en-US Sat, 19 Apr 2025 08:08:47 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 35197642 80 Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya 1904336477 Hafs 4 4.64
author: Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya
name: Hafs
average rating: 4.64
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/26
date added: 2025/04/19
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Page 54 it quotes the ayah as being from Fussilat but ayah in Arabic is from Hujurat and the translation is from surah Ibrahim idk if it's just my copy with this ( I wanna call it a typo but
]]> 222532937
But if she's so hopeless, why can she always summon a desire for her favourite street food, the hot, spicy rice cake, tteokbokki? Is this just what life is like?

Recording her dialogues with her psychiatrist over a 12-week period, Baek begins to disentangle the feedback loops, knee-jerk reactions and harmful behaviours that keep her locked in a cycle of self-abuse. Part memoir, part self-help book.]]> Baek Se-hee 152666366X Hafs 3 3.56 2019
author: Baek Se-hee
name: Hafs
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/05
date added: 2025/03/29
shelves:
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]]> 25814512
It’s 1939 and Mary, a young socialite, is determined to shock her blueblood political family by volunteering for the war effort. She is assigned as a teacher to children who were evacuated from London and have been rejected by the countryside because they are infirm, mentally disabled, or—like Mary’s favorite student, Zachary—have colored skin.

Tom, an education administrator, is distraught when his best friend, Alastair, enlists. Alastair, an art restorer, has always seemed far removed from the violent life to which he has now condemned himself. But Tom finds distraction in Mary, first as her employer and then as their relationship quickly develops in the emotionally charged times. When Mary meets Alastair, the three are drawn into a tragic love triangle and—while war escalates and bombs begin falling around them—further into a new world unlike any they’ve ever known.

A sweeping epic with the kind of unforgettable characters, cultural insights, and indelible scenes that made Little Bee so incredible, Chris Cleave’s latest novel explores the disenfranchised, the bereaved, the elite, the embattled. Everyone Brave Is Forgiven is a heartbreakingly beautiful story of love, loss, and incredible courage.]]> 418 Chris Cleave 1501124374 Hafs 4 3.71 2016
author: Chris Cleave
name: Hafs
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/30
date added: 2025/03/06
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]]> 59366260
In 1473, fourteen-year-old Blanca dies in a hilltop monastery in Mallorca. Nearly four hundred years later, when George Sand, her two children, and her lover Frederic Chopin arrive in the village, Blanca is still there: a spirited, funny, righteous ghost, she’s been hanging around the monastery since her accidental death, spying on the monks and the townspeople and keeping track of her descendants.

Blanca is enchanted the moment she sees George, and the magical novel unfolds as a story of deeply felt, unrequited longing—a teenage ghost pining for a woman who can’t see her and doesn’t know she exists. As George and Chopin, who wear their unconventionality, in George’s case, literally on their sleeves, find themselves in deepening trouble with the provincial, 19th-century villagers, Blanca watches helplessly and reflects on the circumstances of her own death (which involved an ill-advised love affair with a monk-in-training).

Charming, original, and emotionally moving -- gorgeous and surprising exploration of artistry, desire, and life after death.]]> 304 Nell Stevens 1982190949 Hafs 2 3.75 2022
author: Nell Stevens
name: Hafs
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2022
rating: 2
read at: 2025/02/28
date added: 2025/03/06
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]]> 52006244
The original inhabitants of India, these Adivasis still live in forests and hills, with religious beliefs, traditions and rituals so far removed from the rest of the country that they represent an anthropological wealth of our heritage.

This book weaves together prose, oral narratives and Adivasi history to tell the stories of six remarkable tribes of India—reckoning with radical changes over the last century—as they were pulled apart and thrown together in ways none of them fathomed.]]> 256 Nidhi Dugar Kundalia 0143429477 Hafs 4 4.01
author: Nidhi Dugar Kundalia
name: Hafs
average rating: 4.01
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/18
date added: 2025/03/06
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]]> 8521879
B.R. Ambedkar’s Annihilation of Caste is one of the most important, yet neglected, works of political writing from India. Written in 1936, it is an audacious denunciation of Hinduism and its caste system. Ambedkar �� a figure like W.E.B. Du Bois �� offers a scholarly critique of Hindu scriptures, scriptures that sanction a rigidly hierarchical and iniquitous social system. The world’s best-known Hindu, Mahatma Gandhi, responded publicly to the provocation. The hatchet was never buried.]]> 100 B.R. Ambedkar 8187190442 Hafs 4 4.61 1936
author: B.R. Ambedkar
name: Hafs
average rating: 4.61
book published: 1936
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/21
date added: 2025/03/06
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]]> 13356032
Based on the poem that inspired a movement, What Teachers Make is Mali's sharp, funny, reflective, critical call to arms about the joys of teaching and why teachers are so vital to America today. It's a book that will be treasured and shared by every teacher in America—and everyone who's ever loved or learned from one.]]> 0 Taylor Mali 1452636273 Hafs 3 4.13 2012
author: Taylor Mali
name: Hafs
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2012
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/14
date added: 2025/03/06
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]]> 61089492
Benjamin Honey- American, Bantu, Igbo- born enslaved- freed or fled at fifteen- aspiring orchardist, arrived on the island with his Irish wife, Patience, and discovered they could make a life together there. More than a century later, the Honeys' descendants remain, with an eccentric, diverse band of neighbours. Then comes the intrusion of 'civilization': officials determine to 'cleanse' the island, and a missionary schoolteacher selects one light-skinned boy to save. The rest will succumb to the authorities' institutions or cast themselves on the waters in a new Noah's Ark.

Full of lyricism and power, Paul Harding's This Other Eden explores the hopes and dreams and resilience of those seen not to fit a world brutally intolerant of difference.]]> 224 Paul Harding 132403629X Hafs 4 3.73 2023
author: Paul Harding
name: Hafs
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/10
date added: 2025/03/06
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]]> 35051103
On her frequent visits to the dargah, Nida meets the gentle, flute-playing hijra Bhanggi, who sits under a bargadh tree and yearns for acceptance and affection, but is invariably shunned. A friendship-fragile, tentative and tender-develops between the two, both exiles within their own lives; but it flies in the face of all convention and cannot be allowed.

Faiqa Mansab's accomplished and dazzling debut novel explores the themes of love, betrayal and loss in the complex, changing world of today's Pakistan.]]> Faiqa Mansab Hafs 5 3.91 2017
author: Faiqa Mansab
name: Hafs
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/31
date added: 2025/03/06
shelves:
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]]> 65215744 A new collection—about loss, alienation, aging, and the strangeness of contemporary life—by the award-winning, and inimitable, author of The Book of Goose.

A grieving mother makes a spreadsheet of everyone she’s lost. Elsewhere, a professor develops a troubled intimacy with her hairdresser. And every year, a restless woman receives an email from a strange man twice her age and several states away. In Yiyun Li’s stories, people strive for an ordinary existence until doing so becomes unsustainable, until the surface cracks and the grand mysterious forces—death, violence, estrangement—come to light. And even everyday life is laden with meaning, studded with indelible details: a filched jar of honey, a mound of wounded ants, a photograph kept hidden for many years, until it must be seen.

Li is a truly original writer, an alchemist of opposites: tender and unsentimental, metaphysical and blunt, funny and horrifying, omniscient and unusually aware of just how much we cannot know. Beloved for her novels and memoirs, she returns here to her earliest form, gathering pieces that have appeared in The New Yorker, Zoetrope, and elsewhere. Taken together, the stories in Wednesday's Child, written over the span of a decade, articulate the cost, both material and emotional, of living—exile, assimilation, loss, love—with her trademark unnerving beauty and wisdom.]]> 256 Yiyun Li 0374606374 Hafs 4 3.72 2023
author: Yiyun Li
name: Hafs
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/28
date added: 2025/03/06
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]]> 4657432
In the spirit of Joyce's Dubliners and Turgenev's A Sportsman's Sketches, Daniyal Mueenuddin's collection of linked stories illuminates a place and a people through an examination of the entwined lives of landowners and their retainers on the Gurmani family farm in the countryside outside of Lahore, Pakistan. An aging feudal landlord's household staff, the villagers who depend on his favor, and a network of relations near and far who have sought their fortune in the cities confront the advantages and constraints of station, the dissolution of old ways, and the shock of change.

Mueenuddin bares—at times humorously, at times tragically—the complexities of Pakistani class and culture and presents a vivid picture of a time and a place, of the old powers and the new, as the Pakistani feudal order is undermined and transformed.

Nawabdin Electrician
Saleema
Provide, Provide
About a Burning Girl
In Other Rooms, Other Wonders
Our Lady of Paris
Lily
A Spoiled Man]]> 247 Daniyal Mueenuddin 0393068005 Hafs 3 3.76 2009
author: Daniyal Mueenuddin
name: Hafs
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2009
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/21
date added: 2025/03/06
shelves:
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]]> 57245801
Are they a monolithic community practising a faith alien to India? Or are they a diverse people, geographically rooted in the cultural ethos of the land? Is there an ‘Indian Islam��, a religion that grew out of Arabia but was nurtured in India and influenced by local traditions and customs? Has the power of Islam declined over the centuries because the faithful have forgotten the spirit of the religion, and are sticking to dogma and rigid rules instead? Born a Muslim: Some Truths about Islam in India attempts to answer these questions by taking a hard look at how the world’s second-largest religion is practised in the country.

The book tracks the history of the religion from its revelation in Arabia in the seventh century to its spread through many parts of the world. It arrived in India by multiple routes—in the south, in the eighth and ninth centuries CE, with traders from Arabia, and in the north, in the tenth and eleventh centuries, with invaders, rulers, and mystics, largely from Central Asia. Once it was established in India, it morphed and evolved through the centuries until it took on the distinctive contours of the religion that is practised here at present. The author takes a clear-eyed look at every aspect of Islam in India today. She examines the factors that have stalled the socio-economic and intellectual growth of Indian Muslims and attributes both internal factors—such as a disproportionate reliance on the ulema—as well as external ones that have contributed to the backwardness of the community. She shows at length, and with great empathy and understanding, what it is like to live as a Muslim in India and offers suggestions on how their lot might be improved. Weaving together personal memoir, history, reportage, scholarship, and interviews with a wide variety of people, the author highlights how an apathetic and sometimes hostile government attitude and prejudice at all levels of society have contributed to Muslim vulnerability and insecurity.

Born a Muslim goes beyond stereotypes and news headlines to present an extraordinarily compelling and illuminating portrait of one of the largest and most diverse communities in India.]]> 390 Ghazala Wahab 9390652170 Hafs 4 4.02
author: Ghazala Wahab
name: Hafs
average rating: 4.02
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/27
date added: 2025/03/06
shelves:
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]]> 62047992 The moving international sensation about new beginnings, human connection, and the joy of reading.

Hidden in Jimbocho, Tokyo, is a booklover's paradise. On a quiet corner in an old wooden building lies a shop filled with hundreds of second-hand books.

Twenty-five-year-old Takako has never liked reading, although the Morisaki bookshop has been in her family for three generations. It is the pride and joy of her uncle Satoru, who has devoted his life to the bookshop since his wife Momoko left him five years earlier.

When Takako's boyfriend reveals he's marrying someone else, she reluctantly accepts her eccentric uncle's offer to live rent-free in the tiny room above the shop. Hoping to nurse her broken heart in peace, Takako is surprised to encounter new worlds within the stacks of books lining the Morisaki bookshop.

As summer fades to autumn, Satoru and Takako discover they have more in common than they first thought. The Morisaki bookshop has something to teach them both about life, love, and the healing power of books.]]> 150 Satoshi Yagisawa 0063278677 Hafs 4 3.67 2010
author: Satoshi Yagisawa
name: Hafs
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2010
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/15
date added: 2025/03/06
shelves:
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]]> 2979396 119 Ahmad Faraz Hafs 3 3.97 1957
author: Ahmad Faraz
name: Hafs
average rating: 3.97
book published: 1957
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/22
date added: 2025/03/06
shelves:
review:
So y'all decided not to tell me that Ahmad Faraz is actually not entirely romantic...
]]> 208931300 An exquisitely moving story about grief, love, and family—but especially love—from the global phenomenon Sally Rooney.

Aside from the fact that they are brothers, Peter and Ivan Koubek seem to have little in common.

Peter is a Dublin lawyer in his thirties—successful, competent, and apparently unassailable. But in the wake of their father’s death, he’s medicating himself to sleep and struggling to manage his relationships with two very different women—his enduring first love, Sylvia, and Naomi, a college student for whom life is one long joke.

Ivan is a twenty-two-year-old competitive chess player. He has always seen himself as socially awkward, a loner, the antithesis of his glib elder brother. Now, in the early weeks of his bereavement, Ivan meets Margaret, an older woman emerging from her own turbulent past, and their lives become rapidly and intensely intertwined.

For two grieving brothers and the people they love, this is a new interlude—a period of desire, despair, and possibility; a chance to find out how much one life might hold inside itself without breaking.]]> 454 Sally Rooney 0374602638 Hafs 3 3.87 2024
author: Sally Rooney
name: Hafs
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/14
date added: 2025/03/06
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review:

]]> 35216686 Dehlvi's memoir, written on his deathbed, not only chronicles the fading glory of the Mughal court and his entry into a vanishing way of life, but also, most importantly, pivots on the horrifying spectacle of the Revolt and its aftermath-from the violent siege of Shahjahanabad to the bloody reprisals that followed. We learn about the brutal murder of the British Resident and the ensuing deaths of the European men, women and children who were sheltering inside the Qila. We also glimpse the emperor's pleas to the rebels and his helplessness as they took over the Qila. Moreover, Dehlvi crucially elaborates on the plight of those who managed to escape the slaughter and carnage.
Translated into English for the first time, Dehlvi's memoir is intensely vivid and moving, filled with incident and rich in insight. An immensely significant historical record of the Revolt as it unfolded, Dastan-e-Ghadar is also a compelling personal account that conjures the dramatically changing world Dehlvi lived in.]]> 331 Zahir Dehlvi 9386495503 Hafs 4 3.95
author: Zahir Dehlvi
name: Hafs
average rating: 3.95
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/08
date added: 2025/03/06
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]]> 59462465
In search of the myth of Penglai Island, where it’s rumored life can be fully restored, Zilan starts a new adventure. But when old threats come back to haunt her and the path to Penglai Island means facing down unpredictable, sometimes dangerous, alchemists, she wonders just how high of a price she may be willing to pay.]]> 384 Kylie Lee Baker 0369749901 Hafs 4 4.02 2024
author: Kylie Lee Baker
name: Hafs
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/03
date added: 2025/01/23
shelves:
review:
BABE WAKE UP WE HAVE A COVER AND A TITLE.STAY CALM.ACT NORMAL.DEEP BREATHS.
]]> 220826 Her gün, daima öğleden sonra oraya gidiyor, koridorlardaki resimlere bakıyormuş gibi ağır ağır, fakat büyük bir sabırsızlıkla asıl hedefine varmak isteyen adımlarımı zorla zapt ederek geziniyor, rastgele gözüme çarpmış gibi önünde durduğum "Kürk Mantolu Madonna"yı seyre dalıyor, ta kapılar kapanıncaya kadar orada bekliyordum.

Kimi tutkular rehberimiz olur yaşam boyunca. Kollarıyla bizi sarar. Sorgulamadan peşlerinden gideriz ve hiç pişman olmayacağımızı biliriz. Yapıtlarında insanların görünmeyen yüzlerini ortaya çıkaran Sabahattin Ali, bu kitabında güçlü bir tutkunun resmini çiziyor. Düzenin sildiği kişiliklere, yaşamın uçuculuğuna ve aşkın olanaksızlığına dair, yanıtlanması zor sorular soruyor.]]> 160 Sabahattin Ali 9753638027 Hafs 5 4.50 1943
author: Sabahattin Ali
name: Hafs
average rating: 4.50
book published: 1943
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/12
date added: 2025/01/23
shelves:
review:

]]> 57390604
Now Salama volunteers at a hospital in Homs, helping the wounded who flood through the doors daily. Secretly, though, she is desperate to find a way out of her beloved country before her sister-in-law, Layla, gives birth. So desperate, that she has manifested a physical embodiment of her fear in the form of her imagined companion, Khawf, who haunts her every move in an effort to keep her safe.

But even with Khawf pressing her to leave, Salama is torn between her loyalty to her country and her conviction to survive. Salama must contend with bullets and bombs, military assaults, and her shifting sense of morality before she might finally breathe free. And when she crosses paths with the boy she was supposed to meet one fateful day, she starts to doubt her resolve in leaving home at all.

