I received an Advance Reader's Copy from the publisher and from NetGalley in exchange for this review. All opinions are my own. What Strange Paradise ends with such a gut punch that it's almost impossible to think back over the novel without thinking of it in light of those final lines. At the same time,… Continue reading Book Review: What Strange Paradise by Omar El Akkad
Tag: Karissa Reads Books 2021
What I Read – August 2021
Read: What Strange Paradise - Omar El Akkad (Penguin Random House Canada, 2021) Interior Chinatown - Charles Yu (Pantheon Books, 2020) A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens (Bantam Book, 1989) The Song of Achilles - Madeline Miller (Ecco, 2012) Blanket Toss Under Midnight Sun - Paul Seesequasis (Alfred A. Knopf Canada, 2019) Front… Continue reading What I Read – August 2021
Book Review: Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu
Interior Chinatown - Charles Yu When it comes to a book like Interior Chinatown where the author is creating something so unique and different, I'm able to forgive a lot even when there are other weaknesses in the work. Charles Yu uses film tropes and a screenplay style on the page to tell the story… Continue reading Book Review: Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu
Book Review: A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens (A Virtuous Reading Challenge)
A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens (Bantam Books, 1989) A Tale of Two Cities was only the second book by Charles Dickens that I ever read. In the years since, I've read several more but still have always claimed A Tale as my favourite work of Dickens. Re-reading it now, probably a decade… Continue reading Book Review: A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens (A Virtuous Reading Challenge)
What I Read – July 2021
Read: The Devil and the Dark Water - Stuart Turton (HarperCollins Publishers, 2020) Made in China - Anna Qu (Catapult, 2021) Transcendent Kingdom - Yaa Gyasi (Bond Street Books, 2020) Notes on Grief - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Alfred A. Knopf, 2021) Did Not Finish: Floating City - Kerri Sakamoto I picked this up because it… Continue reading What I Read – July 2021
Book Review: Hao by Ye Chun
Hao - Ye Chun (Catapult, 2021) I received an Advance Reading Copy of this book. All opinions are my own. It will be available for sale 7 September 7, 2021. This was such a unique short story collections. Many of these stories centre around language, particularly the Chinese language and its writing, and each story… Continue reading Book Review: Hao by Ye Chun
Book Review: Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
Transcendent Kingdom - Yaa Gyasi (Bond Street Books, 2020) Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi was one of my top reads of 2020 so I went into reading Transcendent Kingdom with very high expectations. While Transcendent Kingdom has a lot in it that is beautiful and thoughtful, it does suffer by comparison to Homegoing and it was… Continue reading Book Review: Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
Book Review: Made in China by Anna Qu
Made in China - Anna Qu (Catapult, 2021) I received an Advance Reading Copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions are my own. It is on sale 3 August 2021. Anna Qu is a baby when her mother leaves her with her grandparents and heads to the United States. Anna's father having died… Continue reading Book Review: Made in China by Anna Qu
Book Review: The Samurai by Shusaku Endo
The Samurai - Shusaku Endo (New Directions, 2018) (translated from the Japanese by Van C. Gessel) Like Endo's other famous book, Silence, this is a slow moving and contemplative book, dealing with Christianity in 17th century Japan. Which isn't to say it's a boring book or one without much happening; it's simply a deeply thoughtful… Continue reading Book Review: The Samurai by Shusaku Endo
Book Review: A Book of Luminous Things: An International Anthology of Poetry edited by Czeslaw Milosz
I've had this poetry book on my shelf since university but never made a focused effort to read through it until this year. I enjoyed the variety of voices, styles, and historical contexts brought together by Czeslaw Milosz. Many of the poems are translations with quite a lot of those being done by Milosz himself.… Continue reading Book Review: A Book of Luminous Things: An International Anthology of Poetry edited by Czeslaw Milosz
Karissa Reads Books 