ongoing erasure and disempowerment.]]> 144 Adania Shibli 191309717X Mishma 4 literary-fiction, novellas 4.27 2017
author: Adania Shibli
name: Mishma
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/27
date added: 2024/11/29
shelves: literary-fiction, novellas
review:

]]> 26889792 ��𱹳ܱ������Dz���was first published in 1997 and earned its author death threats. Roberto Bolano called ��𱹳ܱ������Dz���Castellanos Moya’s darkest book and perhaps his best: “A parody of certain works by Bernhard and the kind of book that makes you laugh out loud.”]]> 128 Horacio Castellanos Moya 0811225399 Mishma 0 3.88 1996
author: Horacio Castellanos Moya
name: Mishma
average rating: 3.88
book published: 1996
rating: 0
read at: 2024/09/26
date added: 2024/10/04
shelves: literary-fiction, read-for-class
review:

]]> 92576
"Mr. Bernhard's portrait of a society in dissolution has a Scandinavian darkness reminiscent of Ibsen and Strindberg, but it is filtered through with a minimalist prose. . . . Woodcutters offers an unusually strange, intense, engrossing literary experience."—Mark Anderson, New York Times Book Review

"Musical, dramatic and set in Vienna, Woodcutters. . . .resembles a Strauss operetta with a libretto by Beckett."—Joseph Costes, Chicago Tribune

"Thomas Bernhard, the great pessimist-rhapsodist of German literature . . . never compromises, never makes peace with life. . . . Only in the pure, fierce isolation of his art can he get justice."—Michael Feingold, Village Voice

"In typical Bernhardian fashion the narrator is moved by hatred and affection for a society that he believes destroys the very artistic genius it purports to glorify. A superb translation."��Library Journal]]> 188 Thomas Bernhard 0226043967 Mishma 4 4.23 1984
author: Thomas Bernhard
name: Mishma
average rating: 4.23
book published: 1984
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/17
date added: 2024/10/04
shelves: literary-fiction, favourites, read-for-class
review:
surprised myself by how much i loved this
]]> 92570
One of Bernhard's most acclaimed novels, The Loser centers on a fictional relationship between piano virtuoso Glenn Gould and two of his fellow students who feel compelled to renounce their musical ambitions in the face of Gould's incomparable genius. One commits suicide, while the other—the obsessive, witty, and self-mocking narrator—has retreated into obscurity. Written as a monologue in one remarkable unbroken paragraph, The Loser is a brilliant meditation on success, failure, genius, and fame.]]> 208 Thomas Bernhard 1400077540 Mishma 0 4.10 1983
author: Thomas Bernhard
name: Mishma
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1983
rating: 0
read at: 2024/09/05
date added: 2024/10/04
shelves: read-for-class, literary-fiction
review:

]]> 10148742 305 Alyxandra Harvey 0802722563 Mishma 4
The blurb is probably the only thing that made me read it after much hesitation.Quinn is a Drake brother I love,the well loved bad boy type.And pairing him with a vampire hunter?Now that sounds interesting.

Just when I was into a few pages,I realized this.I am going to love this.Even though Blood Fued had the alternate pov thing,it didn't grab me since I was pretty much annoyed with it.But here,the alternate pov worked very well.Both the main characters are someone I loved,so it made the book so interesting to read.

Speaking of,I have to mention how much I loved Quinn and Hunter.Just like I told before,I couldn't help but love Quinn,since I always have a soft spot to douchebags.His pov is one I loved so much,especially when he talks about his feelings towards Hunter.When bad boys turn sweet,there's nothing more romantic than that.

Hunter lives up to her name.I mean,who names their kid,Hunter?Only a Helios Ra agent,I guess.She was so wonderful,and it was a relief to read about someone like that especially after the disappointment Isabeau was.

I can't say that Hunter and Quinn surpassed Lucy and Nicholas,but they come in a close second.But bookwise I have to say that I love Out for Blood more.It had action that was completely different from the first two,which was refreshing.In one sentence Out For Blood is my favourite Drake Chronicles book. ]]> 4.18 2010
author: Alyxandra Harvey
name: Mishma
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2010
rating: 4
read at: 2013/02/27
date added: 2024/09/28
shelves: young-adult, paranormal-urban-fantasy
review:
Reading Out for Blood,was a really tough decision to make.Even though I love this series and the whole Drake family,the second book,Blood Feud kind of reduced the love I had for the series.So long story short,I wasn't at all eager to read this book.

The blurb is probably the only thing that made me read it after much hesitation.Quinn is a Drake brother I love,the well loved bad boy type.And pairing him with a vampire hunter?Now that sounds interesting.

Just when I was into a few pages,I realized this.I am going to love this.Even though Blood Fued had the alternate pov thing,it didn't grab me since I was pretty much annoyed with it.But here,the alternate pov worked very well.Both the main characters are someone I loved,so it made the book so interesting to read.

Speaking of,I have to mention how much I loved Quinn and Hunter.Just like I told before,I couldn't help but love Quinn,since I always have a soft spot to douchebags.His pov is one I loved so much,especially when he talks about his feelings towards Hunter.When bad boys turn sweet,there's nothing more romantic than that.

Hunter lives up to her name.I mean,who names their kid,Hunter?Only a Helios Ra agent,I guess.She was so wonderful,and it was a relief to read about someone like that especially after the disappointment Isabeau was.

I can't say that Hunter and Quinn surpassed Lucy and Nicholas,but they come in a close second.But bookwise I have to say that I love Out for Blood more.It had action that was completely different from the first two,which was refreshing.In one sentence Out For Blood is my favourite Drake Chronicles book.
]]> 24835769 Finding love is hard, even when you aren't a mutant.

Like most seventeen-year-olds, Piper Dunn wants to blend in with the crowd. Having a blowhole is a definite handicap. A product of a lab-engineered mother with dolphin DNA, Piper spends her school days hiding her brilliant ocean-colored eyes and sea siren voice behind baggy clothing and ugly glasses. When Tyler, the new boy in school, zeroes in on her, ignoring every other girl vying for his attention, no one, including Piper, understands why...

Then Piper is captured on one of her secret missions rescuing endangered sea creatures and ends up in the same test center where her mother was engineered. There she discovers she isn't the only one of her kind. Joel is someone she doesn't have to hide from, and she finds herself drawn to the dolph-boy who shares her secrets. Talking to him is almost as easy as escaping from the lab. Deciding which boy has captured her heart is another story...]]> 188 Sandra Cox 1616506067 Mishma 2 young-adult
I wasn't expecting anything great when I went for this book.The book had a cheesy cover and title,a pretty stereotypical blurb with an overused concept.But even without any expectations I was thoroughly disappointed by this book.

Well to point out the good things about the book,I'd like to mention the whole unique dolphin gene concept.The MC wasn't a paranormal character,rather she was the daughter of an escaped lab rat,who was created with dolphin DNA.I found the concept interesting.

Other than that,if you are looking for a quick and easy read,then this book might appeal to you.Unfortunately,it's not my cup of tea,as I like my books with more depth.

The main problem I had with the book was its characters.Both the lead characters were not at all likeable,atleast to me.

Our MC-Piper-is a gorgeous girl with a musical voice,who's trying to hide herself in baggy clothes and nerd glasses in fear of getting caught and live as a lab rat.What I really hated about her is how she complained constantly about her disguise.She was repeatedly whining about how those clothes and glasses were unattractive.I found it insulting.Well,come on,I myself wear glasses and find comfort in wearing baggy clothes.And according to Piper,that makes me unattractive and undesirable.

Not only she was vain,she was also blaming the nerd look for her unpopularity and people being uninterested in her.
I thought it was stupid.
I mean,come on,you don't need to be gorgeous and desirable for people to like you.
If so,then girls like me would be friendless forever.

The hero was actually a stalker.He was hot-okay I admit it-but that doesn't make up for the fact that he was too nosy and wanted to know Piper's secrets even when she didn't want to tell him.He was constantly nagging her and following her everywhere,determined to know what she's hiding.Seriously,dude?

And the love triangle that's hinted at the blurb?It was not a love triangle at all.Thank God for that.The other guy-Joel-was only introduced by the end of the book,and left in a few pages.I personally think that he was only added to the blurb to make the book sound more interesting.

Overall,it's an okay story with horrible characters.I won't recommend it to anyone,especially for fellow nerds-who'll find this book and its MC terribly insulting,]]> 3.51 2015
author: Sandra Cox
name: Mishma
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2015
rating: 2
read at: 2014/12/27
date added: 2024/09/27
shelves: young-adult
review:
A copy was provided by the publisher via netgalley in exchange of a honest review

I wasn't expecting anything great when I went for this book.The book had a cheesy cover and title,a pretty stereotypical blurb with an overused concept.But even without any expectations I was thoroughly disappointed by this book.

Well to point out the good things about the book,I'd like to mention the whole unique dolphin gene concept.The MC wasn't a paranormal character,rather she was the daughter of an escaped lab rat,who was created with dolphin DNA.I found the concept interesting.

Other than that,if you are looking for a quick and easy read,then this book might appeal to you.Unfortunately,it's not my cup of tea,as I like my books with more depth.

The main problem I had with the book was its characters.Both the lead characters were not at all likeable,atleast to me.

Our MC-Piper-is a gorgeous girl with a musical voice,who's trying to hide herself in baggy clothes and nerd glasses in fear of getting caught and live as a lab rat.What I really hated about her is how she complained constantly about her disguise.She was repeatedly whining about how those clothes and glasses were unattractive.I found it insulting.Well,come on,I myself wear glasses and find comfort in wearing baggy clothes.And according to Piper,that makes me unattractive and undesirable.

Not only she was vain,she was also blaming the nerd look for her unpopularity and people being uninterested in her.
I thought it was stupid.
I mean,come on,you don't need to be gorgeous and desirable for people to like you.
If so,then girls like me would be friendless forever.

The hero was actually a stalker.He was hot-okay I admit it-but that doesn't make up for the fact that he was too nosy and wanted to know Piper's secrets even when she didn't want to tell him.He was constantly nagging her and following her everywhere,determined to know what she's hiding.Seriously,dude?

And the love triangle that's hinted at the blurb?It was not a love triangle at all.Thank God for that.The other guy-Joel-was only introduced by the end of the book,and left in a few pages.I personally think that he was only added to the blurb to make the book sound more interesting.

