Poems and Poets

Publication Date: September 26, 2017 Genre: Middle Grade My Goodreads Rating: 4/5 Source: Publisher (Through Edelweiss) Christa loves Christmas. The holiday season is her favorite season of all time- it's just so perfect! Unfortunately, this year, the holidays are stained by her parents separation. She can't imagine spending the vacations without her father, even when her mom tells her she'll be joining her on a trip across Europe for the winter. A cautious, play-it-safe kind of girl, Christa isn't really looking forward to the crowds and new foods. When she gets to her hotel though, there's a package from her father awaiting her. The first of 12, the letter dares to her complete a task she normally wouldn't. As Christa works to finish the dares and make new friends within her mom's acting troop, her father shapes her into a more confident girl, from halfway across the world!

Publication Date: September 18th 2016 Genre: Historical Fiction My Goodreads Rating: 4/5 Source:  Own Copy For a while now, I've been undecided about my favourite genre. This book, however, helped me realize that Historical Fictions are the books I love to read the most. "The Bishop's Girl" by Rebecca Burns is an intricately woven story that deals with identity and identification, love and romance, jobs and family life, and most of all, discovery.  Jess is a certified archivist who works at the Shacklock Library. Under a strict, work-absorbed professor, she researches the unidentified body of a young woman who was buried with the famous Bishop Shacklock sometime in the First World War.   Struggling to find anything of relevance that hasn't been reviewed in her last six years at the library, she stumbles upon a document that could possibly change history. She leaves town, and her family, for a weekend to investigate a hunch, and in doing so, meets a...

Publication Date: May 6th 2014 Genre: Historical Fiction My Goodreads Rating: 5/5 Source:  Borrowed Hello Everyone! I'm back with a book review after a long time- but I promise this one was worth waiting for. I'll be reviewing Anthony Doerr's "All the Light We Cannot See" today, and trust me, just as soon as you read the book you'll understand why I love it so much.  Doerr's novel, set in the Second World War, revolves around the life of a blind French girl and an orphaned German Boy. Flitting through years and countries, Anthony Doerr depicts marvelously the struggles of life during a war, no matter which character he is writing about.

 Publication Date: March 18th 2003 Genre: Thriller, Suspense My Goodreads Rating: 4/5 Source:  Own Copy Hey guys! I'm back with another update for my Big Book Challenge of 2016. This challenge is hosted by Bookbybook. If you're unsure of what it is- you can check it out here.   The first Big Book I read was "Inferno" by Dan Brown*. Someone had gifted it to me- and I started reading it without realizing that it was part of a series- the Robert Langdon series.  Inferno was in fact the fourth book in the series. Fortunately, my parents had the 2nd and 3rd books at home already, so I found two more big books to read this summer. "The Da Vinci Code " is the 2nd book in the series.

Publication Date: January 1st 2003 Genre: Travel My Goodreads Rating: 3/5 Source:  Own Copy I recently finished reading "Almost French"  by Sarah Turnbull. This book, based on Turnbull's life is a new spin on the classic travel journal. Turnbull strays away from the tourist destinations and instead speaks of her passion for the country, without denying her dislike.  "Almost French" is the story of a young (20..) Australian journalist who takes on the challenge to stay with a stranger. Travelling in Budapest, she meets her future husband, who asks her to live with him for a while in Paris. Excited by the prospect, she quits her job and starts work as a freelance writer.   However the term "freelance" seems to mean rejections, icy replies and no money. Meanwhile, she also struggles to fit in with Frederic's French friends, who strictly follow outdated societal norms.

I recently finished the book, Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay. I don't usually do book reviews or recommendations, but this book was begging for one. The story is so sweet and unusual, and the characters are so vivid that I couldn't help myself. Publication Date: June 12th 2007 Genre: Historical Fiction My Goodreads Rating: 4/5 Source:  Own Copy   Sarah's Key consists of the stories of two characters. It moves between the narration of both characters until eventually one of the stories ends, and blends into the other. I found this quite unique. Although there are many writers who allow more than one character to be first person in a book, not a lot of them switch between milieus.    Tatiana de Rosnay switches between the story of a young Jew in occupied France and an American Journalist in modern day Paris. Although the Jew was born much before the American, the story allows them to share a bond.