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Infinite Country by Patricia Engel | Thoughts

   Published : 2021   ||    Format : print   ||    Location : Colombia ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆   What was it about the country that kept everyone hostage to its fantasy? The previous month, on its own soil, an American man went to his job at a plant and gunned down fourteen coworkers, and last spring alone there were four different school shootings. A nation at war with itself, yet people still spoke of it as some kind of paradise.. Thoughts : Infinite Country follows two characters - young Talia, who at the beginning of this book, escapes a girl’s reform school in North Colombia so that she can make her previously booked flight to the US. Before she can do that, she needs to travel many miles to reach her father and get her ticket to the rest of her family. As we follow Talia’s treacherous journey south, we learn about how she ended up in the reform school in the first place and why half her family resides in the US. Infinite Country tells the story of her family through the other protagonist, El

It's Monday! What are you reading? -- May 31, 2010

This is a weekly event initially hosted by J. Kaye at J. Kaye's Book Blog , now by Sheila @ One Persons Journey through a world of Books , to celebrate what you are reading for the week as well as books completed the previous week. Books completed last week Did anyone read anything this week, what with the BEA and the Armchair BEA ? I didn't - a real bummer, since by mid-month, I read 8 books, then got into a rut and didn't read much. So I guess, my advice to self is to read at my normal pace. Ugh! Books reviewed None. Instead, check out my armchair BEA posts , if you haven't yet: - Rise of the online book club member - The Blogger and the Microblogger - Books from far, far away - How to keep an active buzzing blog I am currently reading Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See : I am halfway through, and I can't gush enough about the narrator. Really love it! Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling : Z

Look at what just arrived! - May 31, 2010

This meme is hosted by Marcia @ The Printed Page . It is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week (checked out library books don’t count, eBooks & audio books do). Five books this week. Plus thanks to Armchair BEA , I won/got 9 other ARCs. Woohoo! Summer at Tiffany by Marjorie Hart from Harper Collins , courtesy of TLC Book Tours . ( This is a memoir about two girls who are the first girls to work at Tiffany, written from the perspective of one of them. A real feel-good book ) After loving The Lumby Lines , I received the remaining four books in the series from FSB Associates - Stealing Lumby , Lumby's Bounty , The Promise of Lumby and Lumby on the Air . You can imagine my excitement when I got the full set! What do you think of any of these books?

Armchair BEA: Wrap-Up, Thank You and Why I Loved Armchair BEA

And what a fun week it was! Armchair BEA was a huge success to me! I can particularly attest to that by saying that I didn't do much work at all this week - at least for the first four days. By Friday, I was slightly panicky, and because of my desire to end the week with a feel-good sentiment, I managed to work seriously yesterday. With my Tweetdeck tuned to #BookBloggerCon . If you haven't checked out my posts yet, here are the links. BEA Discussion: Rise of the online book club member , in which I talk about how popular online book communities have become. BEA Discussion: The Blogger and the Microblogger , in which I suggest how bloggers can become avid microbloggers, aka twitterers. BEA Discussion: Books from far, far away , in which I ask how we can blog proactively and give more attention to the lesser-known books. BBC Panel: How to keep an active buzzing blog , in which I give a few strategies to keep your blog active and non-redundant. Thanks to the wonderf

Armchair BEA Discussion: How to keep an active buzzing blog

Welcome to the third day of Armchair BEA ! This four-day event is organized to coincide with the BookExpo America in NY that ended yesterday and the Book Blogger Convention , that is being held today Those of us unlucky enough not to be in the most happening place this week are instead a part of BEA from the cozy comforts of our home. (I know it's not much, but at least one can claim that feeling of participation!). Today, I'm doing a panel post on "Writing and Building Content". Why do we blog? More specifically, why do we blog about books? Not all readers blog, nor do they review books by habit. There must be something more than a desire to talk about books that makes us sit late nights sometimes, tired after a long day but still finding the energy and the enthusiasm to write up posts. Blogging needs passion. It is easy to blog for a month and then succumb to burnout. In addition to loving books, one needs to love to blog or to write. Of course, we do