Overall,it's an okay story with horrible characters.I won't recommend it to anyone,especially for fellow nerds-who'll find this book and its MC terribly insulting,
]]> 8932146 242 Alyxandra Harvey 0802721877 Mishma 4
Unlike many other stories this one had two heroines.And don't worry,they have their own separate matches.It's a relief that it didn't have a love triangle.Now back to the point,having two heroines was both a good thing and a bad one.The good thing was that it helped knowing the story and situations better.But at the same time,it seemed difficult to relate to both of them,and in my case it was difficult for me to relate to Solange.

I liked both of the heroines.I like the way both Lucy and Solange was amazing in their own unique way.The same goes the Nicholas and Kierran.Still I preferred Nicholas and Lucy.

I loved Solange's family.It was like the Weasleys meeting the Cullens.I loved the protective father,kick ass mother,amazing brothers and wonderful sister.Addition to that is the two things they call as watch dogs.

Even though there wasn't much,I loves the romance.Both the romances were so different from each other,yet so beautiful.

And that was what I'll call an ending.It was so satisfying and the book was perfect because of it.I really enjoyed Hearts at Stake and I am looking forward to read the sequels.

]]> 3.91 2009
author: Alyxandra Harvey
name: Mishma
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2009
rating: 4
read at: 2013/01/22
date added: 2024/09/21
shelves: young-adult, paranormal-urban-fantasy
review:
If I put Hearts at Stake in just a few words,it's 'one of the best take in vampires.After encountering different types of vampires:deadly beautiful ones,weak ones needing protection,strong ones giving protection,out typical knights in shining armor and even 'sparkling ones,I've nearly been fed up with vampires.Reading this book was like taking a fresh take in them

Unlike many other stories this one had two heroines.And don't worry,they have their own separate matches.It's a relief that it didn't have a love triangle.Now back to the point,having two heroines was both a good thing and a bad one.The good thing was that it helped knowing the story and situations better.But at the same time,it seemed difficult to relate to both of them,and in my case it was difficult for me to relate to Solange.

I liked both of the heroines.I like the way both Lucy and Solange was amazing in their own unique way.The same goes the Nicholas and Kierran.Still I preferred Nicholas and Lucy.

I loved Solange's family.It was like the Weasleys meeting the Cullens.I loved the protective father,kick ass mother,amazing brothers and wonderful sister.Addition to that is the two things they call as watch dogs.

Even though there wasn't much,I loves the romance.Both the romances were so different from each other,yet so beautiful.

And that was what I'll call an ending.It was so satisfying and the book was perfect because of it.I really enjoyed Hearts at Stake and I am looking forward to read the sequels.


]]> 165940202
Bound in an unwanted marriage, Freya spends her days gutting fish, but dreams of becoming a warrior. And of putting an axe in her boorish husband’s back.

Freya’s dreams abruptly become reality when her husband betrays her to the region’s jarl, landing her in a fight to the death against his son, Bjorn. To survive, Freya is forced to reveal her deepest secret: She possesses a drop of a goddess’s blood, which makes her a shield maiden with magic capable of repelling any attack. It was foretold such a magic would unite the fractured nation of Skaland beneath the one who controls the shield maiden’s fate.

Believing he’s destined to rule Skaland as king, the fanatical jarl binds Freya with a blood oath and orders Bjorn to protect her from their enemies. Desperate to prove her strength, Freya must train to fight and learn to control her magic, all while facing perilous tests set by the gods. The greatest test of all, however, may be resisting her forbidden attraction to Bjorn. If Freya succumbs to her lust for the charming and fierce warrior, she risks not only her own destiny but the fate of all the people she swore to protect.]]> 419 Danielle L. Jensen 0593599837 Mishma 0 to-read 3.91 2024
author: Danielle L. Jensen
name: Mishma
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 65214365
Long ago, the world was destroyed by gods. Only nine cities were spared. Separated by vast wilderness teeming with monsters and unimaginable dangers, each city is now ruled by a guardian―royalty who feed on mortal pleasure.

Born with an intuition that never fails, Calista knows her talents are of great value to the power-hungry of the world, so she lives hidden as a courtesan of the Baron of Archwood. In exchange for his protection, she grants him information.

When her intuition leads her to save a traveling prince in dire trouble, the voice inside her blazes with warning―and promise. Today he’ll bring her joy. One day he'll be her doom.

When the Baron takes an interest in the traveling prince and the prince takes an interest in Calista, she becomes the prince’s temporary companion. But the city simmers with rebellion, and with knights and monsters at her city gates and a hungry prince in her bed, intuition may not be enough to keep her safe.

Calista must follow her intuition to safety or follow her heart to her downfall.]]> 416 Jennifer L. Armentrout 1250750199 Mishma 0 to-read 3.94 2023
author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
name: Mishma
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 199798061 Featuring a new introduction by Ken Liu, this revised edition of Ursula K. Le Guin’s first full-length collection of essays covers her background as a writer and educator, on fantasy and science fiction, on writing, and on the future of literary science fiction.

“We like to think we live in daylight, but half the world is always dark; and fantasy, like poetry, speaks to the language of the night.�� —Ursula K. Le Guin

Le Guin’s sharp and witty voice is on full display in this collection of twenty-four essays, revised by the author a decade after its initial publication in 1979. The collection covers a wide range of topics and Le Guin’s origins as a writer, her advocacy for science fiction and fantasy as mediums for true literary exploration, the writing of her own major works such as A Wizard of Earthsea and The Left Hand of Darkness, and her role as a public intellectual and educator. The book and each thematic section are brilliantly introduced and contextualized by Susan Wood, a professor at the University of British Columbia and a literary editor and feminist activist during the 1960s and ��70s.

A fascinating, intimate look into the exceptional mind of Le Guin whose insights remain as relevant and resonant today as when they were first published.]]> 304 Ursula K. Le Guin 1668034905 Mishma 0 to-read 4.37 1979
author: Ursula K. Le Guin
name: Mishma
average rating: 4.37
book published: 1979
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 205822553 New York Times bestselling author Sophie Jordan returns to the high-stakes, sweeping world of dragons, romance, and drama first evoked in her bestselling young adult Firelight series, in a brand-new epic adult romantasy series.

Dragons are extinct. Witches are outcast. Magic is dying.

But human lust for power is immortal.

Dragon fire no longer blisters the skies over Penterra, but inside the lavish palace, life is still perilous…especially for Tamsyn. Raised in the glittering court alongside the princesses, it's her duty to be punished for their misdeeds. Treated as part of the royal family but also as the lowliest servant, Tamsyn fits nowhere. Her only friend is Stig, Captain of the Guard...though sometimes she thinks he wants more than friendship.

When Fell, the Beast of the Borderlands, descends on her home, Tamsyn’s world becomes even more dangerous. To save the pampered princesses from a fate worse than death, she is commanded to don a veil and marry the brutal warrior. She agrees to the deception even though it means leaving Stig, and the only life she’s ever known, behind.

The wedding night begins with unexpected passion—and ends in near violence when her trickery is exposed. Rather than start a war, Fell accepts Tamsyn as his bride...but can he accept the dark secrets she harbors—secrets buried so deep even she doesn’t know they exist? For Tamsyn is more than a royal whipping girl, more than the false wife of a man who now sees her as his enemy. And when those secrets emerge, they will ignite a flame bright enough to burn the entire kingdom to the bone.

Magic is not dead...it is only sleeping. And it will take one ordinary girl with an extraordinary destiny to awaken it.]]> 336 Sophie Jordan 0063399997 Mishma 0 to-read 3.59 2024
author: Sophie Jordan
name: Mishma
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 209042941 An enchanting and joyous exploration of life and creativity at the geographical edges of the modern world

Who is a provincial? In this subversive book, Sumana Roy assembles a striking cast of writers, artists, filmmakers, cricketers, tourist guides, English teachers, lovers and letter writers, private tutors and secret-keepers whose lives and work provide varied answers to that question. Combining memoir with the literary, sensory, and emotional history of an ignored people, she challenges the metropolitan’s dominance to reclaim the joyous dignity of provincial life, its tics and taunts, enthusiasms and tragicomedies.

In a wide-ranging series of “postcards�� from the peripheries of India, Europe, America, and the Middle East, Roy brings us deep into the imaginative world of those who have carried their provinciality like a birthmark. Ranging from Rabindranath Tagore to William Shakespeare, John Clare to the Bhakti poets, T. S. Eliot to J. M. Coetzee, V. S. Naipaul to the Brontës, and Kishore Kumar to Annie Ernaux, she celebrates the provincials�� humor and hilarity, playfulness and irony, belatedness and instinct for carefree accidents and freedom. Her unprecedented account of provincial life offers an alternative portrait of our modern world.]]> 352 Sumana Roy 0300266138 Mishma 0 to-read 3.50
author: Sumana Roy
name: Mishma
average rating: 3.50
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 40641079 In an unforgettable story that subtly addresses the refugee crisis, a young girl must decide if friendship means giving up the one item that gives her comfort during a time of utter uncertainty.

Lubna's best friend is a pebble. Pebble always listens to her stories. Pebble always smiles when she feels scared. But when a lost little boy arrives in the World of Tents, Lubna realizes that he needs Pebble even more than she does.

