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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

US/Canada giveaway - What the Zhang Boys Know (Clifford Garstang)

(This giveaway is now closed. Thanks for visiting!) Yesterday, I raved about  What the Zhang Boys Know  and today, I'm thrilled to say that I have  ONE copy  of this book to give away, courtesy of the publisher and  TLC Book Tours . I strongly recommend this book to all readers of literary fiction. To enter, simply fill the form below. The usual stuff: You  don't  have to be a follower of my blog to enter the giveaway. You must be over 13 years of age. US/Canada only The giveaway will stay open until I chose the winner on Oct 31, 2012 . Fill the form.

What the Zhang Boys Know by Clifford Garstang

It is the middle of the night, a dark, moonless night, when a man -- a small man who, though past forty, has never been as fit as he is now, his days filled with running and the endless lifting of makeshift weights -- removes a painting from the lobby wall. Having recently lost his wife in a horrible accident, Zhang Feng-qi tries to bring up his sons as best as he can, but he is not his wife - he cannot maintain his condo as well as his wife did, nor can he properly answer his two sons, Simon and Wesley, when they insist that their mother will come back. He wonders if his new girlfriend can step in, but knows it is too early to introduce her to the family. He asks his American mother-in-law to help, but she was never supportive of her daughter's marriage so her response isn't that forthcoming. Eventually, he asks his father for help. While the Zhang household is dealing with its own situation, their neighbors are having their own problems - a painter mourns the absence o

The Week in Books (10/15-10/21)

This past week has been a pretty good reading week for me. I did finish a couple of reads, abandon one and start yet another. This year has been mostly a long phase of patchy reading, and while this is no sign of a change in that, it's nice to have weeks like these. Even though I tell myself that number of books read is not important as long as I am reading and enjoying what I read, it's still hard to not be disappointed that I only have 34 read books this year (and about 10-15 short stories). This week I read... - What the Zhang Boys Know by Clifford Garstang, is a short story collection, which usually tends to never work for me. But I have to say that this book was tremendously enjoyable! I would even love to say that this is the book that changes my perspective on short story collections, but it's too early to say that. - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling: After two years, I'm again doing another reread of this series. The first few b

Gathering of Waters by Bernice McFadden

Hemmingway didn't move to retrieve the bowl of hot cereal until the slapping sound of Doll's house slippers had faded away. At the table, she spooned up a large helping of the cereal and brought it to her open mouth. Good thing she smelled the turpentine before she ate it, or this story might have ended here. In Mississippi, in a town called Money, five year old Doll's mother makes a horrifying discovery - that her daughter is possessed by the spirit of Esther, a prostitute who died years ago. Attempts to exorcise the spirit fail as Esther manages to assert her malicious presence, while trying to seduce the men of the town. A number of men fall for her charms, but when disaster strikes one day in the form of a hurricane, Doll dies but Esther manages to move to another person - a white boy doomed to commit a horrific murder one day. Bernice McFadden is fast becoming one of my favorite authors. I first read one of her books - Sugar - couple of years back, and quic

What I've been Reading! (Oct 15, 2012)

Sheila  @  Book Journey  wants to know what we're reading. I'm only too happy to oblige! It's been a while since I did this meme, mostly because I haven't really read much, but also because I haven't blogged much either. As usual, I'm tossing between more than two books currently - my mood's been a little fluctuating lately.   Both What the Zhang Boys Know by Clifford Garstang and Things your Dog Doesn't Want you to Know by Hy Conrad and Jeff Johnson are for the TLC Book Tour , and I'm enjoying both. What the Zhang Boys Know is almost a short story collection, except each chapter is narrated by one among a group of inter-related people. The latter is as delightful as the cover and title seem to suggest. The husband and I had quite a chuckle from some stories, because we could see ourselves in some of them easily. I'm also rereading the first Harry Potter book for the umpteenth time, because fall always makes me want to read th

Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli

"They don't live here. They live in Heaven." "Where's that?" "I don't know," I said. "Enos says it's right here, on this side of the wall, but I never saw an angel over here. Kuba says it's in Russia. Olek says Washington America." "What's Washington America?" "Enos says it's a place with no wall and no lice and lots of potatoes." Jew. Gypsy. Stopthief. Runt. These are some of the names by which the protagonist of Milkweed is known. He doesn't remember what he was called by his parents, nor does he remember the parents either. His very first memory is running. Running away after stealing something. A friend names his Misha, and that becomes his name for a long time. He makes his living by stealing from the streets of Warsaw, he enjoys parades, and loves shiny German boots. He wants to become a Nazi some day because they smile, throw flowers and laugh. Until one day, something happens

Fleeting thoughts: My Friend Dahmer / When I Found You

I happen to have a huge review backlog at the moment, which I am not surprised by considering how sporadic my reading and blogging has been, but my articulation quotient has kind of dried up on some of these books as well - so rather than compose huge articles of nothing, I'll just summarize my thoughts on these books. My Friend Dahmer by Derf Backderf: Jeffrey Dahmer was a serial killer who murdered 17 men and boys between 1978 and 1991 and was also guilty of rape, dismemberment, necrophilia, and cannnibalism. My Friend Dahmer is however not a narration of his crimes, but rather a portrayal of the killer from the viewpoint of the author, who used to be his classmate. The husband and I read this book together and in the end, we both felt the same way. It was good but nothing fabulous or intriguing. Dahmer's portrayal was quite interesting. He grew up in a troubled home - his parents divorced, his mother moved out taking his younger brother with her. He was shy and an