Armchair BEA Discussion: Books from far, far away

Welcome to the third day of Armchair BEA ! This four-day event is organized to coincide with the BookExpo America in NY that ends today. Tomorrow is the Book Blogger Convention . Those of us unlucky enough not to be in the most happening place this week are instead going to be a part of BEA from the cozy comforts of our home. (I know it's not much, but at least one can claim that feeling of participation!). Today, for my third post for the Armchair BEA, I'm going to step back a bit and look at us - bloggers - and the little-known books. How do you decide which books to read or add to your always growing TBR? If you're like me, you probably heed recommendations from bloggers, members in your favorite online communities or book clubs , and friends or family members. Have you ever looked to see if most of the books you read (barring review copies) are the "hyped up" books? And I don't been that in a bad way, but more in an objective way. Let me t

Armchair BEA Discussion: The Blogger and the Microblogger

Welcome to the second day of Armchair BEA ! This four-day event is organized to coincide with the BookExpo America that is in full swing in NY. Those of us unlucky enough not to be in the most happening place this week are instead going to be a part of BEA from the cozy comforts of our home. (I know it's not much, but at least one can claim that feeling of participation!). Today, for my second post for the Armchair BEA, I'm going to analyze one of the biggest phenomena we noticed yesterday. If you are like me, you must have stayed glued to your Twitter platform yesterday, following the #BEA10 and the #ArmchairBEA tweets. I was hoping to find out what was happening at BEA, while I wrote my thesis in parallel. What I didn't count on was that I would end up focusing almost entirely on the BEA tweets, while not getting even an iota of my work done! Did you know that Amazon is on its way to be a full-fledged publisher within 6 months? You knew? Did you know

Armchair BEA Discussion: Rise of the online book club member

Welcome to the Armchair BEA ! Today's the first day of this four-day event, organized to coincide with the BookExpo America that is in full swing in NY. Those of us unlucky enough not to be in the most happening place this week are instead going to be a part of BEA from the cozy comforts of our home. (I know it's not much, but at least one can claim that feeling of participation!). Today, for my first post for the Armchair BEA, I'm going to talk, sing and glorify online reader communities. How many online reading communities are you currently a member of? One? Two? Five? Countless? Don't-know? Don't-track? Rather-not-track? For a long time, there have been book clubs. I mean the real physical book clubs, where usually, a bunch of avid readers sit in cozy couches or chairs (I like the couches better) around a table, and have an intellectual discussion about the many nuances of a book's plot. Lately, we have been having online book clubs and commu

Adieus, LOST! I will miss you...

(A zillion thanks to my brother for introducing me to the show. That first day, I told him a hundred times that I am not interested in watching the show. I'm lucky he never relented!) As I type this, I'm still trying to grapple with the fact that I will no longer have a LOST night to look forward to. Some of you are happy to get that one hour of your life back, some others including yours truly are terribly sad that not to have that one hour to let our head swim with mind-numbing theories about the life, death and actions of the bunch of castaways on that god-forsaken island! Six amazing seasons of never-ending mysteries and the quintessential quest for the answers to every LOST question, and suddenly, it's all over. How do you deal with that? LOST withdrawal is hitting me real hard. But the good things always end. And that's probably what keeps them kicking. How can I even start saying what I will miss about LOST? If I start writing that, I'm going to ma

It's Monday! What are you reading? -- May 24, 2010

This is a weekly event initially hosted by J. Kaye at J. Kaye's Book Blog , now by Sheila @ One Persons Journey through a world of Books , to celebrate what you are reading for the week as well as books completed the previous week. Books completed last week I didn't exactly have my best week, so I managed to complete just one book. - The Motorcycle Diaries by Che Guevara Books reviewed - Chicken with Plums by Marjane Satrapi - The Lumby Lines by Gail Fraser - The Arrival by Shaun Tan I am currently reading Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See : No progress on this, I need to take my rusty old iPod out and get back to listening! Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling : I am halfway through this book now and I'm hoping this will get me out of my reading funk! The Lion's Game by Nelson DeMille : So far, I didn't find this book as good as Plum Island , but John Corey is still amazingly sarcastic and that&#

Look at what just arrived! - May 24, 2010

This meme is hosted by Marcia @ The Printed Page . It is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week (checked out library books don’t count, eBooks & audio books do). I just got one book this week, but it's one that I've been looking forward to. Based upon Availability by Alix Strauss arrived, courtesy of TLC Book Tours . ( About "eight seemingly ordinary women", in "Manhattan's Four Seasons Hotel", going through "their darkest moments as they grapple with family, sex, power, love, and death". ) Looks like there is plenty of characterization! Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Eva @ A Striped Armchair and Marg @ Reading Adventures that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. You know how a visit to the library usually is? You walk in, and there is this big stack right in the front, screaming "New Arrivals". Now, you pr