This emotionally stirring and stunningly illustrated picture book explores one girl's powerful act of friendship in the midst of an unknown situation.]]> 32 Wendy Meddour 0525554165 Mishma 4 picture-books 4.46 2019
author: Wendy Meddour
name: Mishma
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/09/06
shelves: picture-books
review:

]]> 2418471
The second of Maeterlinck’s four celebrated nature essays—along with those on the life of the bee, ant, and termite—“The Intelligence of Flowers�� (1907) represents his impassioned attempt to popularize scientific knowledge for an international audience. Writing with characteristic eloquence, Maeterlinck asserts that flowers possess the power of thought without knowledge, a capacity that constitutes a form of intelligence. Appearing one hundred years after the first publication, Philip Mosley’s new translation of the original French essay, and the related essay “Scents,�� maintains the verve of Maeterlinck’s prose and renders it accessible to the present-day reader. This is a book for those who are excited by creative encounters between literature and science as well as current debates on the relationship of humankind to the natural world.
It would be superfluous to redraw the picture of the great systems of floral fertilization: the play of stamens and pistil, the seductiveness of scents, the appeal of harmonious and striking colors, the development of nectar, totally useless to the flower, and which it manufactures only to attract and hold the foreign liberator, the messenger of love, bee, bumblebee, fly, butterfly, moth, which must bring it the kiss of the distant, invisible, motionless lover��

We could truly say that ideas come to flowers in the same way they come to us. Flowers grope in the same darkness, encounter the same obstacles and the same ill will, in the same unknown. They know the same laws, same disappointments, same slow and difficult triumphs. It seems they have our patience, our perseverance, our self-love; the same finely tuned and diversified intelligence, almost the same hopes and the same ideals. Like ourselves, they struggle against a vast indifferent force that ends by helping them. �� from “The Intelligence of Flowers��

“…a wonderfully enjoyable, insightful and worthwhile read �� This work would be of interest to anyone excited by the remarkable process of the plant world and would expressly appeal to gardeners and flower growers.�� �� Huntia

“A rare gem, written �� in lyrical and accessible prose.�� �� The Times Literary Supplement

“…Maeterlinck is a seductive essayist �� [and] writes with the same intrinsic humility that will be familiar to admirers of John Muir, Aldo Leopold, or Mary Oliver.�� �� The Boston Globe

“That the intelligence of flowers provides Maeterlinck with a theory riddled with contradictions—mostly as a result of his metaphoric reasoning—seems less important than the fundamental truths of the metaphors unto themselves. As a result, ‘The Intelligence of Flowers�� is happily welcome once more, in this centenary reissue.�� �� San Francisco Chronicle]]> 106 Maurice Maeterlinck 0791472744 Mishma 4 Here for the vibes 3.75 1907
author: Maurice Maeterlinck
name: Mishma
average rating: 3.75
book published: 1907
rating: 4
read at: 2023/11/02
date added: 2024/09/06
shelves: read-for-class, non-fiction, wishlist
review:
Here for the vibes
]]> 43317482 251 Carmen Maria Machado 1644450038 Mishma 5 4.41 2019
author: Carmen Maria Machado
name: Mishma
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2020/08/22
date added: 2024/09/06
shelves: audiobook, memoir, non-fiction, wishlist
review:

]]> 203956772 The must-have, must-bake cookbook for those who always save room for dessert! 100 stunning, delicious, and easy recipes that will satisfy all sweet tooths in the debut cookbook from the wildly popular baker and social media star behind Broma Bakery.Sarah Fennel began her blog Broma Bakery as a hobby that combined her love for baked goods with photography, and it quickly grew as millions of readers fell in love with her reliable recipes for nostalgic dishes with a modern twist, like Red Wine Brownies, Strawberry Shortcake Cake, and Sugar Cookie Bars. Her easy-to-follow recipes and videos keep bakers coming back for seconds, thirds, and fourths…In her first cookbook, packed with brand new recipes, as well as some classic fan favorites (like the famous Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies!), you’ll find recipes for exactly what you’re craving, whether it’s a quick, weeknight bake in After-Dinner Treats (Weeknight Chocolate Cake, anyone?) or a show-stopper in Almost Too Pretty to Eat (Baklava Cheesecake). Explore playful and irresistible flavor combinations in Elevated Nostalgia (Giant Brown Sugar-Cinnamon Pop-Tart), Inventive Sweets (Tiramisu Icebox Cake), Brunch Bakes (Raspberry Croissant Bread Pudding), and Holiday Baking (Hot Chocolate Cookies). Readers will also find a whole chapter of single-serve desserts like Single-Serve Snickerdoodle Cookie and Small-Batch Blueberry Muffins. Whether you’re a new or experienced cook, the tips and insights throughout the book will make your cakes fluffier and crusts flakier, while ensuring you never overbake anything again. Plus, find an essential baker’s pantry, storage guides, and game-changing baking tools that’ll stock your kitchen once and for all. Useful, entertaining, and with “I can’t believe it was so simple!�� instructions along with more than 150 gorgeous photos, Sweet Tooth is for bakers of all levels. The only requirement? A deep, unwavering love for dessert.]]> 288 Sarah Fennel 0593581997 Mishma 0 to-read, wishlist 4.53
author: Sarah Fennel
name: Mishma
average rating: 4.53
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/06
shelves: to-read, wishlist
review:

]]> 60457246 NAMED A BEST COOKBOOK OF THE YEAR BY BON APPETIT * FOOD52 * THE LOS ANGELES TIMES * THE DAILY HIVE
Winner of the Fortnum & Mason Best Debut Cookbook Award 2023

More than 80 lush Sri Lankan recipes for fresh dinners, cold drinks, and sticky sweets that prove small islands can bring big flavors

"A true gift to anyone who reads it." ―Alison Roman
"Delicious . . . this book makes me hungry." ―Yotam Ottolenghi
"Glorious . . . like having an encouraging, enthusiastic friend with you in the kitchen as you cook." ―Nigella Lawson

Since Cynthia Shanmugalingam was a young girl, she has worked to piece together her sense of Sri Lanka, her ancestral homeland that she experienced through the wondrous flavors of her immigrant parents�� kitchen in London. In Rambutan , these ingredients, methods, and tastes―combining Javanese, Malay, Indian, Arab, Portuguese, Dutch and British influences―come together to create an irresistible portrait of modern Sri Lankan cuisine.

In more than 80 recipes, Shanmugalingam takes her favorite parts of the island's culinary tradition and adapts them to be accessible and fun for the home with dinners of sticky chicken buriani and crunchy fried potatoes with turmeric, desserts of mango fluff pie and milk toffee, and drinks of lemongrass lime soda and boozy tea cocktails, Rambutan is designed to deliver as much edible Sri Lankan joy as possible. Combining luscious recipe photography and stunning candids from the island, this exuberant guide is perfect for home cooks looking to explore the exciting Sri Lankan tradition in South Asian cuisine.]]> 336 Cynthia Shanmugalingam 1526646579 Mishma 0 to-read, wishlist 4.49
author: Cynthia Shanmugalingam
name: Mishma
average rating: 4.49
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/06
shelves: to-read, wishlist
review:

]]> 172366 36 Jorge Luis Borges 156792123X Mishma 0 to-read 4.37 1941
author: Jorge Luis Borges
name: Mishma
average rating: 4.37
book published: 1941
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 60206505
This was the collection that established Samanta Schweblin at the forefront of a new generation of Latin American writers. And now in English it will push her cult status to new heights. Seven Empty Houses is an entrypoint into a fiercely original mind, and a slingshot into Schweblin's destablizing, exhilarating literary world.

In each story, the twists and turns will unnerve and surprise: Schweblin never takes the expected path and instead digs under the skin and reveals uncomfortable truths about our sense of home, of belonging, and of the fragility of our connections with others. This is a masterwork from one of our most brilliant writers.]]> 208 Samanta Schweblin 052554139X Mishma 0 to-read 3.51 2015
author: Samanta Schweblin
name: Mishma
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 4929 Kafka on the Shore, a tour de force of metaphysical reality, is powered by two remarkable characters: a teenage boy, Kafka Tamura, who runs away from home either to escape a gruesome oedipal prophecy or to search for his long-missing mother and sister; and an aging simpleton called Nakata, who never recovered from a wartime affliction and now is drawn toward Kafka for reasons that, like the most basic activities of daily life, he cannot fathom. Their odyssey, as mysterious to them as it is to us, is enriched throughout by vivid accomplices and mesmerizing events. Cats and people carry on conversations, a ghostlike pimp employs a Hegel-quoting prostitute, a forest harbors soldiers apparently unaged since World War II, and rainstorms of fish (and worse) fall from the sky. There is a brutal murder, with the identity of both victim and perpetrator a riddle—yet this, along with everything else, is eventually answered, just as the entwined destinies of Kafka and Nakata are gradually revealed, with one escaping his fate entirely and the other given a fresh start on his own.]]> 467 Haruki Murakami 1400079276 Mishma 0 to-read, wishlist 4.14 2002
author: Haruki Murakami
name: Mishma
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2002
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/06
shelves: to-read, wishlist
review:

]]> 8679800 Create Dangerously

In this deeply personal book, the celebrated Haitian-American writer Edwidge Danticat reflects on art and exile, examining what it means to be an immigrant artist from a country in crisis. Inspired by Albert Camus' lecture, "Create Dangerously," and combining memoir and essay, Danticat tells the stories of artists, including herself, who create despite, or because of, the horrors that drove them from their homelands and that continue to haunt them. Danticat eulogizes an aunt who guarded her family's homestead in the Haitian countryside, a cousin who died of AIDS while living in Miami as an undocumented alien, and a renowned Haitian radio journalist whose political assassination shocked the world. Danticat writes about the Haitian novelists she first read as a girl at the Brooklyn Public Library, a woman mutilated in a machete attack who became a public witness against torture, and the work of Jean-Michel Basquiat and other artists of Haitian descent. Danticat also suggests that the aftermaths of natural disasters in Haiti and the United States reveal that the countries are not as different as many Americans might like to believe.

Create Dangerously is an eloquent and moving expression of Danticat's belief that immigrant artists are obliged to bear witness when their countries of origin are suffering from violence, oppression, poverty, and tragedy.]]> 189 Edwidge Danticat Mishma 0 to-read, wishlist 4.24 2010
author: Edwidge Danticat
name: Mishma
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/06
shelves: to-read, wishlist
review:

]]> 24796231 I was born in Pachuca, the Beautiful Windy City, with four premature teeth and my body completely covered in a very fine coat of fuzz. But I'm grateful for that inauspicious start because ugliness, as my other uncle, Eurípides López Sánchez, was given to saying, is character forming.

Highway is a late-in-life world traveler, yarn spinner, collector, and legendary auctioneer. His most precious possessions are the teeth of the "notorious infamous" like Plato, Petrarch, and Virginia Woolf. Written in collaboration with the workers at a Jumex juice factory, Teeth is an elegant, witty, exhilarating romp through the industrial suburbs of Mexico City and Luiselli's own literary influences.]]> 192 Valeria Luiselli 1566894093 Mishma 0 wishlist, currently-reading 3.49 2013
author: Valeria Luiselli
name: Mishma
average rating: 3.49
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/06
shelves: wishlist, currently-reading
review:

]]> 997630 288 Jalal Toufic 088268146X Mishma 0 to-read, wishlist 4.33 1993
author: Jalal Toufic
name: Mishma
average rating: 4.33
book published: 1993
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/06
shelves: to-read, wishlist
review:

]]> 40712499 The powerful story of a young poet who becomes an activist through a trial by fire

What You Have Heard is True is a devastating, lyrical, and visionary memoir about a young woman's brave choice to engage with horror in order to help others. Written by one of the most gifted poets of her generation, this is the story of a woman's radical act of empathy, and her fateful encounter with an intriguing man who changes the course of her life.