Soon, Salama must learn to see the events around her for what they truly are—not a war, but a revolution—and decide how she, too, will cry for Syria’s freedom.]]> 417 Zoulfa Katouh 0316351377 Hafs 5
The most heartbreaking book I've read this year. Every page is filled with a new reason to cry (and to be thankful)
Zoulfa Katouh has a way with words; they come from her heart, she rarely needed to use long complicated words and yet, they meant more than I could ever imagine. They painted a story (a world even) so different and REAL that I have been living in it for hours.

“Every lemon will bring forth a child, and the lemons will never die out.��
May the Lord protect my Syrian brothers and sisters. May he have mercy on their departed souls. May the lemon trees never cease to grow.

11/12/24
GUYS THE LEMON TREES CONTINUE TO GROW MY BELOVED LAND OF JASMINE YOU ARE FREE I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS DAY HAS COME AHHHHHH يديييييم الفرح]]> 4.48 2022
author: Zoulfa Katouh
name: Hafs
average rating: 4.48
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2022/11/01
date added: 2024/12/11
shelves:
review:
As long as the lemon trees grow, hope will never die.

The most heartbreaking book I've read this year. Every page is filled with a new reason to cry (and to be thankful)
Zoulfa Katouh has a way with words; they come from her heart, she rarely needed to use long complicated words and yet, they meant more than I could ever imagine. They painted a story (a world even) so different and REAL that I have been living in it for hours.

“Every lemon will bring forth a child, and the lemons will never die out.��
May the Lord protect my Syrian brothers and sisters. May he have mercy on their departed souls. May the lemon trees never cease to grow.

11/12/24
GUYS THE LEMON TREES CONTINUE TO GROW MY BELOVED LAND OF JASMINE YOU ARE FREE I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS DAY HAS COME AHHHHHH يديييييم الفرح
]]> 45032 488 Jane Austen Hafs 5 3.86 1814
author: Jane Austen
name: Hafs
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1814
rating: 5
read at: 2023/05/23
date added: 2024/11/27
shelves:
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]]> 195790999 Set in a wonderfully reimagined 15th century West Africa, Masquerade is a dazzling, lyrical tale exploring the true cost of one woman’s fight for freedom and self-discovery, and the lengths she’ll go to secure her future.

Òdòdó’s hometown of Timbuktu has been conquered by the the warrior king of Yorùbáland. Already shunned as social pariahs, living conditions for Òdòdó and the other women in her blacksmith guild grow even worse under Yorùbá rule.

Then Òdòdó is abducted. She is whisked across the Sahara to the capital city of Ṣàngótẹ̀, where she is shocked to discover that her kidnapper is none other than the vagrant who had visited her guild just days prior. But now that he is swathed in riches rather than rags, Òdòdó realizes he is not a vagrant at all; he is the warrior king, and he has chosen her to be his wife.

In a sudden change of fortune, Òdòdó soars to the very heights of society. But after a lifetime of subjugation, the power that saturates this world of battle and political savvy becomes too enticing to resist. As tensions with rival states grow, revealing elaborate schemes and enemies hidden in plain sight, Òdòdó must defy the cruel king she has been forced to wed by re-forging the shaky loyalties of the court in her favor, or risk losing everything—including her life.

Loosely based on the myth of Persephone, O.O. Sangoyomi’s Masquerade takes you on a journey of epic power struggles and political intrigue that turn an entire region on its head.]]> 352 O.O. Sangoyomi 1250904293 Hafs 3 That dude was such a massive red flag and not to mention the Stockholm syndrome... the moment a man kidnaps you I think that eliminates him from the list of potential lovers.
the amount of times I screamed "ÒDÒDÓ PLEASE KILL HIM PLS" not even I could believe it. He was very easy to hate, very unlikable (tbh just like an average man but hey at least he had a dimple so she had sth to look at while he ruined her life) Also if I had a dollar for every time she mentioned his braid that came loose from his bun and fell on his face and he never noticed and she had the urge to put it back and -]]> 3.94 2024
author: O.O. Sangoyomi
name: Hafs
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/11/05
shelves:
review:
Òdòdó my beloved did they not tell you about the guy you meet at 19 ??
That dude was such a massive red flag and not to mention the Stockholm syndrome... the moment a man kidnaps you I think that eliminates him from the list of potential lovers.
the amount of times I screamed "ÒDÒDÓ PLEASE KILL HIM PLS" not even I could believe it. He was very easy to hate, very unlikable (tbh just like an average man but hey at least he had a dimple so she had sth to look at while he ruined her life) Also if I had a dollar for every time she mentioned his braid that came loose from his bun and fell on his face and he never noticed and she had the urge to put it back and -
]]> 51591631 A gothic fantasy about monsters and magic, set on the banks of a cursed lake. There are monsters in the world. When Violeta Graceling arrives at haunted Lakesedge estate, she expects to find a monster. She knows the terrifying rumors about Rowan Sylvanan, who drowned his entire family when he was a boy. But neither the estate nor the monster are what they seem. There are monsters in the woods. As Leta falls for Rowan, she discovers he is bound to the Lord Under, the sinister death god lurking in the black waters of the lake. A creature to whom Leta is inexplicably drawn�� There’s a monster in the shadows, and now it knows my name. Now, to save Rowan—and herself—Leta must confront the darkness in her past, including unraveling the mystery of her connection to the Lord Under.]]> 384 Lyndall Clipstone 1250753392 Hafs 3 I'll die for you-OUT
I'll live for you-IN
How about we all live?? maybe no one has to die maybe we don't have to sacrifice anyone have you ever thought about that??
Also they were ready to die for each other from day one so there's that like no one is that hot tbh.

I hate when books that aren't set in the real world make up words and whole religions and festivals and it's so hard to keep up with ugh
Summerbloom/Harvestfall= Seasons
Handfasted= Married
Ash= Curse word apparently

The one that demoted another star was the descriptions of scents and smells, the author had a limited vocabulary in that area. Everything smelled like blood or ash or blood and ash or bloody ash or sth like that but the REAL winner; her describing the scent on his cloak(basically his scent): "it smells of burned sugar, of BOY, of silt.." I nearly toppled off my bed bc of how much I laughed what does BOY smell like???]]> 3.45 2021
author: Lyndall Clipstone
name: Hafs
average rating: 3.45
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2024/10/10
date added: 2024/10/25
shelves:
review:
Let's get it out of the way: I hate the self sacrifice trope and these guys had it BIG TIME so eager to die for each other to die for the town for the world even, (villain voice): oh soooooo endearing.
I'll die for you-OUT
I'll live for you-IN
How about we all live?? maybe no one has to die maybe we don't have to sacrifice anyone have you ever thought about that??
Also they were ready to die for each other from day one so there's that like no one is that hot tbh.

I hate when books that aren't set in the real world make up words and whole religions and festivals and it's so hard to keep up with ugh
Summerbloom/Harvestfall= Seasons
Handfasted= Married
Ash= Curse word apparently

The one that demoted another star was the descriptions of scents and smells, the author had a limited vocabulary in that area. Everything smelled like blood or ash or blood and ash or bloody ash or sth like that but the REAL winner; her describing the scent on his cloak(basically his scent): "it smells of burned sugar, of BOY, of silt.." I nearly toppled off my bed bc of how much I laughed what does BOY smell like???
]]> 202102084 From #1 New York Times bestselling author Ava Reid comes a reimagining of Lady Macbeth, Shakespeare’s most famous villainess, giving her a voice, a past, and a power that transforms the story men have written for her.

The Lady knows the stories: how her eyes induce madness in men.��

The Lady knows she will be wed to the Scottish brute, who does not leave his warrior ways behind when he comes to the marriage bed.����

The Lady knows his hostile, suspicious court will be a game of strategy, requiring all of her wiles and hidden witchcraft to survive.��

But the Lady does not know her husband has occult secrets of his own. She does not know that prophecy girds him like armor. She does not know that her magic is greater and more dangerous, and that it will threaten the order of the world.��

She does not know this yet. But she will.]]> 295 Ava Reid 0593722566 Hafs 2 It's actually a different story all together. In this version, the GREAT Lady Macbeth is replaced by a 17 year old french girl who is slightly (understatement) xenophobic. Where the real Lady Macbeth is strong willed and ambitious, Roscille is self absorbed and slow. Shakespeare's Lady Macbeth is iconic bc she isn't defined by her husband but rather husband is defined by her, she is the match box and he is the pyre but here Lady Roscille is but a dagger in her husband's hand.

The geographic inaccuracies were so unnecessary to the progression of the plot, like yeah it's more dramatic to have the castle near the sea and it ties in well but everything else is a NO. Either you use the actual map of a place or just make up a fake place.

The constant Scottish slander left a very bad taste in my mouth. The Scottish were portrayed as being dumb, brutish, very big and bulky with hobbies that didn't extend beyond farming, fighting and hunting. Not to mention how they were constantly described as being ugly and rough around the edges including the women (didn't help that I started imagining Hiccup's dad from How to Train Your Dragon when they described Macbeth).

What a shame bc I really thought we were getting the feminist retelling of the decade right here but that's that ig.]]> 3.46 2024
author: Ava Reid
name: Hafs
average rating: 3.46
book published: 2024
rating: 2
read at: 2024/10/19
date added: 2024/10/19
shelves:
review:
So this isn't a reimagining of Shakespeare's Macbeth written in Lady Macbeth's POV...
It's actually a different story all together. In this version, the GREAT Lady Macbeth is replaced by a 17 year old french girl who is slightly (understatement) xenophobic. Where the real Lady Macbeth is strong willed and ambitious, Roscille is self absorbed and slow. Shakespeare's Lady Macbeth is iconic bc she isn't defined by her husband but rather husband is defined by her, she is the match box and he is the pyre but here Lady Roscille is but a dagger in her husband's hand.

The geographic inaccuracies were so unnecessary to the progression of the plot, like yeah it's more dramatic to have the castle near the sea and it ties in well but everything else is a NO. Either you use the actual map of a place or just make up a fake place.

The constant Scottish slander left a very bad taste in my mouth. The Scottish were portrayed as being dumb, brutish, very big and bulky with hobbies that didn't extend beyond farming, fighting and hunting. Not to mention how they were constantly described as being ugly and rough around the edges including the women (didn't help that I started imagining Hiccup's dad from How to Train Your Dragon when they described Macbeth).

What a shame bc I really thought we were getting the feminist retelling of the decade right here but that's that ig.
]]> 201242757 From legendary storyteller and master of short fiction Stephen King comes an extraordinary new collection of twelve short stories, many never-before-published, and some of his best EVER.

“You like it darker? Fine, so do I,�� writes Stephen King in the afterword to this magnificent new collection of twelve stories that delve into the darker part of life—both metaphorical and literal. King has, for half a century, been a master of the form, and these stories, about fate, mortality, luck, and the folds in reality where anything can happen, are as rich and riveting as his novels, both weighty in theme and a huge pleasure to read. King writes to feel “the exhilaration of leaving ordinary day-to-day life behind,�� and in You Like It Darker, readers will feel that exhilaration too, again and again.

“Two Talented Bastids�� explores the long-hidden secret of how the eponymous gentlemen got their skills. In “Danny Coughlin’s Bad Dream,�� a brief and unprecedented psychic flash upends dozens of lives, Danny’s most catastrophically. In “Rattlesnakes,�� a sequel to Cujo, a grieving widower travels to Florida for respite and instead receives an unexpected inheritance—with major strings attached. In “The Dreamers,�� a taciturn Vietnam vet answers a job ad and learns that there are some corners of the universe best left unexplored. “The Answer Man�� asks if prescience is good luck or bad and reminds us that a life marked by unbearable tragedy can still be meaningful.

King’s ability to surprise, amaze, and bring us both terror and solace remains unsurpassed. Each of these stories holds its own thrills, joys, and mysteries; each feels iconic. You like it darker? You got it.]]> 512 Stephen King 1668037718 Hafs 1 PS two bastids or whatever the first story was really pissed me off (covid mentioned)]]> 4.16 2024
author: Stephen King
name: Hafs
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2024
rating: 1
read at: 2024/10/16
date added: 2024/10/16
shelves:
review:
This "short" (for there was nothing short about any of these stories) story collection felt like eating from the bottom of a trash can. This is basically all the old stories Stephen King had laying around that were never good enough but since he needed to publish something, this is what made it out. It wasn't "horror" or dark or even chilling contrary to what they're trying to tell you. I had the worst time and I think this is the first and last Stephen King book for me ( I understand that the classics are where it's at but this left a bad taste in my mouth that not even Carrie can get rid of)
PS two bastids or whatever the first story was really pissed me off (covid mentioned)
]]> 157035866 Jennifer Thorne skewers all-too-familiar family dynamics in this sly, wickedly funny vacation-Gothic. Beautifully unhinged and deeply satisfying, Diavola is a sharp twist on the classic haunted house story, exploring loneliness, belonging, and the seemingly inescapable bonds of family mythology.

Anna has two rules for the annual Pace family destination vacations: Tread lightly and survive.

It isn’t easy when she’s the only one in the family who doesn’t quite fit in. Her twin brother, Benny, goes with the flow so much he’s practically dissolved, and her older sister, Nicole, is so used to everyone—including her blandly docile husband and two kids—falling in line that Anna often ends up in trouble for simply asking a question. Mom seizes every opportunity to question her life choices, and Dad, when not reminding everyone who paid for this vacation, just wants some peace and quiet.

The gorgeous, remote villa in tiny Monteperso seems like a perfect place to endure so much family togetherness, until things start going off the rails—the strange noises at night, the unsettling warnings from the local villagers, and the dark, violent past of the villa itself.

(Warning: May invoke feelings of irritation, dread, and despair that come with large family gatherings.)]]> 293 Jennifer Marie Thorne 1250826128 Hafs 3 T
I'm sorry to drag race into this but leave it to a white boy named Christopher (not Chris, never Chris only Christopher) to break haunted house code in the name of "exploration" and "curiosity" like what part of don't open the tower did you not understand babe and that's why you're dead asshole.
Like they all deserved to die but Christopher not Chris had it coming]]> 3.85 2024
author: Jennifer Marie Thorne
name: Hafs
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/10/10
date added: 2024/10/13
shelves:
review:
The scariest thing about the book isn't the freaky ghost lady, it's actually the fact that the MC had to be stuck in some God knows where small town in Italy with her family where they depend on her for almost everything (bc her sister is too busy whining ofc) and yet treat her like a piece of crap all the same. Her "sister" being the worst bc how are you mad that your sister chose to not get married and not have kids bc she just didn't want that life for herself? Oh boo hoo I'm the victim GET OVER YOURSELF EW
T
I'm sorry to drag race into this but leave it to a white boy named Christopher (not Chris, never Chris only Christopher) to break haunted house code in the name of "exploration" and "curiosity" like what part of don't open the tower did you not understand babe and that's why you're dead asshole.
Like they all deserved to die but Christopher not Chris had it coming
]]> 133286777 From the New York Times bestselling author of Ninth House, Hell Bent, and creator of the Grishaverse series comes a highly anticipated historical fantasy set during the Spanish Golden Age

In a shabby house, on a shabby street, in the new capital of Madrid, Luzia Cotado uses scraps of magic to get through her days of endless toil as a scullion. But when her scheming mistress discovers the lump of a servant cowering in the kitchen is actually hiding a talent for little miracles, she demands Luzia use those gifts to better the family's social position.

What begins as simple amusement for the bored nobility takes a perilous turn when Luzia garners the notice of Antonio Pérez, the disgraced secretary to Spain's king. Still reeling from the defeat of his armada, the king is desperate for any advantage in the war against England's heretic queen—and Pérez will stop at nothing to regain the king's favor.

