“Land of Hidden Fires” by Kirk Kjeldsen

Kari’s just your typical teenage girl, dreaming of boys and being like Rita Hayworth…except that her country is currently occupied by Nazi Germany. When an American pilot crash-lands near her father’s farm, she sets off on a desperate adventure to smuggle him to Sweden. I always have my eye open for some good Nordic reading, […]

“A Winter’s Love” by Madeleine L’Engle

I read this book with conflicted feelings: on the one hand, I was impressed by what a talented and insightful writer L’Engle was even so early in her career, and on the other, compared with her later works, it’s clear here that L’Engle hadn’t quite hit her stride. What for another writer would be a […]

“Pachinko” by Min Jin Lee

Pachinko In “Pachinko,” Min Jin Lee weaves a multigenerational story of a Korean family in Japan from the pre-WWII Japanese occupation of Korea to the 1980s. Surviving–or not–war, partition, discrimination, and rejection, the Baek/Boku/Park family rises from desperate poverty to wealth through shrewd entrepreneurship, an unstoppable work ethic, and pachinko, a gambling business of dubious […]

“Suite Francaise” by Irene Nemirovsky

Suite Française “Suite Francaise” is an astounding book, but even more astounding is the story behind its composition. Born in 1903 to a well-to-do Jewish family in Kiev, then part of Russia, Irene Nemirovsky, the author, was forced to flee in 1917 first to Finland, and then finally to France, where, still in her 20s, […]

“Monumental Propaganda” by Vladimir Voinovich

Monumental Propaganda Aglaya (“The Shining One”) Revkina (“The Zealous One”) may have never had an orgasm, but she does know what love is. All the passion her skinny body is capable of has been dedicated her entire life to Comrade Stalin. It’s unfortunate that the rest of the world is incapable of matching her ardor. […]

Stacking the Shelves!

This is something I just found out about, started by Tynga’s Reviews. You get to list books you’ve acquired with the intention of reading. Gulp! I try not to think too hard about my TBR list, but actually at the moment it’s not too bad. So here are some books I’m planning to read soon, or […]

“The Girl From the Tea Garden” by Janet MacLeod Trotter

“The Girl From The Tea Garden” evokes one of my secret favorite genres– Anglo-Indian tales from the late 19th/early 20th century (I know, I know, it’s weirdly specific). Whether from the British perspective (e.g., “The Secret Garden,” which starts off in India before moving to Yorkshire) or the Indian perspective (e.g., “Gay-Neck”), these stories are […]