Carolyn Forché is twenty-seven when the mysterious stranger appears on her doorstep. The relative of a friend, he is a charming polymath with a mind as seemingly disordered as it is brilliant. She's heard rumors from her friend about who he might be: a lone wolf, a communist, a CIA operative, a sharpshooter, a revolutionary, a small coffee farmer, but according to her, no one seemed to know for certain. He has driven from El Salvador to invite Forché to visit and learn about his country. Captivated for reasons she doesn't fully understand, she accepts and becomes enmeshed in something beyond her comprehension.

Together they meet with high-ranking military officers, impoverished farm workers, and clergy desperately trying to assist the poor and keep the peace. These encounters are a part of his plan to educate her, but also to learn for himself just how close the country is to war. As priests and farm-workers are murdered and protest marches attacked, he is determined to save his country, and Forché is swept up in his work and in the lives of his friends. Pursued by death squads and sheltering in safe houses, the two forge a rich friendship, as she attempts to make sense of what she's experiencing and establish a moral foothold amidst profound suffering. This is the powerful story of a poet's experience in a country on the verge of war, and a journey toward social conscience in a perilous time.]]> 400 Carolyn Forché 0525560378 Mishma 0 to-read, wishlist 4.43 2019
author: Carolyn Forché
name: Mishma
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/06
shelves: to-read, wishlist
review:

]]> 61319750
The only way to heal him is to cast an extremely difficult spell that requires perfect control. And the only person willing to help is her former best friend, Xavier, who’s grown from a sweet, shy child into someone distant and mysterious.

Xavier asks a terrible price in return, knowing Clara will give anything to save her father. As she struggles to reconcile the new Xavier with the boy she once loved, she discovers how many secrets he’s hiding. And as she hunts for the truth, she instead finds the root of a terrible darkness that’s taken hold in the queendom—a darkness only Clara’s magic is powerful enough to stop.]]> 352 Catherine Bakewell 0063214598 Mishma 3 3.46 2023
author: Catherine Bakewell
name: Mishma
average rating: 3.46
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/08/10
date added: 2024/09/06
shelves: audiobook, fantasy, young-adult
review:
the metaphor of artmaking as magic and the toll it takes on an artist was really interesting and I enjoyed the studio ghibli vibes but the plot and the resolution was very underwhelming
]]> 101141137
Audrey Cameron has lost her spark. But after getting dumped by her first love and waitlisted at her dream art school all in one week, she has no intention of putting her heart on the line again to get it back. So when local curmudgeon Mr. Montgomery walks into her family’s Pittsburgh convenience store saying he can help her, Audrey doesn’t know what she’s expecting…but it’s definitely not that she’ll be transported back to 1812 to become a Regency romance heroine.

Lucy Sinclair isn’t expecting to find an oddly dressed girl claiming to be from two hundred years in the future on her family’s estate. But she has to admit it’s a welcome distraction from being courted by a man her father expects her to marry—who offers a future she couldn’t be less interested in. Not that anyone has cared about what or who she’s interested in since her mother died, taking Lucy’s spark with her.

While the two girls try to understand what’s happening and how to send Audrey home, their sparks make a comeback in a most unexpected way. Because as they both try over and over to fall for their suitors and the happily-ever-afters everyone expects of them, they find instead they don’t have to try at all to fall for each other.

But can a most unexpected love story survive even more impossible circumstances?]]> 336 Rachael Lippincott 166593753X Mishma 3 3.94 2023
author: Rachael Lippincott
name: Mishma
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/09/06
date added: 2024/09/06
shelves: audiobook, paranormal-urban-fantasy, young-adult, romance
review:

]]> 127305900 In this romantic fantasy of manners from New York Times bestselling author Allison Saft, a magical dressmaker commissioned for a royal wedding finds herself embroiled in scandal when a gossip columnist draws attention to her undeniable chemistry with the groom.

Niamh Ó Conchobhair has never let herself long for more. The magic in her blood that lets her stitch emotions and memories into fabric is the same magic that will eventually kill her. Determined to spend the little time she has left guaranteeing a better life for her family, Niamh jumps at the chance to design the wardrobe for a royal wedding in the neighboring kingdom of Avaland.

But Avaland is far from the fairytale that she imagined. While young nobles attend candlelit balls and elegant garden parties, unrest brews amid the working class. The groom himself, Kit Carmine, is prickly, abrasive, and begrudgingly being dragged to the altar as a political pawn. But when Niamh and Kit grow closer, an unlikely friendship blossoms into something more—until an anonymous columnist starts buzzing about their chemistry, promising to leave them alone only if Niamh helps to uncover the royal family’s secrets. The rot at the heart of Avaland runs deep, but exposing it could risk a future she never let herself dream of, and a love she never thought possible.

Transporting readers to a Regency England-inspired fantasy world, A Fragile Enchantment is a sweeping romance threaded with intrigue, unforgettable characters, and a love story for the ages.]]> 373 Allison Saft 125089283X Mishma 4 3.49 2024
author: Allison Saft
name: Mishma
average rating: 3.49
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/27
date added: 2024/09/06
shelves: audiobook, fantasy, young-adult
review:
the ending was so corny but i can never not love an allison saft book
]]> 297135 448 Kristin Hannah Mishma 3 romance 3.96 2004
author: Kristin Hannah
name: Mishma
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2004
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/08/22
shelves: romance
review:
I won't tell I loved this book but I enjoyed it.It highlights the love between a mother and a daughter,two sisters,two brothers and two old friends.Summer Island is a book packed with love and affection in various forms.
]]> 150343880 #1 New York Times bestselling author Tessa Bailey launches a super sexy sports romance series with a rom-com about a bad boy professional athlete who falls for his biggest fan...

Wells Whitaker was once golf’s hottest rising star, but lately, all he has to show for his “promising�� career is a killer hangover, a collection of broken clubs, and one remaining supporter. No matter how bad he plays, the beautiful, sunny redhead is always on the sidelines. He curses, she cheers. He scowls, she smiles. But when Wells quits in a blaze of glory and his fangirl finally goes home, he knows he made the greatest mistake of his life.

Josephine Doyle believed in the gorgeous, grumpy golfer, even when he didn’t believe in himself. Yet after he throws in the towel, she begins to wonder if her faith was misplaced. Then a determined Wells shows up at her door with a wild proposal: be his new caddy, help him turn his game around, and split the prize money. And considering Josephine’s professional and personal life is in shambles, she could really use the cash��

As they travel together, spending days on the green and nights in neighboring hotel rooms, sparks fly. Before long, they’re inseparable, Wells starts winning again, and Josephine is surprised to find a sweet, thoughtful guy underneath his gruff, growly exterior. This hot man wants to brush her hair, feed her snacks, and take bubble baths together? Is this real life? But Wells is technically her boss and an athlete falling for his fangirl would be ridiculous�� right?]]> 380 Tessa Bailey Mishma 0 romance oh this was FILTHY 3.82 2024
author: Tessa Bailey
name: Mishma
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2024/08/08
date added: 2024/08/12
shelves: romance
review:
oh this was FILTHY
]]> 217206738
Ruthless. Meticulous. Arrogant.

Dante Russo thrives on control, both personally and professionally.

The billionaire CEO never planned to marry—until the threat of blackmail forces him into an engagement with a woman he barely knows.

Vivian Lau, jewelry heiress and daughter of his newest enemy.

It doesn’t matter how beautiful or charming she is. He'll do everything in his power to destroy the evidence and their betrothal.

There’s only one problem: Now that he has her...he can't bring himself to let her go.

***

Elegant. Ambitious. Well-mannered.

Vivian Lau is the perfect daughter and her family’s ticket into the highest echelons of high society.

Marrying a blue-blooded Russo means opening doors that would otherwise remain closed to her new-money family.

While the rude, elusive Dante isn't her idea of a dream partner, she agrees to their arranged marriage out of duty.

Craving his touch was never part of the plan.

Neither was the worst thing she could possibly do: fall in love with her future husband.

King of Wrath is a steamy arranged-marriage billionaire romance. It includes explicit content and profanity. Recommended for mature listeners only.]]> 398 Ana Huang Mishma 2 romance
Merged review:

This was so predictable, at this point the billionaire marriage of convenience template is so saturated the books are writing themselves

Merged review:

This was so predictable, at this point the billionaire marriage of convenience template is so saturated the books are writing themselves

Merged review:

This was so predictable, at this point the billionaire marriage of convenience template is so saturated the books are writing themselves

Merged review:

This was so predictable, at this point the billionaire marriage of convenience template is so saturated the books are writing themselves

Merged review:

This was so predictable, at this point the billionaire marriage of convenience template is so saturated the books are writing themselves

Merged review:

This was so predictable, at this point the billionaire marriage of convenience template is so saturated the books are writing themselves

Merged review:

This was so predictable, at this point the billionaire marriage of convenience template is so saturated the books are writing themselves]]> 4.05 2022
author: Ana Huang
name: Mishma
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2022
rating: 2
read at: 2023/01/05
date added: 2024/08/08
shelves: romance
review:
This was so predictable, at this point the billionaire marriage of convenience template is so saturated the books are writing themselves

Merged review:

This was so predictable, at this point the billionaire marriage of convenience template is so saturated the books are writing themselves

Merged review:

This was so predictable, at this point the billionaire marriage of convenience template is so saturated the books are writing themselves

Merged review:

This was so predictable, at this point the billionaire marriage of convenience template is so saturated the books are writing themselves

Merged review:

This was so predictable, at this point the billionaire marriage of convenience template is so saturated the books are writing themselves

Merged review:

This was so predictable, at this point the billionaire marriage of convenience template is so saturated the books are writing themselves

Merged review:

This was so predictable, at this point the billionaire marriage of convenience template is so saturated the books are writing themselves

Merged review:

This was so predictable, at this point the billionaire marriage of convenience template is so saturated the books are writing themselves
]]> 2403024
About the Series: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.
]]> 750 William Shakespeare 0199535795 Mishma 0 read-for-class, poetry 4.35
author: William Shakespeare
name: Mishma
average rating: 4.35
book published:
rating: 0
read at: 2019/12/01
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves: read-for-class, poetry
review:

]]> 83823679 Newbery Honoree Rajani LaRocca, author of I’ll Go and Come Back, turns her focus to a careful, deliberate grandfather and his impatient grandson in a cozy family story featuring a recipe for spiced chai.