Determined to seize this one chance to better her fortunes, Luzia plunges into a world of seers and alchemists, holy men and hucksters, where the line between magic, science, and fraud is never certain. But as her notoriety grows, so does the danger that her Jewish blood will doom her to the Inquisition's wrath. She will have to use every bit of her wit and will to survive—even if that means enlisting the help of Guillén Santangel, an embittered immortal familiar whose own secrets could prove deadly for them both.]]> 387 Leigh Bardugo 125088425X Hafs 2
Firstly: I hated all the characters like there wasn't a single character on these goddamn pages that could save the book??
Luzia is a maid(when she could actually just go over to her aunt's house and live there bc her aunt is rich but she's also a kept woman which is shameful, blasphemous even and so she follows DEAD father's command to not live with her aunt so as to not dull any marriage prospects not that she has any as a maid living in a kitchen scrubbing pots and what not), she has magic (oh pardon, miracles they're called bc the Spanish crown liked magic only when it was done "for the sake of God" and the King apparently so she's a witch but if she's Christian then she's not a witch bc you can't be both checks out huh?), she's also Jewish (turned Christian bc again the Spanish crown was like really big on Catholicism and had zero tolerance for any other religion apparently so kneel to the pope or DIE but her spells oh no sorry her God given miracles come from the God of the Jews so that's BAD).

long story short she ends up going to some tournament for miracle ppl so there they are, Luzia the maid witch, Santagel the creature (who's supposed to get hotter as the story progresses), Luzia's aunt the kept woman, Abusive employer and abusive employer's husband and Aunty's boyfriend who is like super rich they all go to this thing bc they all want the king to love them and they wanna be even more rich ig and yeah that's the story. Just a witch who's not a witch goes to a nation wide magic show.

The romance wasn't that convincing either and the love interest was blond so like it was always a losing game]]> 3.74 2024
author: Leigh Bardugo
name: Hafs
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2024
rating: 2
read at: 2024/10/10
date added: 2024/10/13
shelves:
review:
Everyone who liked this book show the actual copy that you read show it NOW bc we didn't read the same one that's for sure.

Firstly: I hated all the characters like there wasn't a single character on these goddamn pages that could save the book??
Luzia is a maid(when she could actually just go over to her aunt's house and live there bc her aunt is rich but she's also a kept woman which is shameful, blasphemous even and so she follows DEAD father's command to not live with her aunt so as to not dull any marriage prospects not that she has any as a maid living in a kitchen scrubbing pots and what not), she has magic (oh pardon, miracles they're called bc the Spanish crown liked magic only when it was done "for the sake of God" and the King apparently so she's a witch but if she's Christian then she's not a witch bc you can't be both checks out huh?), she's also Jewish (turned Christian bc again the Spanish crown was like really big on Catholicism and had zero tolerance for any other religion apparently so kneel to the pope or DIE but her spells oh no sorry her God given miracles come from the God of the Jews so that's BAD).

long story short she ends up going to some tournament for miracle ppl so there they are, Luzia the maid witch, Santagel the creature (who's supposed to get hotter as the story progresses), Luzia's aunt the kept woman, Abusive employer and abusive employer's husband and Aunty's boyfriend who is like super rich they all go to this thing bc they all want the king to love them and they wanna be even more rich ig and yeah that's the story. Just a witch who's not a witch goes to a nation wide magic show.

The romance wasn't that convincing either and the love interest was blond so like it was always a losing game
]]> 180633984 June Hur, bestselling author of The Red Palace, crafts a devastating and pulse-pounding tale that will feel all-too-relevant in today’s world, based on a true story from Korean history.

Hope is dangerous. Love is deadly.

1506, Joseon. The people suffer under the cruel reign of the tyrant King Yeonsan, powerless to stop him from commandeering their land for his recreational use, banning and burning books, and kidnapping and horrifically abusing women and girls as his personal playthings.

Seventeen-year-old Iseul has lived a sheltered, privileged life despite the kingdom’s turmoil. When her older sister, Suyeon, becomes the king’s latest prey, Iseul leaves the relative safety of her village, traveling through forbidden territory to reach the capital in hopes of stealing her sister back. But she soon discovers the king’s power is absolute, and to challenge his rule is to court certain death.

Prince Daehyun has lived his whole life in the terrifying shadow of his despicable half-brother, the king. Forced to watch King Yeonsan flaunt his predation through executions and rampant abuse of the common folk, Daehyun aches to find a way to dethrone his half-brother once and for all. When staging a coup, failure is fatal, and he’ll need help to pull it off—but there’s no way to know who he can trust.

When Iseul's and Daehyun's fates collide, their contempt for each other is transcended only by their mutual hate for the king. Armed with Iseul’s family connections and Daehyun’s royal access, they reluctantly join forces to launch the riskiest gamble the kingdom has ever

Save her sister. Free the people. Destroy a tyrant.

Also by June
The Silence of Bones
The Forest of Stolen Girls
The Red Palace]]> 364 June Hur 1250858100 Hafs 3 3.97 2024
author: June Hur
name: Hafs
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/10/01
shelves:
review:
I'm not entirely sure what I was reading here but I liked it bc it literally pulled me out of a reading slump and that's good enough.
]]> 52735921 Two sisters.
One brutal murder.
A quest for vengeance that will unleash Hell itself...
And an intoxicating romance.

Emilia and her twin sister Vittoria are streghe - witches who live secretly among humans, avoiding notice and persecution. One night, Vittoria misses dinner service at the family's renowned Sicilian restaurant. Emilia soon finds the body of her beloved twin...desecrated beyond belief. Devastated, Emilia sets out to find her sister's killer and to seek vengeance at any cost—even if it means using dark magic that's been long forbidden.

Then Emilia meets Wrath, one of the Wicked—princes of Hell she has been warned against in tales since she was a child. Wrath claims to be on Emilia's side, tasked by his master with solving the series of women's murders on the island. But when it comes to the Wicked, nothing is as it seems...]]> 372 Kerri Maniscalco 0316428469 Hafs 0 to-read 3.87 2020
author: Kerri Maniscalco
name: Hafs
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 65213595 A grim and gothic new tale from author Alix E. Harrow about a small town haunted by secrets that can't stay buried and the sinister house that sits at the crossroads of it all.

Eden, Kentucky, is just another dying, bad-luck town, known only for the legend of E. Starling, the reclusive nineteenth-century author and illustrator who wrote The Underland--and disappeared. Before she vanished, Starling House appeared. But everyone agrees that it’s best to let the uncanny house―and its last lonely heir, Arthur Starling―go to rot.

Opal knows better than to mess with haunted houses or brooding men, but an unexpected job offer might be a chance to get her brother out of Eden. Too quickly, though, Starling House starts to feel dangerously like something she’s never had: a home.

As sinister forces converge on Starling House, Opal and Arthur are going to have to make a dire choice to dig up the buried secrets of the past and confront their own fears, or let Eden be taken over by literal nightmares.

If Opal wants a home, she’ll have to fight for it.]]> 320 Alix E. Harrow 1250799058 Hafs 0 to-read 3.77 2023
author: Alix E. Harrow
name: Hafs
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 205673392 In this atmospheric Appalachian gothic, the Haddesley siblings of West Virginia must unearth long-buried secrets to carve out a future when the supernatural bargain entwining their fate with their ancestral land is suddenly ruptured

Since time immemorial, the Haddesley family has tended the cranberry bog. In exchange, the bog sustains them. The staunch seasons of their lives are governed by a strict covenant that is renewed each generation with the ritual sacrifice of their patriarch, and in return, the bog produces a “bog-wife.�� Brought to life from vegetation, this woman is meant to carry on the family line. But when the bog fails—or refuses—to honor the bargain, the Haddesleys, a group of discordant siblings still grieving the mother who mysteriously disappeared years earlier, face an unknown future.

Middle child Wenna, summoned back to the dilapidated family manor just as her marriage is collapsing, believes the Haddesleys must abandon their patrimony. Her siblings are not so easily persuaded. Eldest daughter Eda, de facto head of the household, seeks to salvage the compact by desecrating it. Younger son Percy retreats into the wilderness in a dangerous bid to summon his own bog-wife. And as youngest daughter Nora takes desperate measures to keep her warring siblings together, fledgling patriarch Charlie uncovers a disturbing secret that casts doubt over everything the family has ever believed about itself.

Brimming with aching loss and the universal struggle between honoring family commitments and the drive to strike out on one’s own, The Bog Wife is a haunting invocation of the arcane power of the habits and habitats that bound us.]]> 336 Kay Chronister 1640096620 Hafs 0 to-read 3.59 2024
author: Kay Chronister
name: Hafs
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 24800
Of course, neither Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Will Navidson nor his companion Karen Green was prepared to face the consequences of that impossibility, until the day their two little children wandered off and their voices eerily began to return another story—of creature darkness, of an ever-growing abyss behind a closet door, and of that unholy growl which soon enough would tear through their walls and consume all their dreams.]]> 710 Mark Z. Danielewski Hafs 0 to-read 4.11 2000
author: Mark Z. Danielewski
name: Hafs
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2000
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 199793372 Two hearts circle each other in the eye of the storm in this highly-anticipated follow-up to The Hurricane Wars—prepare for more enemies-to-lovers romance, magical adventures, and political schemes in this Southeast Asian-inspired world.

After a lifetime of war, Alaric and Talasyn were thrust into an alliance between their homelands that was supposed to end the fighting; however, being married to their sworn foe feels far from peaceful. Now Talasyn must play the part of Alaric’s willing empress while her allies secretly plot to overthrow his reign. But the longer the couple are forced together, the harder it becomes to deny the feelings crackling like lightning between them. When the time comes to act, can she trust him, or must she ignore her heart for the sake of so many others?

As the master of the Shadowforged Legion, Alaric has trained for battle all his life, but marrying a Lightweaver might be his most dangerous challenge yet. With tensions between nations churning, he needs to focus on the greater threat—the Moonless Dark, a cataclysmic magical event that could devour everything. Only he and Talasyn can stop it, with a powerful merging of light and shadow that they alone can create together. But saving their world from this disaster is a mere preface to his father’s more sinister schemes, and his wife is a burning flame in the darkness, tempting both his loyalties and his desires.

The Hurricane Wars aren’t over. It’s time to choose what—and who—to fight for. The world holds its breath amidst a whirlwind of new magic and old secrets that could change everything.]]> 400 Thea Guanzon 0063277301 Hafs 0 to-read 4.15 2024
author: Thea Guanzon
name: Hafs
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 204593914 Caraval meets Throne of the Fallen in this spicy dark romantasy where a necromancer needs help from a dangerous phantom to win a deadly competition, only to find their partnership puts her at risk of breaking the game’s most vital rule: don't fall in love.

When Ophelia and her sister discovers their mother brutally murdered, there is no time to grieve: Ophelia has inherited both her powerful death-driven magic and enormous debt on their home. Circumstances go from dire to deadly, however, when Ophelia’s sister decides to pay off the loan by entering Phantasma—a competition where most contestants don’t make it out alive and the winner is granted a single wish.

The only way to save her sister is to compete. But Phantasma is a cursed manor, with twisting corridors and lavish ballrooms, and filled with enticing demons and fatal temptations. Ophelia will need to face nine floors of challenges to win... if her fears don’t overtake her first.

When a charming, arrogant stranger claims he can protect and guide Ophelia, she knows she shouldn’t trust him. While Blackwell may not seem dangerous, appearances can be deceptive. But with her sister’s life on the line, Ophelia can’t afford to turn him away. She just needs to ignore the overwhelming, dark attraction drawing them closer and closer together.

Because in Phantasma, the only thing deadlier than losing the game is losing your heart.]]> 497 Kaylie Smith 1538769255 Hafs 0 to-read 4.06 2024
author: Kaylie Smith
name: Hafs
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 202507554 moons.

They certainly did not expect them to fall.

As a valued Elding Blade of the rebellion group Fíur du Ath, Raeve’s job is to kill. To complete orders and never get caught. When a renowned bounty hunter is employed by The Crown to capture a member of the Ath, Raeve’s world is turned upside down. Blood spills, hearts break, and Raeve finds herself at the mercy of the Guild of Nobles—a group of dual-beaded elementals who intend to turn her into a political statement. Only death will set her free.

Crushed beneath a mourning weight, Kaan Vaegor took the head of a king and donned his melted crown. Now on a tireless quest to assuage the never-ebbing ache in his chest, his hunt for a moonshard lures him into the belly of Gore’s notorious prison where he stumbles upon something that rips apart his perception of reality. A shackled miracle with eyes full of rage and blood on her hands.

The echo of the past sings louder than the Creators themselves, and even Raeve can’t ignore the truths blaring at her from a warmer, happier time.
However.
There’s more to this song than meets the eye, and some truths ��
They’re too poisonous to swallow.

When the Moon Hatched is a fast-paced fantasy romance for fans of witty banter and strong, sassy protagonists. Beneath the cover is an immersive, vibrant world with mysterious creatures, a unique magic system, and a love that blazes through the ages. ]]> 718 Sarah A. Parker Hafs 0 to-read 3.99 2024
author: Sarah A. Parker
name: Hafs
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 18801 In Search of Lost Time contains both The Captive (1923) and The Fugitive (1925). In The Captive, Proust’s narrator describes living in his mother’s Paris apartment with his lover, Albertine, and subsequently falling out of love with her. In The Fugitive, the narrator loses Albertine forever. Rich with irony, The Captive and The Fugitive inspire meditations on desire, sexual love, music, and the art of introspection.

For this authoritative English-language edition, D. J. Enright has revised the late Terence Kilmartin’s acclaimed reworking of C. K. Scott Moncrieff’s translation to take into account the new definitive French editions of Á la recherché du temps perdu (the final volume of these new editions was published by the Bibliothèque de la Pléiade in 1989).]]> 957 Marcel Proust 0375753117 Hafs 0 to-read, classics 4.38 1923
author: Marcel Proust
name: Hafs
average rating: 4.38
book published: 1923
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/23
shelves: to-read, classics
review:

]]> 7144 671 Fyodor Dostoevsky Hafs 5 classics 4.26 1866
author: Fyodor Dostoevsky
name: Hafs
average rating: 4.26
book published: 1866
rating: 5
read at: 2024/07/19
date added: 2024/07/19
shelves: classics
review:
Raskolnikov my beloved, they could never make me hate you :(
]]> 59617445
Set in parallel threads across these two cities, Lahore is a behind-the-scenes look into the negotiations and the political skullduggery that gave India its freedom, the price for which was batwara. As the men make the decisions and wield the swords, the women bear the brunt of the carnage that tears through India in the sticky hot months of its cruellest summer ever.

Backed by astute research, The Partition Trilogy captures the frenzy of Indian
independence, the Partition and the accession of the states, and takes readers back to a time of great upheaval and churn.

‘Lahore is breathtaking in scope, painful yet gentle to the touch.��
�� Taslima Nasreen, author of Lajja and Shameless

‘Vivid and atmospheric.�� �� Aanchal Malhotra, author of Remnants of a Separation

'Current, relevant and important. This is a voice which makes you question, rethink and reimagine the past as the future and the future as the past.'
�� Sabyn Javeri, author of Hijabistan

'Deftly weaves the big strands of history with the finer threads
of human feeling.��
�� Manu S. Pillai, author of The Ivory Throne: Chronicles of the House of Travancore]]> 352 Manreet Sodhi Someshwar 9354890695 Hafs 0 to-read 4.02 2021
author: Manreet Sodhi Someshwar
name: Hafs
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 264158 This volume reprints all 26 of Doré's detailed, masterly engravings from a rare 19th-century edition of the poem. Relevant lines from the poem are printed on facing pages and the complete text is also included. Admirers of Doré will find ample evidence here of his characteristic ability to capture the mood and meaning of a work of literature in striking imagery; lovers of The Raven will delight in seeing its mournful musing on love and loss given dramatic pictorial form.]]> 64 Edgar Allan Poe 0486290727 Hafs 0 to-read 4.31 1845
author: Edgar Allan Poe
name: Hafs
average rating: 4.31
book published: 1845
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 175516
"The Fall .. " recounts the terrible events that befall the last remaining members of the once-illustrious Usher clan before it is -- quite literally -- rent asunder. With amazing economy, Poe plunges the reader into a state of deliciously agonizing suspense. It's a must-read for fans of the golden era of horror writing. "The Fall .." is one of Poe's best known short stories - if not the best.

Librarian's note: this entry is for the short story, "The Fall of the House of Usher." Collections of short stories by the author, such as "The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Tales," can be found elsewhere on ŷ������.]]> 36 Edgar Allan Poe 1594561796 Hafs 0 to-read 3.90 1839
author: Edgar Allan Poe
name: Hafs
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1839
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 194803808
The sisters suspect Lulu's death is the result of foul play, but the LAPD—known for being corrupt to the core—doesn't seem motivated to investigate. Even worse, there are signs that point to the possibility of a police cover-up, and powerful forces in the city want to frame the killing as evidence that Chinatown is a den of iniquity and crime, even more reason it should be demolished to make room for the construction of a new railway depot, Union Station.