Aarav loves his grandfather very much, but they’re as different as water and molasses. Where Aarav runs and races, Thatha likes to saunter and stroll. Every day at five o’clock, Thatha makes masala chai for the family, and no matter how much Aarav urges him to hurry, Thatha insists on taking his time. “Masala chai cannot be rushed,�� says Thatha. “It must be made carefully.�� One day, when Thatha sprains his ankle and must rest on the couch, Aarav eagerly decides he’d like to make the chai himself—after all, what would make his grandfather feel better than a cup of warm, spiced sweetness? But no matter how hard Aarav tries, his rushing causes him to miss some crucial step. Will Aarav be able to slow down and get the recipe right? With charming illustrations by Neha Rawat that are as enticing as the aroma of spiced tea, author Rajani LaRocca invites readers in for a visit with Aarav and his family—and shares her favorite masala chai recipe at the end.]]> 40 Rajani LaRocca 1536219401 Mishma 0 on-radar 4.31
author: Rajani LaRocca
name: Mishma
average rating: 4.31
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/04
shelves: on-radar
review:

]]> 1389836 Will the Frenchman discover he has a secret son?

Tabby fell in love with Christien Laroche, but then tragedy struck and Christien wanted nothing more to do with her. How could Tabby confess to the arrogant Frenchman that she was expecting his baby?

Now Tabby has made a new life for herself and her son. But Christien is back! What if he discovers little Jake's existence?

Brides of L'Amour -- the mother, the mistress and the forgotten wife...Lynne Graham's exciting new three-part serial begins!]]> 192 Lynne Graham 0373123558 Mishma 3 3.58 2003
author: Lynne Graham
name: Mishma
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2003
rating: 3
read at: 2024/07/24
date added: 2024/07/25
shelves: romance, harlequin-presents-bc-i-love-angst
review:

]]> 123257687
ASSISTANT WANTED: Notorious, high-ranking villain seeks loyal, levelheaded assistant for unspecified office duties, supporting staff for random mayhem and terror, and other Dark Things In General. Discretion a must. Excellent benefits.

With ailing family to support, Evie Sage's employment status isn't just important, it's vital. So when a mishap with Rennedawn’s most infamous Villain results in a job offer―naturally, she says yes. No job is perfect, of course, but even less so when you develop a teeny crush on your terrifying, temperamental, and undeniably hot boss. Don’t find evil so attractive, Evie.

But just when she’s getting used to severed heads suspended from the ceiling and the odd squish of an errant eyeball beneath her heel, Evie suspects this dungeon has a huge rat…and not just the literal kind. Because something rotten is growing in the kingdom of Rennedawn, and someone wants to take the Villain―and his entire nefarious empire―out.

Now Evie must not only resist drooling over her boss but also figure out exactly who is sabotaging his work…and ensure he makes them pay.

After all, a good job is hard to find.]]> 342 Hannah Nicole Maehrer 1649375808 Mishma 4 3.88 2023
author: Hannah Nicole Maehrer
name: Mishma
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/24
date added: 2024/07/25
shelves: audiobook, young-adult, fantasy, romantasy
review:
the most unserious book - but it was so silly and fun so no complaints
]]> 63005175 From Alexandra Christo, the author of To Kill a Kingdom, comes The Night Hunt, a dark fantasy romance about a monstrous girl who feeds on fear and the Gods-cursed boy who falls in love with her.

Atia is a monster who feeds on fear. As the last of her kind, she hides in the shadows of the world to escape the wrath of the unpredictable Gods. Silas is a Herald, carrying messages and ferrying the dead as punishment for a past he can’t remember. Stripped of his true name, he yearns to recover his identity.

Atia would never dream of allying with someone like him, but when she breaks a sacred law and the Gods send monsters to hunt her, Silas offers an irresistible deal: he’ll help avenge her family and take on the Gods who now hunt her, if she helps him break his curse and restore his humanity. All they need to do is kill three powerful creatures: a vampire, a banshee, and one of the very Gods who destroyed both their lives. Only together can they finally rewrite their destinies.]]> 384 Alexandra Christo 1250897440 Mishma 3 3.61 2023
author: Alexandra Christo
name: Mishma
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/07/21
date added: 2024/07/25
shelves: audiobook, fantasy, young-adult
review:
A fast-paced fantasy - but maybe too fast? For the first time, I wished a standalone fantasy was a series instead. The plot was exciting and Christo's writing was gripping but the romance felt rushed, the bond between the "found family" had no time to materialize, and the ending felt anticlimactic and too neat.
]]> 63023639 The captivating sequel to the Gothic-infused Belladonna, in which Signa and Death face a supernatural foe determined to tear them apart.

A duke has been murdered. The lord of Thorn Grove has been framed. And Fate, the elusive brother of Death, has taken up residence in a sumptuous estate nearby. He's hellbent on revenge after Death took the life of the woman he loved many years ago...and now he's determined to have Signa for himself, no matter the cost.

Signa and her cousin Blythe are certain that Fate can save Elijah Hawthorne from prison if they will entertain his presence. But the more time the girls spend with Fate, the more frightening their reality becomes as Signa exhibits dramatic new powers that link her to Fate's past. With mysteries and danger around every corner, the cousins must decide if they can trust one another as they navigate their futures in high society, unravel the murders that haunt their family, and play Fate's unexpected games--all with their destinies hanging in the balance.

Dangerous, suspenseful, and seductive, this sequel to the story of Signa and Death is as utterly romantic as it is perfectly deadly.]]> 464 Adalyn Grace 0316162507 Mishma 0 to-read 4.17 2023
author: Adalyn Grace
name: Mishma
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 75513900 She is the very thing he’s spent his whole life hunting.
He is the very thing she’s spent her whole life pretending to be.

Only the extraordinary belong in the kingdom of Ilya—the exceptional, the empowered, the Elites.

The powers these Elites have possessed for decades were graciously gifted to them by the Plague, though not all were fortunate enough to both survive the sickness and reap the reward. Those born Ordinary are just that—ordinary. And when the king decreed that all Ordinaries be banished in order to preserve his Elite society, lacking an ability suddenly became a crime—making Paedyn Gray a felon by fate and a thief by necessity.

Surviving in the slums as an Ordinary is no simple task, and Paedyn knows this better than most. Having been trained by her father to be overly observant since she was a child, Paedyn poses as a Psychic in the crowded city, blending in with the Elites as best she can in order to stay alive and out of trouble. Easier said than done.

When Paeydn unsuspectingly saves one of Ilyas princes, she finds herself thrown into the Purging Trials. The brutal competition exists to showcase the Elites�� powers—the very thing Paedyn lacks. If the Trials and the opponents within them don’t kill her, the prince she’s fighting feelings for certainly will if he discovers what she is—completely Ordinary.]]> 523 Lauren Roberts Mishma 0 to-read 4.17 2023
author: Lauren Roberts
name: Mishma
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 127305713
Spending her days pretending to be nothing more than a vapid young socialite, Rune spends her nights as the Crimson Moth, a witch vigilante who rescues her kind from being purged. When a rescue goes wrong, she decides to throw the witch hunters off her scent and gain the intel she desperately needs by courting the handsome Gideon Sharpe �� a notorious and unforgiving witch hunter loyal to the revolution �� who she can't help but find herself falling for.

Gideon loathes the decadence and superficiality Rune represents, but when he learns the Crimson Moth has been using Rune’s merchant ships to smuggle renegade witches out of the republic, he inserts himself into her social circles by pretending to court her right back. He soon realizes that beneath her beauty and shallow façade, is someone fiercely intelligent and tender who feels like his perfect match. Except, what if she’s the very villain he’s been hunting?

Kristen Ciccarelli’s The Crimson Moth is the thrilling start to a romantic fantasy duology where the only thing more treacherous than being a witch�� is falling in love.]]> 406 Kristen Ciccarelli 1250866901 Mishma 0 to-read 4.16 2024
author: Kristen Ciccarelli
name: Mishma
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 17465709 Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these lenses of knowledge together to show that the awakening of a wider ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world. For only when we can hear the languages of other beings are we capable of understanding the generosity of the earth, and learning to give our own gifts in return.]]> 408 Robin Wall Kimmerer 1571313354 Mishma 4 audiobook, non-fiction 4.52 2013
author: Robin Wall Kimmerer
name: Mishma
average rating: 4.52
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/18
date added: 2024/07/18
shelves: audiobook, non-fiction
review:
Broke into tears at so many points of this book
]]> 218042 “The word “love�� is most often defined as a noun, yet�� we would all love better if we used it as a verb,�� writes bell hooks as she comes out fighting and on fire in All About Love. Here, at her most provocative and intensely personal, the renowned scholar, cultural critic, and feminist skewers our view of love as romance. In its place she offers a proactive new ethic for a people and a society bereft with lovelessness.

As bell hooks uses her incisive mind and razor-sharp pen to explore the question “What is love?��, her answers strike at both the mind and heart. In thirteen concise chapters, hooks examines her own search for emotional connection and society’s failure to provide a model for learning to love. Razing the cultural paradigm that the ideal love is infused with sex and desire, she provides a new path to love that is sacred, redemptive, and healing for the individuals and for a nation. The Utne Reader declared bell hooks one of the ��100 Visionaries Who Can Change Your Life.�� All About Love is a powerful affirmation of just how profoundly she can.

Librarian note: There is an alternate cover edition of this book here.]]> 238 bell hooks 0060959479 Mishma 0 non-fiction 3.89 1999
author: bell hooks
name: Mishma
average rating: 3.89
book published: 1999
rating: 0
read at: 2024/06/18
date added: 2024/06/18
shelves: non-fiction
review:

]]> 200982340 In this sweet sapphic romance about two foodies in love, Vivi meets Lan while studying abroad in Vietnam and they spend the semester unraveling their families' histories—and eating all the street food in Sài Gòn.

In Sài Gòn, Lan is always trying to be the perfect daughter, dependable and willing to care for her widowed mother and their bánh mì stall. Her secret passion, however, is A Bánh Mì for Two, the food blog she started with her father but has stopped updating since his passing.

Meanwhile, Vietnamese American Vivi Huynh, has never been to Việt Nam. Her parents rarely talk about the homeland that clearly haunts them. So Vivi secretly goes to Vietnam for a study abroad program her freshman year of college. She’s determined to figure out why her parents left, and to try everything she’s seen on her favorite food blog, A Bánh Mì for Two.