Worried that neither the police nor the papers will treat a Chinese girl fairly—no matter how famous and wealthy—the sisters set out to solve their friend’s murder themselves, and maybe save their neighborhood in the bargain. But with Lulu’s killer still on the loose, the girls�� investigation just might put them square in the crosshairs of a coldblooded murderer.]]> 390 Stacey Lee 059353204X Hafs 0 to-read 3.75 2024
author: Stacey Lee
name: Hafs
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 12220 Death of a Salesman and The Crucible), and Williams�� essay “The World I Live In.��

It is a very short list of 20th-century American plays that continue to have the same power and impact as when they first appeared��57 years after its Broadway premiere, Tennessee Williams�� A Streetcar Named Desire is one of those plays. The story famously recounts how the faded and promiscuous Blanche DuBois is pushed over the edge by her sexy and brutal brother-in-law, Stanley Kowalski. Streetcar launched the careers of Marlon Brando, Jessica Tandy, Kim Hunter, and Karl Malden, and solidified the position of Tennessee Williams as one of the most important young playwrights of his generation, as well as that of Elia Kazan as the greatest American stage director of the ��40s and ��50s.]]> 107 Tennessee Williams 0822210894 Hafs 0 to-read 3.98 1947
author: Tennessee Williams
name: Hafs
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1947
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 60879779
I'm Ernest Cunningham. Call me Ern or Ernie. I wish I'd killed whoever decided our family reunion should be at a ski resort, but it's a little more complicated than that.

Have I killed someone? Yes. I have.

Who was it?

Let's get started.

EVERYONE IN MY FAMILY HAS KILLED SOMEONE

My brother

My stepsister

My wife

My father

My mother

My sister-in-law

My uncle

My stepfather

My aunt

Me]]> 371 Benjamin Stevenson 0063279029 Hafs 0 to-read 3.75 2022
author: Benjamin Stevenson
name: Hafs
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 22822858
Over the decades, their relationships deepen and darken, tinged by addiction, success, and pride.��Yet their greatest challenge, each comes to realize, is Jude himself, by midlife a terrifyingly talented litigator yet an increasingly broken man, his mind and body scarred by an unspeakable childhood, and haunted by what he fears is a degree of trauma that he’ll not only be unable to overcome—but that will define his life forever.]]> 720 Hanya Yanagihara 0385539258 Hafs 1 TW: sexual abuse, child sexual abuse, verbal abuse, psychological manipulation and gaslighting, kidnapping/imprisonment,self-harm, drug use, addiction, grief and loss of a loved one.
You can get an extensive list of content warnings here:

Having said that this book is still brilliant in so many ways. Everyone talks about how scarring their experience was with this book (understandable) but rarely anyone talks about the tenderness in which friendship is explored. I loved the characters so much I wasn't able to sleep after (finished this at 2 am bc why not) and the writing was like nothing I've ever seen before (I am committed to drama and hyperbole)

I hated that this book was so long bc they didn't really have to do all that, we could go without the heavy details and descriptions and on top of that we would switch between time periods so rapidly sometimes within the same paragraph it made it difficult to keep up.

In summary A Little Life is like if depression was a book and I will not be rereading it for the sake of my already deteriorating mental health, it was very emotionally draining but I gave it 4 stars bc??? (I dunno)

Please make sure to read the trigger warning very carefully and thing 10 times before picking up this book as it can get messy very fast.

1 YEAR UPDATE BC MY THOUGHTS HAVE PROPERLY MARINATEDAND THIS WAS SO BAD?? IT REALLY MESSED UP WITH MY BRAIN SUBCONSCIOUSLY SO DROPPING MY RATING TO A ONE STAR :(]]> 4.28 2015
author: Hanya Yanagihara
name: Hafs
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2015
rating: 1
read at: 2023/06/24
date added: 2024/06/30
shelves:
review:
A friend referred to whatever was going on in this book as trauma porn and he wasn't wrong bc
TW: sexual abuse, child sexual abuse, verbal abuse, psychological manipulation and gaslighting, kidnapping/imprisonment,self-harm, drug use, addiction, grief and loss of a loved one.
You can get an extensive list of content warnings here:

Having said that this book is still brilliant in so many ways. Everyone talks about how scarring their experience was with this book (understandable) but rarely anyone talks about the tenderness in which friendship is explored. I loved the characters so much I wasn't able to sleep after (finished this at 2 am bc why not) and the writing was like nothing I've ever seen before (I am committed to drama and hyperbole)

I hated that this book was so long bc they didn't really have to do all that, we could go without the heavy details and descriptions and on top of that we would switch between time periods so rapidly sometimes within the same paragraph it made it difficult to keep up.

In summary A Little Life is like if depression was a book and I will not be rereading it for the sake of my already deteriorating mental health, it was very emotionally draining but I gave it 4 stars bc??? (I dunno)

Please make sure to read the trigger warning very carefully and thing 10 times before picking up this book as it can get messy very fast.

1 YEAR UPDATE BC MY THOUGHTS HAVE PROPERLY MARINATEDAND THIS WAS SO BAD?? IT REALLY MESSED UP WITH MY BRAIN SUBCONSCIOUSLY SO DROPPING MY RATING TO A ONE STAR :(
]]> 97411 No man can live a happy life, or even a supportable life, without the study of wisdom

Lucius Annaeus Seneca (4 BC-AD 65) is one of the most famous Roman philosophers. Instrumental in guiding the Roman Empire under emperor Nero, Seneca influenced him from a young age with his Stoic principles. Later in life, he wrote Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium, or Letters from a Stoic, detailing these principles in full.

Seneca’s letters read like a diary or a handbook of philosophical meditations. Often beginning with observations on daily life, the letters focus on many traditional themes of Stoic philosophy, such as the contempt of death, the value of friendship, and virtue as the supreme good.

Using Gummere’s translation from the early twentieth century, this selection of Seneca’s letters shows his belief in the austere, ethical ideals of Stoicism �� teachings we can still learn from today.]]> 254 Seneca 0140442103 Hafs 0 to-read 4.33 64
author: Seneca
name: Hafs
average rating: 4.33
book published: 64
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 51893 Thus Spoke Zarathustra is translated from the German by R.J. Hollingdale in Penguin Classics.

Nietzsche was one of the most revolutionary and subversive thinkers in Western philosophy, and Thus Spoke Zarathustra remains his most famous and influential work. It describes how the ancient Persian prophet Zarathustra descends from his solitude in the mountains to tell the world that God is dead and that the Superman, the human embodiment of divinity, is his successor. Nietzsche's utterance 'God is dead', his insistence that the meaning of life is to be found in purely human terms, and his doctrine of the Superman and the will to power were all later seized upon and unrecognisably twisted by, among others, Nazi intellectuals. With blazing intensity and poetic brilliance, Nietzsche argues that the meaning of existence is not to be found in religious pieties or meek submission to authority, but in an all-powerful life passionate, chaotic and free.]]> 327 Friedrich Nietzsche Hafs 0 to-read 4.10 1883
author: Friedrich Nietzsche
name: Hafs
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1883
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 20738167 288 Susan Fletcher 1909489468 Hafs 5 favorites This is the knife I turn inside myself.
]]> 4.10 2014
author: Susan Fletcher
name: Hafs
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2014
rating: 5
read at: 2024/06/24
date added: 2024/06/26
shelves: favorites
review:
I've read this book more times than I can count and I cry EACH time like she is so me like me and her are the same person and she is so real. She was the original delulu girlie she is the BLUEPRINT. While her country is on it's knees she is trying to impress a boy who is in love with someone else?? She was a lover girl though beneath all that bc why did she play wingwoman to said guy?? helped him get the other girl and everything (AND THE GIRL IS YOUR CHILDHOOD ENEMY???) yeah there might have been a revolution but she was the true soldier. She IS the moment. It was always a losing game and yet she chose to play. Eponine you are loved by me if no one else. If there's no one on earth who loves her it's bc I am dead.
This is the knife I turn inside myself.

]]> 1953 A Tale of Two Cities is Charles Dickens’s great historical novel, set against the violent upheaval of the French Revolution. The most famous and perhaps the most popular of his works, it compresses an event of immense complexity to the scale of a family history, with a cast of characters that includes a bloodthirsty ogress and an antihero as believably flawed as any in modern fiction. Though the least typical of the author’s novels, A Tale of Two Cities still underscores many of his enduring themes—imprisonment, injustice, social anarchy, resurrection, and the renunciation that fosters renewal.]]> 489 Charles Dickens 0141439602 Hafs 5 I think I had a love hate relationship with this in high school but now while I still don't undertand it (a bunch of ppl just getting beheaded like it's a sport??) I can say that I don't hate it. Long sentences and my long standing enimity with Dickens' books (I AM LOOKING AT YOU HARD TIMES) aside this book is a masterpiece as far as I'm concerned
]]> 3.86 1859
author: Charles Dickens
name: Hafs
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1859
rating: 5
read at: 2024/06/26
date added: 2024/06/26
shelves:
review:
Reread June 2024
I think I had a love hate relationship with this in high school but now while I still don't undertand it (a bunch of ppl just getting beheaded like it's a sport??) I can say that I don't hate it. Long sentences and my long standing enimity with Dickens' books (I AM LOOKING AT YOU HARD TIMES) aside this book is a masterpiece as far as I'm concerned

]]> 7126 The epic tale of wrongful imprisonment, adventure and revenge, in its definitive translation

Thrown in prison for a crime he has not committed, Edmond Dantès is confined to the grim fortress of If. There he learns of a great hoard of treasure hidden on the Isle of Monte Cristo and he becomes determined not only to escape, but also to use the treasure to plot the destruction of the three men responsible for his incarceration. Dumas�� epic tale of suffering and retribution, inspired by a real-life case of wrongful imprisonment, was a huge popular success when it was first serialized in the 1840s.

Translated with an Introduction by Robin Buss

An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here]]> 1276 Alexandre Dumas 0140449264 Hafs 5 classics, favorites The count is smart, witty, careful and uncontrollable but wow i loved this book.
I thought i would read this book throughout the month but i devoured it wholly and completely because of how interesting the plot was. Had me at the edge of my seat the whole time because it's not a question of who is next on the list of victims but rather how will he be made to pay.

One of the main idea of the book that i loved most was the sort of "limits of human justice". Where Dantes is forced to to take justice into his own hands after the society's criminal justice system failed him entirely. The bias and injustice present therein allows for his enemies to slip through cracks and to get away with everything. He tries to deliver divine justice where human justice has failed by punishing all those who have brought him pain. What Dumas ultimately conveys using this as a major theme is that human justice is limited;because humans lack God's omnipotence and/or omnipresence, he resigns us with the messages that justice is best left in Gods hands to punish and reward accordingly.

The funny thing about this book is that there wasn't a single good person. Not a single pure soul. Everyone had something to hide behind their seemingly Godly, demeanor. Even the main character who is in this case the victim of life's harsh truths and societies unbelievable extremities and shortcomings. Everyone was scared because none has a clean conscience(maybe a few but even then i never saw it)

But the story was full of intrigue and dRaMa and im all about the tea baby *sips slowly while making direct eye contact with the camera*

reread:June 2024
How weird is is that I started this book on 3rd June the first time and completely randomly decided to reread if on the 3rd of June this year too?? anyways WHAT TO SAY??? I STILL LOVE THIS BOOK?? I tried to read it slower this time (I thought that reading it slower will make me see a flaw in it which didn't work obviously) Edmond Dantès they can never make me hate you babe ily forever <3]]> 4.29 1846
author: Alexandre Dumas
name: Hafs
average rating: 4.29
book published: 1846
rating: 5
read at: 2024/06/26
date added: 2024/06/26
shelves: classics, favorites
review:
Whew.
The count is smart, witty, careful and uncontrollable but wow i loved this book.
I thought i would read this book throughout the month but i devoured it wholly and completely because of how interesting the plot was. Had me at the edge of my seat the whole time because it's not a question of who is next on the list of victims but rather how will he be made to pay.

One of the main idea of the book that i loved most was the sort of "limits of human justice". Where Dantes is forced to to take justice into his own hands after the society's criminal justice system failed him entirely. The bias and injustice present therein allows for his enemies to slip through cracks and to get away with everything. He tries to deliver divine justice where human justice has failed by punishing all those who have brought him pain. What Dumas ultimately conveys using this as a major theme is that human justice is limited;because humans lack God's omnipotence and/or omnipresence, he resigns us with the messages that justice is best left in Gods hands to punish and reward accordingly.

The funny thing about this book is that there wasn't a single good person. Not a single pure soul. Everyone had something to hide behind their seemingly Godly, demeanor. Even the main character who is in this case the victim of life's harsh truths and societies unbelievable extremities and shortcomings. Everyone was scared because none has a clean conscience(maybe a few but even then i never saw it)

But the story was full of intrigue and dRaMa and im all about the tea baby *sips slowly while making direct eye contact with the camera*

reread:June 2024
How weird is is that I started this book on 3rd June the first time and completely randomly decided to reread if on the 3rd of June this year too?? anyways WHAT TO SAY??? I STILL LOVE THIS BOOK?? I tried to read it slower this time (I thought that reading it slower will make me see a flaw in it which didn't work obviously) Edmond Dantès they can never make me hate you babe ily forever <3
]]> 62292422
Who said true love is a myth?

A prophecy claims that Psyche, princess of Mycenae, will defeat a monster feared even by the gods. Rebelling against her society’s expectations for women, Psyche spends her youth mastering blade and bow, preparing to meet her destiny.

When Psyche angers the love goddess Aphrodite, she sends Eros, god of desire, to deliver a cruel curse. After eons watching humanity twist his gifts, the last thing Eros wants is to become involved in the chaos of the mortal world. But when he pricks himself with the arrow intended for Psyche, Eros finds himself doomed to yearn for a woman who will be torn from him the moment their eyes meet.

Thrown together by fate, headstrong Psyche and world-weary Eros will face challenges greater than they could have ever imagined. And as the Trojan War begins and divine powers try to keep them apart, the pair must determine if the curse could become something more . . . before it’s too late.

A joyous and subversive tale of gods, monsters, and the human heart and soul, Psyche and Eros dazzles the senses while exploring notions of trust, sacrifice, and what it truly means to be a hero. With unforgettably vivid characters, spellbinding prose, and delicious tension, Luna McNamara has crafted a shimmering and propulsive debut novel about a love so strong it defies the will of Olympus.]]> 352 Luna McNamara 0063295075 Hafs 3 Anyway this retelling was different in that Psyche has no sisters and Hekate is the one who makes Psyche immortal bc Cupid has some beef with the Olympians which the whole thing was confusing idk ]]> 3.75 2023
author: Luna McNamara
name: Hafs
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/06/15
date added: 2024/06/19
shelves:
review:
What was most interesting about this story is seeing how vile Aphrodite is potrayed?? I spent the whole book thinking this isn't the same Aphrodite they're always talking about. She is the goddess of love but she hates love hell she is the goddess of beauty yet she becomes angry when someone born beautiful like babe what excatly do you want??
Anyway this retelling was different in that Psyche has no sisters and Hekate is the one who makes Psyche immortal bc Cupid has some beef with the Olympians which the whole thing was confusing idk
]]> 332613 9780451163967

Tyrannical Nurse Ratched rules her ward in an Oregon State mental hospital with a strict and unbending routine, unopposed by her patients, who remain cowed by mind-numbing medication and the threat of electric shock therapy. But her regime is disrupted by the arrival of McMurphy �� the swaggering, fun-loving trickster with a devilish grin who resolves to oppose her rules on behalf of his fellow inmates. His struggle is seen through the eyes of Chief Bromden, a seemingly mute half-Indian patient who understands McMurphy's heroic attempt to do battle with the powers that keep them imprisoned. Ken Kesey's extraordinary first novel is an exuberant, ribald and devastatingly honest portrayal of the boundaries between sanity and madness.]]> 325 Ken Kesey Hafs 2 I want to say I have a love hate relationship with this book but that would be a lie. I hated it a lot.
Let's talk about the MC who everyone is so keen to label a hero forgetting that he's actually a criminal?? and the reason he's even in the asylum in the first place is to get away from a prison sentence?? It's not giving hero.
I hated nurse what's her name but I just couldn't get behind how they talked about her and how in the end they "defeated" her. It was so depressing reading this book as a woman.
Also the "mental illnesses" in the book were non existent. No one in the asylum actually had any actual mental illness yes they were-how to put it-disturbed but not anything that warrants being locked up there so...

I get why they banned this but it seems I don't know excatly what makes a book a "classic" bc this one deserves to be burned and forgotten.]]> 4.20 1962
author: Ken Kesey
name: Hafs
average rating: 4.20
book published: 1962
rating: 2
read at: 2024/06/17
date added: 2024/06/19
shelves:
review:
I think everything would be so much better if I read the TWs lol
I want to say I have a love hate relationship with this book but that would be a lie. I hated it a lot.
Let's talk about the MC who everyone is so keen to label a hero forgetting that he's actually a criminal?? and the reason he's even in the asylum in the first place is to get away from a prison sentence?? It's not giving hero.
I hated nurse what's her name but I just couldn't get behind how they talked about her and how in the end they "defeated" her. It was so depressing reading this book as a woman.
Also the "mental illnesses" in the book were non existent. No one in the asylum actually had any actual mental illness yes they were-how to put it-disturbed but not anything that warrants being locked up there so...

I get why they banned this but it seems I don't know excatly what makes a book a "classic" bc this one deserves to be burned and forgotten.
]]> 201536799 Pari needs a mobility aid is a story about seeking help when you need it, accepting one another wholeheartedly and leaning towards compassion instead of judgment. We deserve to live in an inclusive world that welcomes everyone regardless of their gender, age, disability or ethnicity. No one should ever feel like they don't fit in, that they are not normal or they are less than. This book is intended for children ages 8 and up but is suitable for the whole family.
]]> 36 Iffat Damji Hafs 4

though it's more picture book than actual book (which I liked bc it was more interactive and I read it within 10 minutes) I still learned a lot. Tbh I've never seen a young person use a mobility aid and even if I did I wouldn't know how to react (why is no one raising awareness??) and for the "log kya kahenge" ppl this is the one for you you'll learn sth from it. Sometimes by not listening to ppl you're doing yourself a favour :)]]> 4.23
author: Iffat Damji
name: Hafs
average rating: 4.23
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/04
date added: 2024/06/04
shelves:
review:
Thank you to the author for sending me the ebook to read and review <3


though it's more picture book than actual book (which I liked bc it was more interactive and I read it within 10 minutes) I still learned a lot. Tbh I've never seen a young person use a mobility aid and even if I did I wouldn't know how to react (why is no one raising awareness??) and for the "log kya kahenge" ppl this is the one for you you'll learn sth from it. Sometimes by not listening to ppl you're doing yourself a favour :)
]]> 256683
This is Clary's first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It's also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace's world with a vengeance when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know...]]> 485 Cassandra Clare 1416914285 Hafs 4 4.08 2007
author: Cassandra Clare
name: Hafs
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/04
date added: 2024/06/04
shelves:
review:
Umm so why was I obsessed with this series again??? I didn't hate it but I don't understand why I was crying screaming throwing up?? Anyways Clary is the I'm not like other girls blueprint actually ☹️
]]> 76691850 A subversive historical novel set during the French Revolution, inspired by a young peasant boy turned showman, said to have been tormented and driven to murder by an all-consuming appetite.

1798, France. Nuns move along the dark corridors of a Versailles hospital where the young Sister Perpetué has been tasked with sitting with the patient who must always be watched. The man, gaunt, with his sallow skin and distended belly, is dying: they say he ate a golden fork, and that it’s killing him from the inside. But that’s not all—he is rumored to have done monstrous things in his attempts to sate an insatiable appetite�� an appetite they say tortures him still.

Born in an impoverished village to a widowed young mother, Tarare was once overflowing with quiet affection: for the Baby Jesus and the many Saints, for his mother, for the plants and little creatures in the woods and fields around their house. He spends his days alone, observing the delicate charms of the countryside. But his world is not a gentle one—and soon, life as he knew it is violently upended. Tarare is pitched down a chaotic path through revolutionary France, left to the mercy of strangers, and increasingly, bottomlessly, ravenous.

This exhilarating, disquieting novel paints a richly imagined life for The Great Tarare, The Glutton of Lyon in 18th-century France: a world of desire, hunger and poverty; hope, chaos and survival. As in her cult hit The Manningtree Witches, Blakemore showcases her stunning lyricism and deep compassion for characters pushed to the edge of society in The Glutton, her most unputdownable work yet.]]> 336 A.K. Blakemore 1783789190 Hafs 0 I realized that Tarare is who I become when I am on my period (I'm just a girl)]]> 3.92 2023
author: A.K. Blakemore
name: Hafs
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2024/06/02
date added: 2024/06/02
shelves:
review:
mixed feelings. this was so disgusting tbh idk
I realized that Tarare is who I become when I am on my period (I'm just a girl)
]]> 75582270
Not fully understanding her own reasons for going back to the place where she once lived and raised a family, and that she had been determined to forget forever, both anticipated encounters and unanticipated revelations show her that sometimes life is neither fate nor chance: perhaps her return is nothing more than a little luck…]]> 211 Claudia Piñeiro 1913867552 Hafs 4 4.31 2015
author: Claudia Piñeiro
name: Hafs
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/29
date added: 2024/06/01
shelves:
review:
Claudia Piñeiro and writing books about mothers. That's the review. I'm not a mother but the emotional rollercoaster I went through while I read this was so unreal. I am in love with her writing style and I fear she's been promoted. Can they translate more of her books or should I start learning Spanish???
]]> 58784475 In this exhilarating novel, two friends—often in love, but never lovers—come together as creative partners in the world of video game design, where success brings them fame, joy, tragedy, duplicity, and, ultimately, a kind of immortality.

On a bitter-cold day, in the December of his junior year at Harvard, Sam Masur exits a subway car and sees, amid the hordes of people waiting on the platform, Sadie Green. He calls her name. For a moment, she pretends she hasn't heard him, but then, she turns, and a game begins: a legendary collaboration that will launch them to stardom. These friends, intimates since childhood, borrow money, beg favors, and, before even graduating college, they have created their first blockbuster, Ichigo. Overnight, the world is theirs. Not even twenty-five years old, Sam and Sadie are brilliant, successful, and rich, but these qualities won't protect them from their own creative ambitions or the betrayals of their hearts.

Spanning thirty years, from Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Venice Beach, California, and lands in between and far beyond, Gabrielle Zevin's Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a dazzling and intricately imagined novel that examines the multifarious nature of identity, disability, failure, the redemptive possibilities in play, and above all, our need to connect: to be loved and to love. Yes, it is a love story, but it is not one you have read before.]]> 401 Gabrielle Zevin 0735243344 Hafs 1 what-in-the-7-rungs-of-hell I don't care about being in the minority this book sucked.
It was a character driven book and seeing as I didn't like the characters...obviously it wasn't gonna be a walk in the park. Sadie or what's her face was insufferable and for a book about "friendship" it was portraying the most toxic dynamics ever?? I also couldn't care less about the video games or whatever else they had going for them I was just glad to be done with it.

ALSO PS: THE AUTHOUR IS ZIONIST AND SO THANK GOD I DIDN'T WASTE MY MONEY ON THIS. I REPEAT I DID NOT BUY I AM NOT IN THE BUSINESS OF SUPORTING GENOCIDE. FREE PALESTINE!!!!!! ]]> 4.12 2022
author: Gabrielle Zevin
name: Hafs
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2022
rating: 1
read at: 2024/05/21
date added: 2024/05/31
shelves: what-in-the-7-rungs-of-hell
review:
This book felt like being dragged through hell with a metal hook attached to my skull...
I don't care about being in the minority this book sucked.
It was a character driven book and seeing as I didn't like the characters...obviously it wasn't gonna be a walk in the park. Sadie or what's her face was insufferable and for a book about "friendship" it was portraying the most toxic dynamics ever?? I also couldn't care less about the video games or whatever else they had going for them I was just glad to be done with it.

ALSO PS: THE AUTHOUR IS ZIONIST AND SO THANK GOD I DIDN'T WASTE MY MONEY ON THIS. I REPEAT I DID NOT BUY I AM NOT IN THE BUSINESS OF SUPORTING GENOCIDE. FREE PALESTINE!!!!!!
]]> 36510722 The Mayan god of death sends a young woman on a harrowing, life-changing journey in this one-of-a-kind fairy tale inspired by Mexican folklore.

The Jazz Age is in full swing, but Casiopea Tun is too busy cleaning the floors of her wealthy grandfather’s house to listen to any fast tunes. Nevertheless, she dreams of a life far from her dusty small town in southern Mexico. A life she can call her own.

Yet this new life seems as distant as the stars, until the day she finds a curious wooden box in her grandfather’s room. She opens it—and accidentally frees the spirit of the Mayan god of death, who requests her help in recovering his throne from his treacherous brother. Failure will mean Casiopea’s demise, but success could make her dreams come true.

In the company of the strangely alluring god and armed with her wits, Casiopea begins an adventure that will take her on a cross-country odyssey from the jungles of Yucatán to the bright lights of Mexico City—and deep into the darkness of the Mayan underworld.

Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780525620754]]> 338 Silvia Moreno-Garcia Hafs 0 to-read 3.87 2019
author: Silvia Moreno-Garcia
name: Hafs
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 157979441
Being the daughter of the village Capuwa, or demon-priest, Amara is used to keeping mostly to herself. Influenced by the new religious practices brought in by the British Colonizers, the villagers who once respected her father’s craft have turned on the family. Yet, they all still seem to call on him whenever supernatural disturbances arise.

Now someone—or something —is viciously seizing upon men in the jungle. But instead of enlisting Amara’s father’s help, the villages have accused him of carrying out the attacks himself.

As she tries to clear her father’s name, Amara finds herself haunted by dreams that eerily predict the dark forces on her island. And she can’t shake the feeling that it’s all connected to the night she was recovering from a strange illness, and woke up, scared and confused, to hear her mother’s frantic cries: No one can find out what happened .

Lush, otherworldly, and recalling horror classics like Carrie and The Exorcist , Island Witch is a deliciously creepy and darkly feminist tale about the horrors of moral panic, the violent space between girlhood and adulthood, and what happens when female rage is finally unleashed.]]> 384 Amanda Jayatissa 0593549260 Hafs 0 to-read 3.62 2024
author: Amanda Jayatissa
name: Hafs
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 4569906 A Midsummer Night's Dream is perhaps Shakespeare's most popular play, particularly as a first introduction to Shakespeare for children--filled as it is with a marvelous mixture of aristocrats, workers, and fairies. For this edition, Peter Holland's introduction looks at dreams and dreamers, tracing the materials out of which Shakespeare constructs his world of night and shadows.]]> 275 William Shakespeare 0199535868 Hafs 2 3.98 1595
author: William Shakespeare
name: Hafs
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1595
rating: 2
read at: 2024/05/18
date added: 2024/05/20
shelves:
review:
I think I'll stick to my tragedies
]]> 12636944
The story has been adapted into a drama serial (Humsafar), produced by Momina Duraid and directed by Sarmad Sultan Khoosat. The drama aired on Hum TV from September 2011 to February 2012.]]> 311 Farhat Ishtiaq Hafs 3 4.05 2008
author: Farhat Ishtiaq
name: Hafs
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2008
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/05/17
shelves:
review:
Humsafar nahi humsuffer hai. I liked the show better tbh(that's a crazy statement for a sworn don't watch the show until you read the book advocate) and Pakistan please Khuda ke liye leave this toxic saas bahu stereotypes it's getting old now thanks.
]]> 170448 Librarian's note: There is an Alternate Cover Edition for this edition of this book here.

A farm is taken over by its overworked, mistreated animals. With flaming idealism and stirring slogans, they set out to create a paradise of progress, justice, and equality. Thus the stage is set for one of the most telling satiric fables ever penned –a razor-edged fairy tale for grown-ups that records the evolution from revolution against tyranny to a totalitarianism just as terrible.
When Animal Farm was first published, Stalinist Russia was seen as its target. Today it is devastatingly clear that wherever and whenever freedom is attacked, under whatever banner, the cutting clarity and savage comedy of George Orwell’s masterpiece have a meaning and message still ferociously fresh.]]> 141 George Orwell 0451526341 Hafs 4 favorites
I first read this in year 7 which honestly why was that required reading for 13 year olds?? ]]> 4.07 1945
author: George Orwell
name: Hafs
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1945
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/17
date added: 2024/05/17
shelves: favorites
review:
Once long ago some guy saw me reading this book and asked me "why on EARTH are you reading a children's book" in the most "I'm disgusted" uppity and obnoxious voice and I still think about him I hope he found out (THE HARD WAY) that this is in fact NOT a children's book (he ruined my day and I think my life too)

I first read this in year 7 which honestly why was that required reading for 13 year olds??
]]> 17333223
Aged thirteen, Theo Decker, son of a devoted mother and a reckless, largely absent father, survives an accident that otherwise tears his life apart. Alone and rudderless in New York, he is taken in by the family of a wealthy friend. He is tormented by an unbearable longing for his mother, and down the years clings to the thing that most reminds him of her: a small, strangely captivating painting that ultimately draws him into the criminal underworld. As he grows up, Theo learns to glide between the drawing rooms of the rich and the dusty antiques store where he works. He is alienated and in love - and his talisman, the painting, places him at the centre of a narrowing, ever more dangerous circle.

The Goldfinch is a haunted odyssey through present-day America and a drama of enthralling power. Combining unforgettably vivid characters and thrilling suspense, it is a beautiful, addictive triumph - a sweeping story of loss and obsession, of survival and self-invention, of the deepest mysteries of love, identity and fate.]]> 771 Donna Tartt 0316055433 Hafs 4 In this book's 50 page, 2 part opening, we meet Theo Decker who is in some hotel in Amsterdam reading a newspaper in Dutch- Never mind the fact that he can't understand-looking for his name in articles. So we're like WHAT ARE YOU A MURDER THEO???
But then part 2 takes us back to the day of his mother's death, 14 years ago. His mother dies in a explosion in New York's metropolitan art museum. The description of Theo regaining consciousness amidst the rubble and then going home expecting to find his mother there and realizing she's not is one of the most gripping prose pieces I've ever read.
At this point I'm thinking, if these two parts are to me "climatic" as in, this is what seems to be the peak of the story, isn't it a bit dangerous that I have around 700 more pages to go, I'm setting myself up for serious disappointment.

I was wrong.(surprisingly)

The book switches lane and is now telling the story of a broken boy living a life of disarray. With his mother dead and his absent father well, absent, he finds himself living with the Barbours, the family of a school the friend, the arrangement is temporary of course but there's always a dark cloud looming over him that his not very friendly grandparents might be given custody of him THEN his dad shows up and takes him to Las Vegas.

Here he meets Boris, a Ukrainian guy who is not very good influence, does drugs, petty crime, drinks, the whole shebang. But then their friendship is still sth.

The second lane in the book tells the story of the painting for which the book was named(its an actual real painting bruh) Young Theo walks into the museum with his mum and leaves without her but with a painting in hand. It isn't considered theft because he takes it sans the conscious intention to steal it, he acts under distress and under the instructions of a dying man who happens to be guardian to Pippa.

At first Pippa is nothing to Theo except an alarmed girl who he only briefly glanced at but whose life will repeatedly collide with Theo's. She's very Posh and intelligent but when compared to Theo, she is a little bit more guarded in a she doesn't really smoke weed on her porch way.

Then the part where he reads that ppl think the painting was destroyed. He decides to stay quiet. He is attached to it because of its connection to his mother but also he lives in fear of being arrested for its theft.

Obviously the book isn't all suspense, there are soft parts too, where he talks about the stars when he's away fro NYCs city lights and can see them properly for the first time and he's just chilling and everything is chill vibes.

There are some slow parts where you will want to skip over but please TRUST THE PROCESS.

The ending isn't typical for contemporary fiction, instead of doing something funny or end it with a weird dialogue or something she instead chooses to take us to a beyond the normal or as she called it...
"a rainbow edge �� where all art exists, and all magic. And �� all love."

I don't know what that was supposed to do but it left me with that fuzzy feeling where you close a book and you stare at a wall for hours recollecting the words and scenes and you're just stuck in this bubble by yourself and you can't tell anyone because they'll never really understand and if you get into it, its-

16/5/24
I wish I shared this same sentiment as my baby self (she was so young bless her soul) I just couldn't get behind what this book was this time around I just happened to be cleaning out my books when I stumbled across it and decided to take a trip down memory lane (all I actually needed was The Secret History and I instead ended up with her less popular little sister so) AND IT'S SO LONG?? AND FOR WHAT??? ]]> 3.94 2013
author: Donna Tartt
name: Hafs
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/16
date added: 2024/05/16
shelves:
review:
Donna Tartt has this thing with really long openings-each one of them beginning with a death.
In this book's 50 page, 2 part opening, we meet Theo Decker who is in some hotel in Amsterdam reading a newspaper in Dutch- Never mind the fact that he can't understand-looking for his name in articles. So we're like WHAT ARE YOU A MURDER THEO???
But then part 2 takes us back to the day of his mother's death, 14 years ago. His mother dies in a explosion in New York's metropolitan art museum. The description of Theo regaining consciousness amidst the rubble and then going home expecting to find his mother there and realizing she's not is one of the most gripping prose pieces I've ever read.
At this point I'm thinking, if these two parts are to me "climatic" as in, this is what seems to be the peak of the story, isn't it a bit dangerous that I have around 700 more pages to go, I'm setting myself up for serious disappointment.