When Vivi and Lan meet in Sài Gòn, they strike a deal. Lan will show Vivi around the city, helping her piece together her mother’s story through crumbling photographs and old memories. Vivi will help Lan start writing again so she can enter a food blogging contest. And slowly, as they explore the city and their pasts, Vivi and Lan fall in love.]]> 224 Trinity Nguyen 125091082X Mishma 0 to-read 3.87 2024
author: Trinity Nguyen
name: Mishma
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 43837230 A Place for Us is a deeply moving and resonant story of love, identity, and belonging

As an Indian wedding gathers a family back together, parents Rafiq and Layla must reckon with the choices their children have made. There is Hadia: their headstrong, eldest daughter, whose marriage is a match of love and not tradition. Huda, the middle child, determined to follow in her sister's footsteps. And lastly, their estranged son, Amar, who returns to the family fold for the first time in three years to take his place as brother of the bride. What secrets and betrayals have caused this close-knit family to fracture? Can Amar find his way back to the people who know and love him best?

A Place for Us takes us back to the beginning of this family's life: from the bonds that bring them together, to the differences that pull them apart. All the joy and struggle of family life is here, from Rafiq and Layla's own arrival in America from India, to the years in which their children--each in their own way--tread between two cultures, seeking to find their place in the world, as well as a path home.

A Place for Us is a book for our times: an astonishingly tender-hearted novel of identity and belonging, and a resonant portrait of what it means to be an American family today. It announces Fatima Farheen Mirza as a major new literary talent.]]> 388 Fatima Farheen Mirza 152476356X Mishma 0 to-read 4.25 2018
author: Fatima Farheen Mirza
name: Mishma
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 4575291 192 Michelle Reid 0373127561 Mishma 0 3.63 2008
author: Michelle Reid
name: Mishma
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at: 2024/05/26
date added: 2024/05/26
shelves: harlequin-presents-bc-i-love-angst
review:

]]> 9663896 192 Lynne Graham 0373129750 Mishma 0 3.37 2010
author: Lynne Graham
name: Mishma
average rating: 3.37
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at: 2024/05/25
date added: 2024/05/26
shelves: harlequin-presents-bc-i-love-angst
review:

]]> 861326 1814 promises to be another eventful season, but not, this author believes, for Anthony Bridgerton, London's most elusive bachelor, who has shown no indication that he plans to marry.
And in truth, why should he? When it comes to playing the consummate rake, nobody does it better...
—Lady Whistledown's Society Papers, April 1814

But this time, the gossip columnists have it wrong. Anthony Bridgerton hasn't just decided to marry—he's even chosen a wife! The only obstacle is his intended's older sister, Kate Sheffield—the most meddlesome woman ever to grace a London ballroom. The spirited schemer is driving Anthony mad with her determination to stop the betrothal, but when he closes his eyes at night, Kate is the woman haunting his increasingly erotic dreams...

Contrary to popular belief, Kate is quite sure that reformed rakes do not make the best husbands—and Anthony Bridgerton is the most wicked rogue of them all. Kate is determined to protect her sister—but she fears her own heart is vulnerable. And when Anthony's lips touch hers, she's suddenly afraid she might not be able to resist the reprehensible rake herself...]]> 480 Julia Quinn Mishma 3 historical-romance I too despise bees 3.98 2000
author: Julia Quinn
name: Mishma
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2000
rating: 3
read at: 2024/05/26
date added: 2024/05/26
shelves: historical-romance
review:
I too despise bees
]]> 61431922 Enter the brutal and elite world of a war college for dragon riders...

Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general—also known as her tough-as-talons mother—has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders.

But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away...because dragons don’t bond to “fragile�� humans. They incinerate them.

With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter—like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant.

She’ll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise.

Yet, with every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom's protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise. Even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret.

Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda—because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die]]> 665 Rebecca Yarros 1649374046 Mishma 0 currently-reading 4.56 2023
author: Rebecca Yarros
name: Mishma
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/23
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 181350812 A dangerous alliance between a Vampyre bride and an Alpha Werewolf becomes a love deep enough to sink your teeth into in this new paranormal romance.

Misery Lark, the only daughter of the most powerful Vampyre councilman of the Southwest, is an outcast—again. Her days of living in anonymity among the Humans are over: she has been called upon to uphold a historic peacekeeping alliance between the Vampyres and their mortal enemies, the Weres, and she sees little choice but to surrender herself in the exchange—again...

Weres are ruthless and unpredictable, and their Alpha, Lowe Moreland, is no exception. He rules his pack with absolute authority, but not without justice. And, unlike the Vampyre Council, not without feeling. It’s clear from the way he tracks Misery’s every movement that he doesn’t trust her. If only he knew how right he was��.

Because Misery has her own reasons to agree to this marriage of convenience, reasons that have nothing to do with politics or alliances, and everything to do with the only thing she's ever cared about. And she is willing to do whatever it takes to get back what’s hers, even if it means a life alone in Were territory…alone with the wolf.]]> 416 Ali Hazelwood 0593550404 Mishma 4 4.07 2024
author: Ali Hazelwood
name: Mishma
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/08
date added: 2024/05/23
shelves: romance, paranormal-urban-fantasy
review:
so tropey and ridiculous and i ate it all up
]]> 35068744 legitimate son—and woo the heir’s betrothed into his own unloving arms . . .

Orphaned and sheltered, Lady Aslyn Hastings longs for a bit of adventure. With her intended often preoccupied, Aslyn finds herself drawn to a darkly handsome entrepreneur who seems to understand her so well. Surely a lady of her station should avoid Mick Trewlove. If only he weren’t so irresistible . . .

As secrets are about to be exposed, Mick must decide if his plan for vengeance is worth risking what his heart truly desires.]]> 384 Lorraine Heath 0062676016 Mishma 0 historical-romance 3.92 2018
author: Lorraine Heath
name: Mishma
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at: 2024/05/18
date added: 2024/05/18
shelves: historical-romance
review:

]]> 30763882
A young woman named Amanda lies dying in a rural hospital clinic. A boy named David sits beside her. She’s not his mother. He's not her child. Together, they tell a haunting story of broken souls, toxins, and the power and desperation of family.

Fever Dream is a nightmare come to life, a ghost story for the real world, a love story and a cautionary tale. One of the freshest new voices to come out of the Spanish language and translated into English for the first time, Samanta Schweblin creates an aura of strange psychological menace and otherworldly reality in this absorbing, unsettling, taut novel.]]> 183 Samanta Schweblin 0399184597 Mishma 4 3.62 2014
author: Samanta Schweblin
name: Mishma
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/07
date added: 2024/05/07
shelves: favourites, literary-fiction, horror-and-gothic, surrealism
review:
could not put it down, cannot stop thinking about it. Truly a fever dream indeed
]]> 39872813 A powerful, eerily unsettling story collection from a major international literary star.

Unearthly and unexpected, the stories in Mouthful of Birds burrow their way into your psyche and don't let go. Samanta Schweblin haunts and mesmerizes in this extraordinary, masterful collection.

Schweblin's stories have the feel of a sleepless night, where every shadow and bump in the dark take on huge implications, leaving your pulse racing, and the line between the real and the strange blur.]]> 240 Samanta Schweblin 0399184627 Mishma 0 to-read 3.61 2009
author: Samanta Schweblin
name: Mishma
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 51964497
A spellbinding work of literature, Latitudes of Longing follows the interconnected lives of characters searching for true intimacy. The novel sweeps across India, from an island, to a valley, a city, and a snow desert to tell a love story of epic proportions. We follow a scientist who studies trees and a clairvoyant who speaks to them; a geologist working to end futile wars over a glacier; octogenarian lovers; a mother struggling to free her revolutionary son; a yeti who seeks human companionship; a turtle who transforms first into a boat and then a woman; and the ghost of an evaporated ocean as restless as the continents. Binding them all together is a vision of life as vast as the universe itself.

A young writer awarded one of the most prestigious prizes in India for this novel, Shubhangi Swarup is a storyteller of extraordinary talent and insight. Richly imaginative and wryly perceptive, Latitudes of Longing offers a soaring view of humanity: our beauty and ugliness, our capacity to harm and love each other, and our mysterious and sacred relationship with nature.]]> 320 Shubhangi Swarup 0593132556 Mishma 0 to-read 3.74 2018
author: Shubhangi Swarup
name: Mishma
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 58703758
At the older woman's insistence they travel back to Pakistan, simultaneously confronting the unresolved trauma of her teenage experiences of Partition, and re-evaluating what it means to be a mother, a daughter, a woman, a feminist.

Rather than respond to tragedy with seriousness, Geetanjali Shree's playful tone and exuberant wordplay results in a book that is engaging, funny, and utterly original, at the same time as being an urgent and timely protest against the destructive impact of borders and boundaries, whether between religions, countries, or genders.]]> 739 Geetanjali Shree Mishma 0 to-read 3.65 2018
author: Geetanjali Shree
name: Mishma
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 43531017 Homesick is about learning to love language in its many forms, healing through words and the promises and perils of empathy and sisterhood.

Sisters Amy and Zoe grow up in Oklahoma where they are homeschooled for an unexpected reason: Zoe suffers from debilitating and mysterious seizures, spending her childhood in hospitals as she undergoes surgeries. Meanwhile, Amy flourishes intellectually, showing an innate ability to glean a world beyond the troubles in her home life, exploring that world through languages first. Amy's first love appears in the form of her Russian tutor Sasha, but when she enters university at the age of 15 her life changes drastically and with tragic results.]]> 256 Jennifer Croft 1944700943 Mishma 4 3.78 2019
author: Jennifer Croft
name: Mishma
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2024/04/22
date added: 2024/04/23
shelves: coming-of-age, memoir, non-fiction, read-for-class
review:

]]> 6334
Within the grounds of Hailsham, Kathy grows from schoolgirl to young woman, but it’s only when she and her friends Ruth and Tommy leave the safe grounds of the school (as they always knew they would) that they realize the full truth of what Hailsham is.