I was wrong.(surprisingly)

The book switches lane and is now telling the story of a broken boy living a life of disarray. With his mother dead and his absent father well, absent, he finds himself living with the Barbours, the family of a school the friend, the arrangement is temporary of course but there's always a dark cloud looming over him that his not very friendly grandparents might be given custody of him THEN his dad shows up and takes him to Las Vegas.

Here he meets Boris, a Ukrainian guy who is not very good influence, does drugs, petty crime, drinks, the whole shebang. But then their friendship is still sth.

The second lane in the book tells the story of the painting for which the book was named(its an actual real painting bruh) Young Theo walks into the museum with his mum and leaves without her but with a painting in hand. It isn't considered theft because he takes it sans the conscious intention to steal it, he acts under distress and under the instructions of a dying man who happens to be guardian to Pippa.

At first Pippa is nothing to Theo except an alarmed girl who he only briefly glanced at but whose life will repeatedly collide with Theo's. She's very Posh and intelligent but when compared to Theo, she is a little bit more guarded in a she doesn't really smoke weed on her porch way.

Then the part where he reads that ppl think the painting was destroyed. He decides to stay quiet. He is attached to it because of its connection to his mother but also he lives in fear of being arrested for its theft.

Obviously the book isn't all suspense, there are soft parts too, where he talks about the stars when he's away fro NYCs city lights and can see them properly for the first time and he's just chilling and everything is chill vibes.

There are some slow parts where you will want to skip over but please TRUST THE PROCESS.

The ending isn't typical for contemporary fiction, instead of doing something funny or end it with a weird dialogue or something she instead chooses to take us to a beyond the normal or as she called it...
"a rainbow edge �� where all art exists, and all magic. And �� all love."

I don't know what that was supposed to do but it left me with that fuzzy feeling where you close a book and you stare at a wall for hours recollecting the words and scenes and you're just stuck in this bubble by yourself and you can't tell anyone because they'll never really understand and if you get into it, its-

16/5/24
I wish I shared this same sentiment as my baby self (she was so young bless her soul) I just couldn't get behind what this book was this time around I just happened to be cleaning out my books when I stumbled across it and decided to take a trip down memory lane (all I actually needed was The Secret History and I instead ended up with her less popular little sister so) AND IT'S SO LONG?? AND FOR WHAT???
]]> 61353766 A thrilling story of rival witch families in New York City, from New York Times bestselling author and internet phenomenon Olivie Blake.

In modern-day Manhattan where we lay our scene, two rival witch families fight to maintain control of their respective criminal ventures.

On one side of the conflict are the Antonova sisters �� each one beautiful, cunning, and ruthless �� and their mother, the elusive supplier of premium intoxicants, known only as Baba Yaga. On the other side, the influential Fedorov brothers serve their father, the crime boss known as Koschei the Deathless, whose community extortion ventures dominate the shadows of magical Manhattan.

After twelve years of tenuous co-existence, a change in one family’s interests causes a rift in the existing stalemate. When bad blood brings both families to the precipice of disaster, fate intervenes with a chance encounter, and in the aftershocks of a resurrected conflict, everyone must choose a side. As each of the siblings struggles to stake their claim, fraying loyalties threaten to rot each side from the inside out.

If, that is, the enmity between empires doesn’t destroy them first.

Also by Olivie Blake
Alone with You in the Ether
Masters of Death
The Atlas Six
The Atlas Paradox]]> 432 Olivie Blake 1250892430 Hafs 1 to-read Forget the lovers the whole book is start crossed and I'm just so glad it's over .

I don't get the magic "system" bc no one tells me how anything works is this magic for magic skincare or for [spoilers removed] or for other scary dangerous thing is there limits to it what are it's origins??? its just the way it is and how it's always been and so it will always be and I have to just agree?? bs NEXT!
It should have been a short story (insult)

The only good thing about this book is: its a Romeo and Juliet retelling and so we know how it ends which means there is NO reason for a book 2 to take up precious space in bookstore shelves and just the world in general. ]]> 3.69 2019
author: Olivie Blake
name: Hafs
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2019
rating: 1
read at: 2024/05/17
date added: 2024/05/16
shelves: to-read
review:
here's one for MY enemy (this book)
Forget the lovers the whole book is start crossed and I'm just so glad it's over .

I don't get the magic "system" bc no one tells me how anything works is this magic for magic skincare or for [spoilers removed] or for other scary dangerous thing is there limits to it what are it's origins??? its just the way it is and how it's always been and so it will always be and I have to just agree?? bs NEXT!
It should have been a short story (insult)

The only good thing about this book is: its a Romeo and Juliet retelling and so we know how it ends which means there is NO reason for a book 2 to take up precious space in bookstore shelves and just the world in general.
]]> 101673225 The award-winning author of How Much of These Hills Is Gold returns with a rapturous and revelatory novel about a young chef whose discovery of pleasure alters her life and, indirectly, the world

A smog has spread. Food crops are rapidly disappearing. A chef escapes her dying career in a dreary city to take a job at a decadent mountaintop colony seemingly free of the world’s troubles.

There, the sky is clear again. Rare ingredients abound. Her enigmatic employer and his visionary daughter have built a lush new life for the global elite, one that reawakens the chef to the pleasures of taste, touch, and her own body.

In this atmosphere of hidden wonders and cool, seductive violence, the chef’s boundaries undergo a thrilling erosion. Soon she is pushed to the center of a startling attempt to reshape the world far beyond the plate.

Sensuous and surprising, joyous and bitingly sharp, told in language as alluring as it is original, Land of Milk and Honey lays provocatively bare the ethics of seeking pleasure in a dying world. It is a daringly imaginative exploration of desire and deception, privilege and faith, and the roles we play to survive. Most of all, it is a love letter to food, to wild delight, and to the transformative power of a woman embracing her own appetite.]]> 240 C Pam Zhang 0593538242 Hafs 1 This is a book about food but unfortunately the author didn't cook. In fact we should never allow her back into the kitchen.
The only good thing about the book was the last page (that sense of relief that yes, it's finally over, we've made it.)
The ending is the only thing that might come as surprise bc the author really said ok that's enough, it's a wrap (I'm not complaining it's just who concludes a book like that even)

All I can say is, eat the rich!!!(Before they eat you)]]> 3.50 2023
author: C Pam Zhang
name: Hafs
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2023
rating: 1
read at: 2024/05/15
date added: 2024/05/16
shelves:
review:
BR with Dia (the only reason I even finished in the first place)
This is a book about food but unfortunately the author didn't cook. In fact we should never allow her back into the kitchen.
The only good thing about the book was the last page (that sense of relief that yes, it's finally over, we've made it.)
The ending is the only thing that might come as surprise bc the author really said ok that's enough, it's a wrap (I'm not complaining it's just who concludes a book like that even)

All I can say is, eat the rich!!!(Before they eat you)
]]> 195790847 A dark retelling of the Brothers Grimm's Goose Girl, rife with secrets, murder, and forbidden magic

Cordelia knows her mother is unusual. Their house doesn’t have any doors between rooms, and her mother doesn't allow Cordelia to have a single friend—unless you count Falada, her mother's beautiful white horse. The only time Cordelia feels truly free is on her daily rides with him. But more than simple eccentricity sets her mother apart. Other mothers don’t force their daughters to be silent and motionless for hours, sometimes days, on end. Other mothers aren’t sorcerers.

After a suspicious death in their small town, Cordelia’s mother insists they leave in the middle of the night, riding away on Falada’s sturdy back, leaving behind all Cordelia has ever known. They arrive at the remote country manor of a wealthy older man, the Squire, and his unwed sister, Hester. Cordelia’s mother intends to lure the Squire into marriage, and Cordelia knows this can only be bad news for the bumbling gentleman and his kind, intelligent sister.

Hester sees the way Cordelia shrinks away from her mother, how the young girl sits eerily still at dinner every night. Hester knows that to save her brother from bewitchment and to rescue the terrified Cordelia, she will have to face down a wicked witch of the worst kind.]]> 327 T. Kingfisher 1250244072 Hafs 0 to-read 4.06 2024
author: T. Kingfisher
name: Hafs
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 199927990 A young woman wins the role of a lifetime in a film about a legendary heroine �� but the real drama is behind the scenes in this sumptuous historical epic from the author of Mexican Gothic.

1950s Hollywood: Every actress wants to play Salome, the star-making role in a big-budget movie about the legendary woman whose story has inspired artists since ancient times.

So when the film’s mercurial director casts Vera Larios, an unknown Mexican ingenue, in the lead role, she quickly becomes the talk of the town. Vera also becomes an object of envy for Nancy Hartley, a bit player whose career has stalled and who will do anything to win the fame she believes she richly deserves.

Two actresses, both determined to make it to the top in Golden Age Hollywood—a city overflowing with gossip, scandal, and intrigue—make for a sizzling combination.

But this is the tale of three women, for it is also the story of the princess Salome herself, consumed with desire for the fiery prophet who foretells the doom of her stepfather, Herod: a woman torn between the decree of duty and the yearning of her heart.

Before the curtain comes down, there will be tears and tragedy aplenty in this sexy Technicolor saga.]]> 336 Silvia Moreno-Garcia Hafs 0 to-read 3.75 2024
author: Silvia Moreno-Garcia
name: Hafs
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 64005941
On a November day in 1940, Adam Paskow becomes a prisoner in the Warsaw Ghetto, where the Jews of the city are cut off from their former lives and held captive by Nazi guards, and await an uncertain fate. Weeks later, he is approached by a mysterious figure with a surprising request: Will he join a secret group of archivists working to preserve the truth of what is happening inside these walls? Adam agrees and begins taking testimonies from his students, friends, and neighbors. He learns about their childhoods and their daydreams, their passions and their fears, their desperate strategies for safety and survival. The stories form a portrait of endurance in a world where no choices are good ones.

One of the people Adam interviews is his flatmate Sala Wiskoff, who is stoic, determined, and funny—and married with two children. Over the months of their confinement, in the presence of her family, Adam and Sala fall in love. As they desperately carve out intimacy, their relationship feels both impossible and vital, their connection keeping them alive. But when Adam discovers a possible escape from the Ghetto, he is faced with an unbearable choice: Whom can he save, and at what cost?

Inspired by the testimony-gathering project with the code name Oneg Shabbat, New York Times bestselling author Lauren Grodstein draws readers into the lives of people living on the edge. Told with immediacy and heart, We Must Not Think of Ourselves is a piercing story of love, determination, and sacrifice for the many fans of literary World War II fiction such as Kristin Harmel’s The Book of Lost Names��and Lauren Fox’s Send for Me.]]> 304 Lauren Grodstein 1643752340 Hafs 2 historical-fiction it was so he did he said he went he blah blah blah so robotic so emotionless I didn't shed a single tear and I cry about everything so ]]> 3.98 2023
author: Lauren Grodstein
name: Hafs
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2023
rating: 2
read at: 2024/05/13
date added: 2024/05/13
shelves: historical-fiction
review:
This isn't the way to write a historical fiction and especially about the holocaust (not that I would know bc I have in fact written zero historical fiction books about the holocaust)
it was so he did he said he went he blah blah blah so robotic so emotionless I didn't shed a single tear and I cry about everything so
]]> 59348307
As Washington’s former poet laureate, that’s how she describes channeling her dissociative episodes and mental health struggles into her art. But when her five-year-old daughter exhibits similar behavior and begins remembering things from the lives of their ancestors, Dorothy believes the past has truly come to haunt her. Fearing that her child is predestined to endure the same debilitating depression that has marked her own life, Dorothy seeks radical help.

Through an experimental treatment designed to mitigate inherited trauma, Dorothy intimately connects with past generations of women in her family: Faye Moy, a nurse in China serving with the Flying Tigers; Zoe Moy, a student in England at a famous school with no rules; Lai King Moy, a girl quarantined in San Francisco during a plague epidemic; Greta Moy, a tech executive with a unique dating app; and Afong Moy, the first Chinese woman to set foot in America.

As painful recollections affect her present life, Dorothy discovers that trauma isn’t the only thing she’s inherited. A stranger is searching for her in each time period. A stranger who’s loved her through all of her genetic memories. Dorothy endeavors to break the cycle of pain and abandonment, to finally find peace for her daughter, and gain the love that has long been waiting, knowing she may pay the ultimate price.]]> 362 Jamie Ford 1982158212 Hafs 2 This book is basically talking about generational trauma though the epigenetics lense. what if you're feeling the pain and suffering of your ancestors AND you could get treatment for it and not Gnerational trauma as we know it the story is proposing the idea that it not only affects your life it becomes inscribed in your genes your genetic make up is just pain and suffering and burdens and all the screams trapped in people's throats and you can't escape and you can't fight it bc it's the same as inheriting your eye colour??? I definitely loved the idea but the execution needed work.

also once Greta calls Zoe her grandmother then later Dorothy calls Zoe her grandmother. we see that Faye is Zoe’s mother but the family tree in the beginning shows it to be the other way round. One thing I hate is a book with 500 characters all connected with a bunch of POVs and a messy family tree and I cba to keep up.

I was fighting litreal DEMONS not to DNF (incoming reading slump *sigh*)]]> 3.84 2022
author: Jamie Ford
name: Hafs
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2022
rating: 2
read at: 2024/05/13
date added: 2024/05/13
shelves:
review:
2.5 stars
This book is basically talking about generational trauma though the epigenetics lense. what if you're feeling the pain and suffering of your ancestors AND you could get treatment for it and not Gnerational trauma as we know it the story is proposing the idea that it not only affects your life it becomes inscribed in your genes your genetic make up is just pain and suffering and burdens and all the screams trapped in people's throats and you can't escape and you can't fight it bc it's the same as inheriting your eye colour??? I definitely loved the idea but the execution needed work.

also once Greta calls Zoe her grandmother then later Dorothy calls Zoe her grandmother. we see that Faye is Zoe’s mother but the family tree in the beginning shows it to be the other way round. One thing I hate is a book with 500 characters all connected with a bunch of POVs and a messy family tree and I cba to keep up.

I was fighting litreal DEMONS not to DNF (incoming reading slump *sigh*)
]]> 56163940
Calling on some of the city’s most skilled outcasts, Arthie hatches a plan to infiltrate the dark and glittering vampire society known as the Athereum. But not everyone in her ragtag crew is on her side, and as the truth behind the heist unfolds, Arthie finds herself in the midst of a conspiracy that will threaten the world as she knows it.

From the New York Times–bestselling author of We Hunt the Flame comes the first book in a hotly-anticipated fantasy duology teeming with romance, revenge, and an orphan girl willing to do whatever it takes to save her self-made kingdom. Dark, action-packed, and swoonworthy, this is Hafsah Faizal better than ever.]]> 340 Hafsah Faizal Hafs 4 3.66 2024
author: Hafsah Faizal
name: Hafs
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/04
date added: 2024/05/04
shelves:
review:
I would kill for scraps excerpts a release date a cover anything anything bc I suffer from I need to know everything syndrome and if I don't know immediately I will die. I have to know what happens next or I will not make it I'm afraid.
]]> 56233551 The epic conclusion to the #1 bestselling A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal; the gritty fantasy duology about an orphan girl and her crew who get tangled in a heist with vampires, perfect for fans of Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows.

She's had her tea, now she's out for blood.

White Roaring is sharpening its fangs after the deadly night that left the city in shambles. The press are dead, the public calls for justice, vampires are in danger, and amid the turmoil, the Ram announces a celebration.

Still reeling from the bloodshed, Arthie Casimir has no time to mourn the death of anyone, let alone her own. She has no time for love, either, but it had saved her life. As Arthie navigates new emotions and new allies, she must reassemble her scrambled crew and scrape what little they have left to fight one last time �� and she will need to face the ghosts of her past to do it.

In Ceylan.

After the jaw-dropping ending of #1 bestselling A Tempest of Tea, Arthie and her crew still have plenty of hearts to break and crimson-red secrets to uncover. Hafsah Faizal crafts a deliciously twisty and seductive sequel that will leave readers breathless until the very last page.]]> 352 Hafsah Faizal 1529097118 Hafs 0 to-read 4.23 2025
author: Hafsah Faizal
name: Hafs
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 61896677 Set in Hilo, Hawai'i, a sweeping saga of tradition, culture, family, history, and connection that unfolds through the lives of three generations of women--a brilliant blend of There, There and Sharks in the Time of Saviors that is a tale of mothers and daughters, dance and destiny, told in part in the collective voice of a community fighting for its survival

"There's no running away on an island. Soon enough, you end up where you started."

Hi'i is the youngest of the legendary Naupaka dynasty, only daughter of Laka, once the pride of Hilo; granddaughter of Hulali, Hula matriarch on the Big Island. But the Naupka legacy is in jeopardy, buckling under the weight of loaded silences and unexplained absences, most notably the sudden disappearance of Laka when Hi'i was a child. Hi'i dreams of healing the rifts within her family by becoming the next Miss Aloha Hula--and prove herself worthy of carrying on the family dynasty. She demonstrates her devotion to her culture through hula--the beating heart of her people expressed through the movement of her hips and feet.

Yet she has always felt separate from her community, and the harder she tries to prove she belongs--dancing in the halau until her bones ache--the wider the distance seems to grow. Soon, fault lines begin to form, and secrets threaten to erupt. Everyone wants to know, Hi'i most of all: what really happened when her mother disappeared, and why haven't she and her grandmother spoken since? When a devastating revelation involving Hi'i surfaces, the entire community is faced with a momentous decision that will affect everyone--and determine the course of Hi'i's future.

Part incantation, part rallying cry, Hula is a love letter to a stolen paradise and its people. Told in part by the tribal We, it connects Hawaii's tortured history to its fractured present through the story of the Naupaka family. The evolution of the Hawaiian Sovereignty movement is reflected in the journeys of these defiant women and their community, in whose struggle we sense the long-term repercussions of blood quantum laws and colonization, the relationship between tribe and belonging, and the universal question: what makes a family?]]> 400 Jasmin Iolani Hakes 0063276984 Hafs 0 to-read 3.94 2023
author: Jasmin Iolani Hakes
name: Hafs
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 4406
Adam Trask came to California from the East to farm and raise his family on the new rich land. But the birth of his twins, Cal and Aaron, brings his wife to the brink of madness, and Adam is left alone to raise his boys to manhood. One boy thrives nurtured by the love of all those around him; the other grows up in loneliness enveloped by a mysterious darkness.

First published in 1952, East of Eden is the work in which Steinbeck created his most mesmerizing characters and explored his most enduring themes: the mystery of identity, the inexplicability of love, and the murderous consequences of love's absence. A masterpiece of Steinbeck's later years, East of Eden is a powerful and vastly ambitious novel that is at once a family saga and a modern retelling of the Book of Genesis.]]> 601 John Steinbeck 0142000655 Hafs 0 to-read 4.41 1952
author: John Steinbeck
name: Hafs
average rating: 4.41
book published: 1952
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 176442884 A chilling and unforgettable story of a close-knit Jewish family in London pushed to the brink when they suspect their daughter is a witch.

Hannah and Eric Rosenthal are devout Jews living in North London with their three children and Eric's father Yosef, a Holocaust survivor. Both intellectually gifted and deeply unconventional, the Rosenthals believe in the literal truth of the Old Testament and in the presence of God (and evil) in daily life. As Hannah prepares to publish a sensationalist account of Yosef's years in war-torn Europe—unearthing a terrible secret from his time in the camps—Elsie, her perfect daughter, starts to come undone. And then, in the wake of Yosef’s death, she disappears. When she returns, just as mysteriously as she left, she is altered in disturbing ways.

Witnessing the complete transformation of her daughter, Hannah begins to suspect that Elsie has delved too deep into the labyrinths of Jewish mysticism and gotten lost among shadows. But for Elsie's brother Tovyah, a brilliant but reclusive student struggling to find his place at Oxford, the truth is much simpler: his sister is the product of a dysfunctional family, obsessed with empty rituals, traditions, and unbridled ambition. But who is right? Is religion the cure for the disease or the disease itself? And how can they stop the darkness from engulfing Elsie completely?

Alive with both the bristling energy of a great campus novel and the unsettling, ever-shifting ground of a great horror tale, Fervor is at its heart a family story—where personal allegiances compete with obligations to history and to mysterious forces that offer both consolation and devastation.]]> 288 Toby Lloyd 166803333X Hafs 0 to-read 3.59 2024
author: Toby Lloyd
name: Hafs
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 127306440
Retired soldier Alex Easton returns in a horrifying new adventure.

After their terrifying ordeal at the Usher manor, Alex Easton feels as if they just survived another war. All they crave is rest, routine, and sunshine, but instead, as a favor to Angus and Miss Potter, they find themself heading to their family hunting lodge, deep in the cold, damp forests of their home country, Gallacia.

In theory, one can find relaxation in even the coldest and dampest of Gallacian autumns, but when Easton arrives, they find the caretaker dead, the lodge in disarray, and the grounds troubled by a strange, uncanny silence. The villagers whisper that a breath-stealing monster from folklore has taken up residence in Easton’s home. Easton knows better than to put too much stock in local superstitions, but they can tell that something is not quite right in their home. . . or in their dreams.]]> 151 T. Kingfisher 1250830850 Hafs 0 to-read 3.78 2024
author: T. Kingfisher
name: Hafs
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 59151
Travelers by ship from New York to Buenos Aires find that on board with them is the world champion of chess, an arrogant and unfriendly man. They come together to try their skills against him and are soundly defeated. Then a mysterious passenger steps forward to advise them and their fortunes change. How he came to possess his extraordinary grasp of the game of chess and at what cost lie at the heart of Zweig's story.

This new translation of Chess Story brings out the work's unusual mixture of high suspense and poignant reflection.]]> 104 Stefan Zweig 1590171691 Hafs 4 4.31 1942
author: Stefan Zweig
name: Hafs
average rating: 4.31
book published: 1942
rating: 4
read at: 2024/04/26
date added: 2024/04/26
shelves:
review:
I cannot find the notif for the person who recommended this to me but I am eternally grateful I loved this so much!!!
]]> 61612864
A girl has spent hers in a tiny settlement out on the Dust where nightmares stalk and no one goes.

The world has never even noticed them. That's about to change.

Their stories spiral around each other, across worlds and time. This is a tale of truth and lies and hearts, and the blurring of one into another. A journey on which knowledge erodes certainty, and on which, though the pen may be mightier than the sword, blood will be spilled and cities burned.]]> 559 Mark Lawrence 0593437918 Hafs 0 to-read 3.94 2023
author: Mark Lawrence
name: Hafs
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 23337384 İkimiz de herkes gibiyiz
Çırılçıplak olduğumuz zaman.]]> 83 Özdemir Asaf Hafs 4 Sana gitme demeyeceğim,
Ama gitme, Lavinia.
*deep breath*
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
*and scene*]]> 4.35 2002
author: Özdemir Asaf
name: Hafs
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2002
rating: 4
read at: 2024/04/22
date added: 2024/04/22
shelves:
review:

Sana gitme demeyeceğim,
Ama gitme, Lavinia.
*deep breath*
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
*and scene*
]]> 13588404 A Thousand Mornings, Mary Oliver returns to the imagery that has come to define her life’s work, transporting us to the marshland and coastline of her beloved home, Provincetown, Massachusetts. In these pages, Oliver shares the wonder of dawn, the grace of animals, and the transformative power of attention. Whether studying the leaves of a tree or mourning her adored dog, Percy, she is ever patient in her observations and open to the teachings contained in the smallest of moments.

Our most precious chronicler of physical landscape, Oliver opens our eyes to the nature within, to its wild and its quiet. With startling clarity, humor, and kindness, A��Thousand Mornings explores the mysteries of our daily experience.]]> 82 Mary Oliver 1594204772 Hafs 2 4.20 2012
author: Mary Oliver
name: Hafs
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2012
rating: 2
read at: 2024/04/18
date added: 2024/04/18
shelves:
review:
This wasn't the one unfortunately :/
]]> 329866 32 Fyodor Dostoevsky 1419160222 Hafs 3 And then I woke up ahh story 4.15 1877
author: Fyodor Dostoevsky
name: Hafs
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1877
rating: 3
read at: 2024/04/17
date added: 2024/04/17
shelves:
review:
And then I woke up ahh story
]]> 1772910 82 Fyodor Dostoevsky Hafs 4 4.16 1848
author: Fyodor Dostoevsky
name: Hafs
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1848
rating: 4
read at: 2024/04/17
date added: 2024/04/17
shelves:
review:

]]> 40546098
The Ireland of 1921, teetering on the edge of war, is a dangerous place in which to awaken. But there Anne finds herself, hurt, disoriented, and under the care of Dr. Thomas Smith, guardian to a young boy who is oddly familiar. Mistaken for the boy’s long-missing mother, Anne adopts her identity, convinced the woman’s disappearance is connected to her own.

As tensions rise, Thomas joins the struggle for Ireland’s independence and Anne is drawn into the conflict beside him. Caught between history and her heart, she must decide whether she’s willing to let go of the life she knew for a love she never thought she’d find. But in the end, is the choice actually hers to make?]]> 406 Amy Harmon 1542040078 Hafs 0 to-read 4.21 2019
author: Amy Harmon
name: Hafs
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 90202302 “The first year is when some of us lose our lives. The second year is when the rest of us lose our humanity.�� —Xaden Riorson

Everyone expected Violet Sorrengail to die during her first year at Basgiath War College—Violet included. But Threshing was only the first impossible test meant to weed out the weak-willed, the unworthy, and the unlucky.

Now the real training begins, and Violet’s already wondering how she’ll get through. It’s not just that it’s grueling and maliciously brutal, or even that it’s designed to stretch the riders�� capacity for pain beyond endurance. It’s the new vice commandant, who’s made it his personal mission to teach Violet exactly how powerless she is–unless she betrays the man she loves.

Although Violet’s body might be weaker and frailer than everyone else’s, she still has her wits—and a will of iron. And leadership is forgetting the most important lesson Basgiath has taught her: Dragon riders make their own rules.

But a determination to survive won’t be enough this year.

Because Violet knows the real secret hidden for centuries at Basgiath War College—and nothing, not even dragon fire, may be enough to save them in the end.]]> 623 Rebecca Yarros 1649374178 Hafs 2 "You were so excited for this book and you specifically mentioned you'd sell a kidney to be able to read an excerpt?" Yeah well...

Let's start by mentioning the stuff I actually liked:
1. Xaden

Okay now the problems:
The plot relies heavily on the smut (I spent majority of the time wondering if the book was about people or rabbits) and the conflict between Xaden and Violet so everything felt like an after thought...I like conflict (in books not irl) it adds to the overall tension and spice but done in this book it just made me yawn it was so forced??? It could all go away if the just talked about it. All that connection with the telepathy and what have you, you'd think communication is their forte but...
The conflict summarized:
Violet *Finds out that the hot mysterious morally gray shadow daddy she actively decided to fall in love with is actually morally gray and full of mystery*
Her: don't call me, don't come by my house, we're done.
Like it's not that serious, there's people that are dying Vi...

It was also very repetitive just the same thing over and over again in different pages and different words (sometimes it was the same words) I'm looking at you "trust" and "full disclosure"

Liam is MY Roman empire (gone but never forgotten).

Also someone already spoiled the last few chapters for me so I knew about [spoilers removed] so losing the element of surprise brought it down one more star from the original 3 stars.

Still can't believe there's 3 more books left of this, I can already see the way that plot will dragggg so I gladly surrender.

--------
The author's stance on Palestine came to my attention when I was a few chapters away from finishing the book so I think I should address that. I try to keep my personal opinions separate from my bookish takes but this time they overlap unfortunately in what I'd hate to call a grey area. I prefer to separate the art from the artist but this time, I have to draw the line, anyone taking a "neutral stance" has taken the side of the oppressor. Will not be reading another one of her books bc FREE PALESTINE ]]> 4.33 2023
author: Rebecca Yarros
name: Hafs
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2023
rating: 2
read at: 2023/11/18
date added: 2024/04/05
shelves:
review:
I know...
"You were so excited for this book and you specifically mentioned you'd sell a kidney to be able to read an excerpt?" Yeah well...

Let's start by mentioning the stuff I actually liked:
1. Xaden

Okay now the problems:
The plot relies heavily on the smut (I spent majority of the time wondering if the book was about people or rabbits) and the conflict between Xaden and Violet so everything felt like an after thought...I like conflict (in books not irl) it adds to the overall tension and spice but done in this book it just made me yawn it was so forced??? It could all go away if the just talked about it. All that connection with the telepathy and what have you, you'd think communication is their forte but...
The conflict summarized:
Violet *Finds out that the hot mysterious morally gray shadow daddy she actively decided to fall in love with is actually morally gray and full of mystery*
Her: don't call me, don't come by my house, we're done.
Like it's not that serious, there's people that are dying Vi...

It was also very repetitive just the same thing over and over again in different pages and different words (sometimes it was the same words) I'm looking at you "trust" and "full disclosure"

Liam is MY Roman empire (gone but never forgotten).

Also someone already spoiled the last few chapters for me so I knew about [spoilers removed] so losing the element of surprise brought it down one more star from the original 3 stars.

Still can't believe there's 3 more books left of this, I can already see the way that plot will dragggg so I gladly surrender.

--------
The author's stance on Palestine came to my attention when I was a few chapters away from finishing the book so I think I should address that. I try to keep my personal opinions separate from my bookish takes but this time they overlap unfortunately in what I'd hate to call a grey area. I prefer to separate the art from the artist but this time, I have to draw the line, anyone taking a "neutral stance" has taken the side of the oppressor. Will not be reading another one of her books bc FREE PALESTINE
]]> 60784409 A haunting Southern Gothic from an award-winning master of suspense, A House With Good Bones explores the dark, twisted roots lurking just beneath the veneer of a perfect home and family.

"Mom seems off."

Her brother's words echo in Sam Montgomery's ear as she turns onto the quiet North Carolina street where their mother lives alone.

She brushes the thought away as she climbs the front steps. Sam's excited for this rare extended visit, and looking forward to nights with just the two of them, drinking boxed wine, watching murder mystery shows, and guessing who the killer is long before the characters figure it out.

But stepping inside, she quickly realizes home isn’t what it used to be. Gone is the warm, cluttered charm her mom is known for; now the walls are painted a sterile white. Her mom jumps at the smallest noises and looks over her shoulder even when she’s the only person in the room. And when Sam steps out back to clear her head, she finds a jar of teeth hidden beneath the magazine-worthy rose bushes, and vultures are circling the garden from above.

To find out what’s got her mom so frightened in her own home, Sam will go digging for the truth. But some secrets are better left buried.]]> 247 T. Kingfisher 1250829798 Hafs 0 to-read 3.65 2023
author: T. Kingfisher
name: Hafs
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 63922274 A sweeping, heart-stopping epic of a young woman's journey to becoming, set against the harsh beauty of mid-century Colorado

On a cool autumn day in 1948, Victoria Nash delivers late-season peaches from her family's farm set amid the wild beauty of Colorado. As she heads into her village, a disheveled stranger stops to ask her the way. How she chooses to answer will unknowingly alter the course of both their young lives.

So begins the mesmerizing story of split-second choices and courageous acts that propel Victoria away from the only home she has ever known and towards a reckoning with loss, hope and her own untapped strength.

Gathering all the pieces of her small and extraordinary existence, spinning through the eddies of desire, heartbreak and betrayal, she will arrive at a single rocky decision that will change her life forever.

Go as a River is a heart-wrenching coming-of-age story and a drama of enthralling power. Combining unforgettable characters and a breathtaking natural setting, it is a sweeping story of survival and becoming, of the deepest mysteries of love, truth and fate.]]> 320 Shelley Read 1954118236 Hafs 0 to-read 4.20 2023
author: Shelley Read
name: Hafs
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 60531406 #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson expands his Cosmere universe shared by The Stormlight Archive and Mistborn with a new standalone novel for everyone who loved The Princess Bride.

The only life Tress has known on her island home in an emerald-green ocean has been a simple one, with the simple pleasures of collecting cups brought by sailors from faraway lands and listening to stories told by her friend Charlie. But when his father takes him on a voyage to find a bride and disaster strikes, Tress must stow away on a ship and seek the Sorceress of the deadly Midnight Sea. Amid the spore oceans where pirates abound, can Tress leave her simple life behind and make her own place sailing a sea where a single drop of water can mean instant death?]]> 443 Brandon Sanderson Hafs 0 to-read 4.35 2023
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Hafs
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 61273814 The author of Florence Adler Swims Forever returns with a masterful work of historical fiction about an incendiary tragedy that shocked a young nation and tore apart a community in a single night—told from the perspectives of four people whose actions during the inferno changed the course of history.