Never Let Me Go breaks through the boundaries of the literary novel. It is a gripping mystery, a beautiful love story, and also a scathing critique of human arrogance and a moral examination of how we treat the vulnerable and different in our society. In exploring the themes of memory and the impact of the past, Ishiguro takes on the idea of a possible future to create his most moving and powerful book to date.]]> 288 Kazuo Ishiguro 1400078776 Mishma 0 to-read 3.85 2005
author: Kazuo Ishiguro
name: Mishma
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2005
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 586852 The Wall chronicles the life of the last surviving human on earth, an ordinary middle-aged woman who awakens one morning to find that everyone else has vanished. Assuming her isolation to be the result of a military experiment gone awry, she begins the terrifying work of survival and self-renewal. This novel is at once a simple and moving tale and a disturbing meditation on humanity.
]]> 240 Marlen Haushofer 1573440949 Mishma 0 to-read 4.00 1963
author: Marlen Haushofer
name: Mishma
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1963
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 21400742
Beginning with the neighbouring passenger on the flight out and his tales of fast boats and failed marriages, the storytellers talk of their loves and ambitions and pains, their anxieties, their perceptions and daily lives. In the stifling heat and noise of the city the sequence of voice begins to weave a complex human tapestry. The more they talk the more elliptical their listener becomes, as she shapes and directs their accounts until certain themes begin to emerge: the experience of loss, the nature of family life, the difficulty of intimacy and the mystery of creativity itself.

Outline is a novel about writing and talking, about self-effacement and self-expression, about the desire to create and the human art of self-portraiture in which that desire finds its universal form.]]> 249 Rachel Cusk 0571233627 Mishma 4 3.68 2014
author: Rachel Cusk
name: Mishma
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2024/04/15
date added: 2024/04/16
shelves: literary-fiction, read-for-class
review:

]]> 53843459 Undrowned is a book-length meditation for social movements and our whole species based on the subversive and transformative guidance of marine mammals. Our aquatic cousins are queer, fierce, protective of each other, complex, shaped by conflict, and struggling to survive the extractive and militarized conditions our species has imposed on the ocean. Gumbs employs a brilliant mix of poetic sensibility and naturalist observation to show what they might teach us, producing not a specific agenda but an unfolding space for wondering and questioning. From the relationship between the endangered North Atlantic Right Whale and Gumbs’s Shinnecock and enslaved ancestors to the ways echolocation changes our understandings of “vision�� and visionary action, this is a masterful use of metaphor and natural models in the service of social justice.]]> 174 Alexis Pauline Gumbs 1849353972 Mishma 0 non-fiction, read-for-class 4.44 2020
author: Alexis Pauline Gumbs
name: Mishma
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at: 2024/04/14
date added: 2024/04/14
shelves: non-fiction, read-for-class
review:

]]> 203579059 The scariest school on earth
Is about to experience real fear��

Most schools are about being the best. This school? It’s about being the worst. Calder Academy is where the rogue paranormals go. The ones who break the rules or lose control. And when that happens for vamps, werewolves, witches, and dark fae? It gets pretty freaking scary.

I should know. Because I’m trapped here.

Look, every seventeen-year-old girl thinks their mom is a tyrant. But mine just happens to run Calder Academy, which paints a giant target on my back. The way I make it through these dark halls is by steering clear of the things―and kids―who go bump in the night.

Especially Jude Abernathy-Lee.

But when a freak storm hits our isolated island, I'm stuck without a backup plan. The power is gone. The lights are out. And our worst nightmares are suddenly real―and out for blood.
Now the only way to survive is to align myself with one evil to avoid the other.

And the only thing worse than the idea of getting close to Jude? Secretly loving every minute of it.]]> 474 Tracy Wolff 1649377010 Mishma 0 to-read 3.58 2024
author: Tracy Wolff
name: Mishma
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 40245130
A mother and father set out with their two children, a boy and a girl, driving from New York to Arizona in the heat of summer. Their destination: Apacheria, the place the Apaches once called home.

Why Apaches? asks the ten-year-old son. Because they were the last of something, answers his father.

In their car, they play games and sing along to music. But on the radio, there is news about an "immigration crisis": thousands of kids trying to cross the southwestern border into the United States, but getting detained--or lost in the desert along the way.

As the family drives--through Virginia to Tennessee, across Oklahoma and Texas--we sense they are on the brink of a crisis of their own. A fissure is growing between the parents, one the children can almost feel beneath their feet. They are led, inexorably, to a grand, harrowing adventure--both in the desert landscape and within the chambers of their own imaginations.

Told through several compelling voices, blending texts, sounds, and images, Lost Children Archive is an astonishing feat of literary virtuosity. It is a richly engaging story of how we document our experiences, and how we remember the things that matter to us the most. With urgency and empathy, it takes us deep into the lives of one remarkable family as it probes the nature of justice and equality today.]]> 385 Valeria Luiselli 0525520619 Mishma 0 currently-reading 3.75 2019
author: Valeria Luiselli
name: Mishma
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/10
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 58523626 Y/Na novel about a Korean American woman living in Berlin whose obsession with a K-pop idol sends her to Seoul on a journey of literary self-destruction.

It’s as if her life only began once Moon appeared in it. The desultory copywriting work, the boyfriend, and the want of anything not-Moon quickly fall away when she beholds the idol in concert, where Moon dances as if his movements are creating their own gravitational field; on live streams, as fans from around the world comment in dozens of languages; even on skincare products endorsed by the wildly popular Korean boyband, of which Moon is the youngest, most luminous member. Seized by ineffable desire, our unnamed narrator begins writing Y/N fanfic—in which you, the reader, insert [Your/Name] and play out an intimate relationship with the unattainable star.

Then Moon suddenly retires, vanishing from the public eye. As Y/N flies from Berlin to Seoul to be with Moon, our narrator, too, journeys to Korea in search of the object of her love. An escalating series of mistranslations and misidentifications lands her at the headquarters of the Kafkaesque entertainment company that manages the boyband until, at a secret location, together with Moon at last, art and real life approach their final convergence.

Surreal, hilarious, and shrewdly poignant, Y/N is a provocative literary debut about the universal longing for transcendence and the tragic struggle to assert one’s singular story amidst the amnesiac effects of globalization. Esther Yi’s prose unsettles the boundary between high and mass art, exploding our expectations of a novel about “identity�� and offering in its place a sui generis picture of the loneliness that afflicts modern life.]]> 204 Esther Yi 1662601549 Mishma 0 2.92 2023
author: Esther Yi
name: Mishma
average rating: 2.92
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2024/03/30
date added: 2024/04/01
shelves: audiobook, literary-fiction, surrealism
review:
I feel like i conjured this book up in a fever dream
]]> 24693870 A beautifully written, deeply provocative inquiry into the intersection of animal and disability liberation—and the debut of an important new social critic

How much of what we understand of ourselves as “human�� depends on our physical and mental abilities—how we move (or cannot move) in and interact with the world? And how much of our definition of “human�� depends on its difference from “animal��?

Drawing on her own experiences as a disabled person, a disability activist, and an animal advocate, author Sunaura Taylor persuades us to think deeply, and sometimes uncomfortably, about what divides the human from the animal, the disabled from the nondisabled—and what it might mean to break down those divisions, to claim the animal and the vulnerable in ourselves, in a process she calls “cripping animal ethics.��

Beasts of Burden suggests that issues of disability and animal justice—which have heretofore primarily been presented in opposition—are in fact deeply entangled. Fusing philosophy, memoir, science, and the radical truths these disciplines can bring—whether about factory farming, disability oppression, or our assumptions of human superiority over animals—Taylor draws attention to new worlds of experience and empathy that can open up important avenues of solidarity across species and ability. Beasts of Burden is a wonderfully engaging and elegantly written work, both philosophical and personal, by a brilliant new voice.]]> 272 Sunaura Taylor 1620971283 Mishma 0 read-for-class, non-fiction 4.56 2015
author: Sunaura Taylor
name: Mishma
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at: 2024/04/01
date added: 2024/04/01
shelves: read-for-class, non-fiction
review:

]]> 434903 The Rings of Saturn �� with its curious archive of photographs �� records a walking tour along the east coast of England. A few of the things which cross the path and mind of its narrator (who both is and is not Sebald) are lonely eccentrics, Sir Thomas Browne's skull, a matchstick model of the Temple of Jerusalem, recession-hit seaside towns, wooded hills, Joseph Conrad, Rembrandt's "Anatomy Lesson," the natural history of the herring, the massive bombings of WWII, the dowager empress Tzu Hsi, and the silk industry in Norwich.]]> 296 W.G. Sebald 0811214133 Mishma 3 4.26 1995
author: W.G. Sebald
name: Mishma
average rating: 4.26
book published: 1995
rating: 3
read at: 2024/03/27
date added: 2024/04/01
shelves: literary-fiction, read-for-class
review:
i can appreciate what it was doing technically but I was also bored? Maybe it's a book to return to at some point
]]> 54275771 A romance starring a Mexican American teen who discovers love and profound truths about the universe when she spends her summer on a road trip across the country.

When her twin sister reaches social media stardom, Moon Fuentez accepts her fate as the ugly, unwanted sister hidden in the background, destined to be nothing more than her sister’s camerawoman. But this summer, Moon also takes a job as the “merch girl�� on a tour bus full of beautiful influencers and her fate begins to shift in the best way possible.

Most notable is her bunkmate and new nemesis, Santiago Phillips, who is grumpy, combative, and also the hottest guy Moon has ever seen.

Moon is certain she hates Santiago and that he hates her back. But as chance and destiny (and maybe, probably, close proximity) bring the two of them in each other’s perpetual paths, Moon starts to wonder if that’s really true. She even starts to question her destiny as the unnoticed, unloved wallflower she always thought she was.

Could this summer change Moon’s life as she knows it?]]> 432 Raquel Vasquez Gilliland Mishma 0 currently-reading 4.25 2021
author: Raquel Vasquez Gilliland
name: Mishma
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/20
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 55042258
Defacing the Monument opens with the narration of an Operation Streamline hearing, a proceeding during which as many as 75 undocumented migrants are criminally prosecuted and sentenced en masse to serve jail time prior to deportation. It’s an attempt to bear witness to what happens to those who do not hold the “correct�� documents as a way to show texts always bear the marks of power. Documentary poetics offers a tradition and a form through which a writer can situate events or experiences within broad social and historical contexts. It can provide a space to record, to unearth, to witness, and to contextualize. But we can’t fetishize the document. And we must use it with an eye toward our own complicity and participation in the systems we wish to investigate. Part documentary act, part lyric essay, part criticism, Defacing the Monument enacts the possibilities and limits of documentary impulses.]]> 161 Susan Briante 1934819905 Mishma 0 read-for-class, non-fiction 4.34 2020
author: Susan Briante
name: Mishma
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at: 2024/02/20
date added: 2024/03/20
shelves: read-for-class, non-fiction
review:

]]> 57604671 284 Natalie Lira 0520355679 Mishma 0 4.44
author: Natalie Lira
name: Mishma
average rating: 4.44
book published:
rating: 0
read at: 2024/03/18
date added: 2024/03/20
shelves: academic-and-theory, read-for-class
review:

]]> 58678702 67 Annie Ernaux 1644213575 Mishma 0 non-fiction, read-for-class 3.98 1991
author: Annie Ernaux
name: Mishma
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1991
rating: 0
read at: 2024/03/16
date added: 2024/03/20
shelves: non-fiction, read-for-class
review:

]]> 54828706 I learned that before entering the kitchen, I must get the measure of its hold over me.��

Food can embody our personal history as well as wider cultural histories. But what are the stories we tell ourselves about the kitchen, and how do we first come to it? How do the cookbooks we read shape us? Can cooking be a tool for connection in the kitchen and outside of it?

In these essays thirteen writers consider the subjects of cooking and eating and how they shape our lives, and the possibilities and limitations the kitchen poses. Rachel Roddy traces an alternative personal history through the cookers in her life; Rebecca May Johnson considers the radical potential of finger food; Ruby Tandoh discovers other definitions of sweetness through the work of writer Doreen Fernandez; Yemisí Aríbisálà remembers a love affair in which food failed as a language; and Julia Turshen considers food’s ties to community.

A collection to savour and inspire, In the Kitchen brings together thirteen contemporary writers whose work brilliantly explores food, capturing their reflections on their experiences in the kitchen and beyond.]]> 177 Juliet Annan 1911547666 Mishma 0 to-read 4.04 2020
author: Juliet Annan
name: Mishma
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 86856 From the star of No Reservations, Anthony Bourdain's New York Times-bestselling chronicle of travelling the world in search the globe's greatest cuilnary adventures

The only thing "gonzo gastronome" and internationally bestselling author Anthony Bourdain loves as much as cooking is traveling. Inspired by the question, "What would be the perfect meal?," Tony sets out on a quest for his culinary holy grail, and in the process turns the notion of "perfection" inside out. From California to Cambodia, A Cooks' Tour chronicles the unpredictable adventures of America's boldest and bravest chef.

Fans of Bourdain will find much to love in revisting this classic culinary and travel memoir.]]> 277 Anthony Bourdain 0060012781 Mishma 4 favourites, non-fiction, food 4.08 2001
author: Anthony Bourdain
name: Mishma
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2001
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/09
date added: 2024/03/09
shelves: favourites, non-fiction, food
review:
i fell in love with him, i think
]]> 2528
The loneliness of people's lives, the effects of chance, the discovery of love-all coalesce in this extraordinary novel that displays the power and art of José Saramago in brilliant form.]]> 245 José Saramago 0156010593 Mishma 5 3.92 1997
author: José Saramago
name: Mishma
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1997
rating: 5
read at: 2024/03/06
date added: 2024/03/06
shelves: read-for-class, literary-fiction
review:

]]> 36348067 Half Gods brings together the exiled, the disappeared, the seekers. Following the fractured origins and destines of two brothers named after demigods from the ancient epic the Mahabharata, we meet a family struggling with the reverberations of the past in their lives. These ten interlinked stories redraw the map of our world in surprising ways: following an act of violence, a baby girl is renamed after a Hindu goddess but raised as a Muslim; a lonely butcher from Angola finds solace in a family of refugees in New Jersey; a gentle entomologist, in Sri Lanka, discovers unexpected reserves of courage while searching for his missing son.

By turns heartbreaking and fiercely inventive, Half Gods reveals with sharp clarity the ways that parents, children, and friends act as unknowing mirrors to each other, revealing in their all-too human weaknesses, hopes, and sorrows a connection to the divine.]]> 208 Akil Kumarasamy 0374167672 Mishma 0 to-read 3.86 2018
author: Akil Kumarasamy
name: Mishma
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 58684275 An award-winning scholar exposes the foundational racism of the child welfare system and calls for radical change  Many believe the child welfare system protects children from abuse. But as Torn Apart uncovers, this system is designed to punish Black families. Drawing on decades of research, legal scholar and sociologist Dorothy Roberts reveals that the child welfare system is better understood as a “family policing system�� that collaborates with law enforcement and prisons to oppress Black communities. Child protection investigations ensnare a majority of Black children, putting their families under intense state surveillance and regulation. Black children are disproportionately likely to be torn from their families and placed in foster care, driving many to juvenile detention and imprisonment.  The only way to stop the destruction caused by family policing, Torn Apart argues, is to abolish the child welfare system and liberate Black communities. ]]> 384 Dorothy Roberts 1549193171 Mishma 0 4.58
author: Dorothy Roberts
name: Mishma
average rating: 4.58
book published:
rating: 0
read at: 2024/03/02
date added: 2024/03/02
shelves: academic-and-theory, read-for-class
review:

]]> 18110807
The Flamethrowers is an intensely engaging exploration of the mystique of the feminine, the fake, the terrorist. At its center is Kushner’s brilliantly realized protagonist, a young woman on the verge. Thrilling and fearless, this is a major American novel from a writer of spectacular talent and imagination.]]> 400 Rachel Kushner Mishma 0 to-read 3.36 2013
author: Rachel Kushner
name: Mishma
average rating: 3.36
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 9361377 The Middle Stories and Ticknor comes a bold interrogation into the possibility of a beautiful life. How Should a Person Be? is a novel of many identities: an autobiography of the mind, a postmodern self-help book, and a fictionalized portrait of the artist as a young woman �� of two such artists, in fact.

For reasons multiple and mysterious, Sheila finds herself in a quandary of self-doubt, questioning how a person should be in the world. Inspired by her friend Margaux, a painter, and her seemingly untortured ability to live and create, Sheila casts Margaux as material, embarking on a series of recordings in which nothing is too personal, too ugly, or too banal to be turned into art. Along the way, Sheila confronts a cast of painters who are equally blocked in an age in which the blow job is the ultimate art form. She begins questioning her desire to be Important, her quest to be both a leader and a pupil, and her unwillingness to sacrifice herself.

Searching, uncompromising and yet mordantly funny, How Should a Person Be? is a brilliant portrait of art-making and friendship from the psychic underground of Canada's most fiercely original writer.]]> 306 Sheila Heti 0887842402 Mishma 0 to-read 3.35 2010
author: Sheila Heti
name: Mishma
average rating: 3.35
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 17673
From the Sierra Nevada, the Mojave Desert, the Yucatan Peninsula, and the Bahamas to her home ground on the high plateaus and deep canyons of the Southwest, we journey with Meloy through vistas of both great beauty and great desecration. Her keen vision makes us look anew at ancestral mountains, turquoise seas, and even motel swimming pools. She introduces us to Navajo “velvet grandmothers�� whose attire and aesthetics absorb the vivid palette of their homeland, as well as to Persians who consider turquoise the life-saving equivalent of a bullet-proof vest. Throughout, Meloy invites us to appreciate along with her the endless surprises in all of life and celebrates the seduction to be found in our visual surroundings.]]> 336 Ellen Meloy 0375708138 Mishma 0 to-read 4.03 2002
author: Ellen Meloy
name: Mishma
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2002
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 59452779 104 Annie Ernaux Mishma 4 non-fiction, read-for-class 4.32 1988
author: Annie Ernaux
name: Mishma
average rating: 4.32
book published: 1988
rating: 4
read at: 2024/02/25
date added: 2024/02/27
shelves: non-fiction, read-for-class
review:

]]> 38402046
Care Work is a mapping of access as radical love, a celebration of the work that sick and disabled queer/people of color are doing to find each other and to build power and community, and a tool kit for everyone who wants to build radically resilient, sustainable communities of liberation where no one is left behind. Powerful and passionate, Care Work is a crucial and necessary call to arms.]]> 266 1551527383 Mishma 0 4.55 2018
author: Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
name: Mishma
average rating: 4.55
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at: 2024/02/25
date added: 2024/02/27
shelves: essay-collections, non-fiction, read-for-class, asian-authors
review:

]]> 53336058
Trans Care is a critical intervention in how care labor and care ethics have been thought, arguing that dominant modes of conceiving and critiquing the politics and distribution of care entrench normative and cis-centric familial structures and gendered arrangements. A serious consideration of trans survival and flourishing requires a radical rethinking of how care operates.]]> 72 Hil Malatino 1517911184 Mishma 0 read-for-class 4.34 2020
author: Hil Malatino
name: Mishma
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at: 2024/02/25
date added: 2024/02/27
shelves: read-for-class
review:

]]> 44279110
Our narrator should be happy, shouldn’t she? She’s young, thin, pretty, a recent Columbia graduate, works an easy job at a hip art gallery, lives in an apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan paid for, like the rest of her needs, by her inheritance. But there is a dark and vacuous hole in her heart, and it isn’t just the loss of her parents, or the way her Wall Street boyfriend treats her, or her sadomasochistic relationship with her best friend, Reva. It’s the year 2000 in a city aglitter with wealth and possibility; what could be so terribly wrong?

My Year of Rest and Relaxation is a powerful answer to that question. Through the story of a year spent under the influence of a truly mad combination of drugs designed to heal our heroine from her alienation from this world, Moshfegh shows us how reasonable, even necessary, alienation can be. Both tender and blackly funny, merciless and compassionate, it is a showcase for the gifts of one of our major writers working at the height of her powers.]]> 289 Ottessa Moshfegh 0525522131 Mishma 0 to-read 3.62 2018
author: Ottessa Moshfegh
name: Mishma
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 32076678
Crime, even the darkest and most unsayable acts, can happen to any one of us. As Alex pores over the facts of the murder, they find themself thrust into the complicated narrative of Ricky’s childhood. And by examining the details of Ricky’s case, they are forced to face their own story, to unearth long-buried family secrets, and reckon with a past that colors their view of Ricky's crime.

But another surprise awaits: They weren’t the only one who saw their life in Ricky’s.

An intellectual and emotional thriller that is also a different kind of murder mystery, THE FACT OF A BODY is a book not only about how the story of one crime was constructed -- but about how we grapple with our own personal histories. Along the way it tackles questions about the nature of forgiveness, and if a single narrative can ever really contain something as definitive as the truth. This groundbreaking, heart-stopping work, ten years in the making, shows how the law is more personal than we would like to believe -- and the truth more complicated, and powerful, than we could ever imagine.]]> 326 Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich 1250080541 Mishma 0 currently-reading 3.79 2017
author: Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich
name: Mishma
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/20
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]>