Richmond, Virginia 1811. It’s the height of the winter social season. The General Assembly is in session, and many of Virginia’s gentleman planters, along with their wives and children, have made the long and arduous journey to the capital in hopes of whiling away the darkest days of the year. At the city’s only theater, the Charleston-based Placide & Green Company puts on two plays a night to meet the demand of a populace that’s done looking for enlightenment in a church.

On the night after Christmas, the theater is packed with more than six hundred holiday revelers. In the third-floor boxes, sits newly widowed Sally Henry Campbell, who is glad for any opportunity to relive the happy times she shared with her husband. One floor away, in the colored gallery, Cecily Patterson doesn’t give a whit about the play but is grateful for a four-hour reprieve from a life that has recently gone from bad to worse. Backstage, young stagehand Jack Gibson hopes that, if he can impress the theater’s managers, he’ll be offered a permanent job with the company. And on the other side of town, blacksmith Gilbert Hunt dreams of one day being able to bring his wife to the theater, but he’ll have to buy her freedom first.

When the theater goes up in flames in the middle of the performance, Sally, Cecily, Jack, and Gilbert make a series of split-second decisions that will not only affect their own lives but those of countless others. And in the days following the fire, as news of the disaster spreads across the United States, the paths of these four people will become forever intertwined.

Based on the true story of Richmond’s theater fire, The House Is on Fire offers proof that sometimes, in the midst of great tragedy, we are offered our most precious—and fleeting—chances at redemption.]]> 376 Rachel Beanland 1982186143 Hafs 0 to-read 4.07 2023
author: Rachel Beanland
name: Hafs
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 61815336
While she works to build a new career and hold her family together, Tara finds a chance at love in a most unlikely place. But when the Connellys�� secrets start to unravel and threaten her future, they all must face their worst fears and come clean, or risk losing each other forever.

The Connellys of County Down is a moving novel about testing the bounds of love and loyalty. It explores the possibility of beginning our lives anew, and reveals the pitfalls of shielding each other from the bitter truth.]]> 288 Tracey Lange 1250865379 Hafs 0 to-read 3.81 2023
author: Tracey Lange
name: Hafs
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 60784757 Birnam Wood is on the move . . .

Five years ago, Mira Bunting founded a guerrilla gardening group: Birnam Wood. An undeclared, unregulated, sometimes-criminal, sometimes-philanthropic gathering of friends, this activist collective plants crops wherever no one will notice: on the sides of roads, in forgotten parks, and neglected backyards. For years, the group has struggled to break even. Then Mira stumbles on an answer, a way to finally set the group up for the long term: a landslide has closed the Korowai Pass, cutting off the town of Thorndike. Natural disaster has created an opportunity, a sizable farm seemingly abandoned.

But Mira is not the only one interested in Thorndike. Robert Lemoine, the enigmatic American billionaire, has snatched it up to build his end-times bunker--or so he tells Mira when he catches her on the property. Intrigued by Mira, Birnam Wood, and their entrepreneurial spirit, he suggests they work this land. But can they trust him? And, as their ideals and ideologies are tested, can they trust each other?

A gripping psychological thriller from the Booker Prize-winning author of The Luminaries, Birnam Wood is Shakespearean in its wit, drama, and immersion in character. A brilliantly constructed consideration of intentions, actions, and consequences, it is an unflinching examination of the human impulse to ensure our own survival.]]> 432 Eleanor Catton 0374110336 Hafs 0 to-read 3.79 2023
author: Eleanor Catton
name: Hafs
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 31938356 حرص المؤلف أن يكون الكتاب مناسباً لمن هم متوسطي الثقافة، ويكون ناسباً للمحتاج و المريض و السليم]]> 192 علي جابر الفيفي Hafs 5 4.28 2016
author: علي جابر الفيفي
name: Hafs
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2024/03/26
date added: 2024/03/26
shelves:
review:

]]> 59232498 In Japanese-occupied Shanghai, two people from different cultures are drawn together by fate and the freedom of music...

1940. Aiyi Shao is a young heiress and the owner of a formerly popular and glamorous Shanghai nightclub. Ernest Reismann is a penniless Jewish refugee driven out of Germany, an outsider searching for shelter in a city wary of strangers. He loses nearly all hope until he crosses paths with Aiyi. When she hires Ernest to play piano at her club, her defiance of custom causes a sensation. His instant fame makes Aiyi's club once again the hottest spot in Shanghai. Soon they realize they share more than a passion for jazz—but their differences seem insurmountable, and Aiyi is engaged to another man.

As the war escalates, Aiyi and Ernest find themselves torn apart, and their choices between love and survival grow more desperate. In the face of overwhelming odds, a chain of events is set in motion that will change both their lives forever.

From the electrifying jazz clubs to the impoverished streets of a city under siege, The Last Rose of Shanghai is a timeless, sweeping story of love and redemption.]]> 429 Weina Dai Randel 1542032881 Hafs 0 to-read 4.13 2021
author: Weina Dai Randel
name: Hafs
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 60461898
Forced to flee her home once more, Xingyin and her companions venture to unexplored lands of the Immortal Realm, encountering legendary creatures and shrewd monarchs, beloved friends and bitter adversaries. With alliances shifting quicker than the tides, Xingyin has to overcome past grudges and enmities to forge a new path forward, seeking aid where she never imagined she would. As an unspeakable terror sweeps across the realm, Xingyin must uncover the truth of her heart and claw her way through devastation--to rise against this evil before it destroys everything she holds dear, and the worlds she has grown to love... even if doing so demands the greatest price of all.

The stunning sequel to Daughter of the Moon Goddess delves deeper into beloved Chinese mythology, concluding the epic story of Xingyin--the daughter of Chang'e and the mortal archer, Houyi--as she battles a grave new threat to the realm, in this powerful tale of love, sacrifice, and hope.]]> 466 Sue Lynn Tan 0063031361 Hafs 0 to-read 4.00 2022
author: Sue Lynn Tan
name: Hafs
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 66087062 A woman risks everything to end her family’s centuries-old curse, solve her mother’s disappearance, and find love in this mesmerizing novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Spells for Forgetting.

In the small mountain town of Jasper, North Carolina, June Farrow is waiting for fate to find her. The Farrow women are known for their thriving flower farm—and the mysterious curse that has plagued their family line. The whole town remembers the madness that led to Susanna Farrow’s disappearance, leaving June to be raised by her grandmother and haunted by rumors.

It’s been a year since June started seeing and hearing things that weren’t there. Faint wind chimes, a voice calling her name, and a mysterious door appearing out of nowhere—the signs of what June always knew was coming. But June is determined to end the curse once and for all, even if she must sacrifice finding love and having a family of her own.

After her grandmother’s death, June discovers a series of cryptic clues regarding her mother’s decades-old disappearance, except they only lead to more questions. But could the door she once assumed was a hallucination be the answer she’s been searching for? The next time it appears, June realizes she can touch it and walk past the threshold. And when she does, she embarks on a journey that will not only change both the past and the future, but also uncover the lingering mysteries of her small town and entangle her heart in an epic star-crossed love.

With The Unmaking of June Farrow, Adrienne Young delivers a brilliant novel of romance, mystery, and a touch of the impossible—a story you will never forget.]]> 320 Adrienne Young 0593598679 Hafs 4 4.13 2023
author: Adrienne Young
name: Hafs
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/03
date added: 2024/03/03
shelves:
review:
This is what Weyward tried to do but couldn't.
]]> 57789637
“Epic, romantic, and enthralling from start to finish.”—Stephanie Garber, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Caraval series

“An all-consuming work of literary fantasy that is breathtaking both for its beauty and its suspense."—BookPage, starred review

A captivating and romantic debut epic fantasy inspired by the legend of the Chinese moon goddess, Chang’e, in which a young woman’s quest to free her mother pits her against the most powerful immortal in the realm.

Growing up on the moon, Xingyin is accustomed to solitude, unaware that she is being hidden from the feared Celestial Emperor who exiled her mother for stealing his elixir of immortality. But when Xingyin’s magic flares and her existence is discovered, she is forced to flee her home, leaving her mother behind.

Alone, powerless, and afraid, she makes her way to the Celestial Kingdom, a land of wonder and secrets. Disguising her identity, she seizes an opportunity to learn alongside the emperor’s son, mastering archery and magic, even as passion flames between her and the prince.

To save her mother, Xingyin embarks on a perilous quest, confronting legendary creatures and vicious enemies. But when treachery looms and forbidden magic threatens the kingdom, she must challenge the ruthless Celestial Emperor for her dream—striking a dangerous bargain in which she is torn between losing all she loves or plunging the realm into chaos.

Daughter of the Moon Goddess begins an enchanting duology which weaves ancient Chinese mythology into a sweeping adventure of immortals and magic, of loss and sacrifice—where love vies with honor, dreams are fraught with betrayal, and hope emerges triumphant.]]> 503 Sue Lynn Tan 0063031302 Hafs 3 4.08 2022
author: Sue Lynn Tan
name: Hafs
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2024/02/24
date added: 2024/02/24
shelves:
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 Hafs 0 to-read 4.17 2023
author: Lauren Roberts
name: Hafs
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 59693959 In a village in a medieval fiefdom buffeted by natural disasters, a motherless shepherd boy finds himself the unlikely pivot of a power struggle that puts all manner of faith to a savage test, in a spellbinding novel that represents Ottessa Moshfegh’s most exciting leap yet

Little Marek, the abused and delusional son of the village shepherd, never knew his mother; his father told him she died in childbirth. One of life’s few consolations for Marek is his enduring bond with the blind village midwife, Ina, who suckled him as a baby, as she did so many of the village’s children. Ina’s gifts extend beyond childcare: she possesses a unique ability to communicate with the natural world. Her gift often brings her the transmission of sacred knowledge on levels far beyond those available to other villagers, however religious they might be. For some people, Ina’s home in the woods outside of the village is a place to fear and to avoid, a godless place.

Among their number is Father Barnabas, the town priest and lackey for the depraved lord and governor, Villiam, whose hilltop manor contains a secret embarrassment of riches. The people’s desperate need to believe that there are powers that be who have their best interests at heart is put to a cruel test by Villiam and the priest, especially in this year of record drought and famine. But when fate brings Marek into violent proximity to the lord’s family, new and occult forces upset the old order. By year’s end, the veil between blindness and sight, life and death, the natural world and the spirit world, civility and savagery, will prove to be very thin indeed.]]> 313 Ottessa Moshfegh Hafs 2
19 Feb/2024: (me when I lie) this book was actually really disgusting looking back at it. I'm also mentally unstable so that explains it ig. Changing the rating from 4 stars.]]> 3.53 2022
author: Ottessa Moshfegh
name: Hafs
average rating: 3.53
book published: 2022
rating: 2
read at: 2023/01/28
date added: 2024/02/18
shelves:
review:
THROWING UP AND SCREAMING THIS WAS GROTESQUE BUT IT WASN'T BAD??? I HATE IT I LOVE IT ITS COMPLICATED IDK

19 Feb/2024: (me when I lie) this book was actually really disgusting looking back at it. I'm also mentally unstable so that explains it ig. Changing the rating from 4 stars.
]]> 60099660 actually invisible.
��
When her parents drop the news that they can no longer afford her tuition, even with the scholarship, Alice hatches a plan to monetize her strange new power—she’ll discover the scandalous secrets her classmates want to know, for a price.
��
But as the tasks escalate from petty scandals to actual crimes, Alice must decide if it’s worth losing her conscience—or even her life.

In this genre-bending YA debut, a Chinese American girl monetizes her strange new invisibility powers by discovering and selling her wealthy classmates�� most scandalous secrets.]]> 346 Ann Liang 1335915842 Hafs 0 to-read 4.01 2022
author: Ann Liang
name: Hafs
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 62844125
Stories are sly things…they can be hard to catch and kill.

Inanna is an impossibility, the first full Anunnaki born on Earth. Crowned the goddess of love by the twelve immortal Anunnaki who are worshipped across Sumer, she is destined for greatness.

But Inanna is born into a time of war. The Anunnaki have split into warring factions, threatening to tear the world apart. Forced into a marriage to negotiate a peace, she soon realises she has been placed in terrible danger.

Gilgamesh, a mortal human son of the Anunnaki, and notorious womaniser, finds himself captured and imprisoned by King Akka who seeks to distance himself and his people from the gods. Arrogant and selfish, Gilgamesh is given one final chance to prove himself.

Ninshubar, a powerful warrior woman, is cast out of her tribe after an act of kindness. Hunted by her own people, she escapes across the country, searching for acceptance and a new place in the world.

As their journeys push them closer together, and their fates intertwine, they come to realise that together, they may have the power to change to face of the world forever.]]> 474 Emily H. Wilson 1803364408 Hafs 1 OKAY...so incest huh... 4.02 2023
author: Emily H. Wilson
name: Hafs
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2023
rating: 1
read at: 2024/02/06
date added: 2024/02/06
shelves:
review:
OKAY...so incest huh...
]]> 101141871
Emory might be a student at the prestigious Aldryn College for Lunar Magics, but her healing abilities have always been mediocre at best—until a treacherous night in the Dovermere sea caves leaves a group of her classmates dead and her as the only survivor. Now Emory is plagued by strange, impossible powers that no healer should possess.

Powers that would ruin her life if the wrong person were to discover them.

To gain control of these new abilities, Emory enlists the help of the school’s most reclusive student, Baz—a boy already well-versed in the deadly nature of darker magic, whose sister happened to be one of the drowned students and Emory’s best friend. Determined to find the truth behind the drownings and the cult-like secret society she’s convinced her classmates were involved in, Emory is faced with even more questions when the supposedly drowned students start washing ashore�� alive —only for them each immediately to die horrible, magical deaths.

And Emory is not the only one seeking answers. When her new magic captures the society’s attention, she finds herself drawn into their world of privilege and power, all while wondering if the truth she’s searching for might lead her right back to Dovermere…to face the fate she was never meant to escape.]]> 544 Pascale Lacelle 1665939273 Hafs 0 to-read 3.79 2023
author: Pascale Lacelle
name: Hafs
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 1519 Alternate covers of this ISBN here, here, here, here. Most recent cover is here.

In the Oresteia—the only trilogy in Greek drama which survives from antiquity—Aeschylus took as his subject the bloody chain of murder and revenge within the royal family of Argos.

Moving from darkness to light, from rage to self-governance, from primitive ritual to civilized institution, their spirit of struggle and regeneration becomes an everlasting song of celebration.]]> 336 Aeschylus Hafs 0 to-read 4.03 -458
author: Aeschylus
name: Hafs
average rating: 4.03
book published: -458
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/02/03
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]]> 52761023 Washington Black; My Sister, The Serial Killer; and Her Body and Other Parties.

As Nahr sits, locked away in solitary confinement, she spends her days reflecting on the dramatic events that landed her in prison in a country she barely knows. Born in Kuwait in the 70s to Palestinian refugees, she dreamed of falling in love with the perfect man, raising children, and possibly opening her own beauty salon. Instead, the man she thinks she loves jilts her after a brief marriage, her family teeters on the brink of poverty, she’s forced to prostitute herself, and the US invasion of Iraq makes her a refugee, as her parents had been. After trekking through another temporary home in Jordan, she lands in Palestine, where she finally makes a home, falls in love, and her destiny unfolds under Israeli occupation.]]> 384 Susan Abulhawa 1982137037 Hafs 0 to-read 4.52 2019
author: Susan Abulhawa
name: Hafs
average rating: 4.52
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/02/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 98264 Betrayal is Pinter's latest full-length play since the enormous success of No Man's Land. The play begins in 1977, with a meeting between adulterous lovers, Emma and Jerry, two years after their affair has ended. During the nine scenes of the play, we move back in time, through the states of their affair, with the play ending in the house of Emma and Robert, her husband, who is Jerry's best friend.

The classic dramatic scenario of the love triangle is manifest in a mediation on the themes of marital infidelity, duplicity, and self-deception. Pinter writes a world that simultaneously glorifies and debases love.]]> 144 Harold Pinter 0571160824 Hafs 2 3.96 1978
author: Harold Pinter
name: Hafs
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1978
rating: 2
read at: 2024/01/25
date added: 2024/01/25
shelves:
review:
So either I didn't understand anything or it was just a book about infidelity where everyone is just so chill about it??? I know there's supposed to be something more to it but coming from a man who cheated on his wife irl I cba.
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