Amodini's Book Reviews

Book Reviews and Recommendations

Archive for the 'culture and society' Category

Truth alone triumphs . . .

I’ve been watching Aamir Khan’s Satyamev Jayate regularly since it started. Public figures and Bollywood stars often shy away from telling it like it is so I can’t appreciate him enough for stepping up and speaking up about various ills so ingrained in Indian society. He has so far done shows on various issues like […]

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Book Review : Harmless as Doves

[amazon_link id=”0452297869″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ][/amazon_link]Title : Harmless as Doves Author : P. L. Gaus Genre : Mystery Pages : 224 Publisher : Plume Source : Publisher ARC Rating : 4/5 Bishop Leon Shetler is the religious leader of his people, a small Amish community. His placid serene world is upset one day when an […]

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Book Review : A Lady Cyclist’s Guide to Kashgar

[amazon_link id=”1608198111″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ][/amazon_link]Title : A Lady Cyclist’s Guide to Kashgar Author : Suzanne Joinson Genre : Women’s Publisher : Bloomsbury Pages : 384 Rating : 3.5/5 The book has two parallel tracks, each running independently until the later half of the book where we begin to glimpse tenuous links. In the first […]

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Book Review : The Lilac House

[amazon_link id=”031260677X” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ][/amazon_link]Title : The Lilac House Author : Anita Nair Genre : Literary/South Asian Publisher : St. Martins Griffin Pages : 352 Source : NetGalley/Publisher ARC Rating : 4/5 Meera is a smart society wife and cookbook author, caught up in tending to her family. She lives with husband Giri, son […]

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Book Review : Accidents of Providence

[amazon_link id=”0547490801″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ][/amazon_link]Title : Accidents of Providence Author : Stacia M. Brown Genre : Historical Publisher : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Source : NetGalley/Publisher ARC Rating 3.5/5 “Accidents of Providence” is a work of fiction set in the Cromwellian era of 1649, with characters based on some historical figures. In it Ms. Brown […]

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Book Review : The Golden Scales

[amazon_link id=”1608197948″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ][/amazon_link]Title : The Golden Scales Author : Parker Bilal Genre : Mystery Pages : 416 Publisher : Bloomsbury Source : NetGalley/Publisher ARC Rating : 4/5 I decided to read this book because I quite like mysteries situated in different cultures (like Finding Nouf), the more detail of the culture and the […]

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Book Review : Pure

[amazon_link id=”1455503061″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ][/amazon_link]Title : Pure Author : Julianna Baggott Genre : Dystopian/Horror Pages : 448 Publisher : Grand Central Publishing Source : NetGalley Publisher ARC Rating : 4/5 Pure is not your ordinary dystopian novel, it treads into the horror category. It is a story of a bleak future, one where the […]

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Book Review : How It All Began

[amazon_link id=”0670023442″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ][/amazon_link]Title : How It All Began Author : Penelope Lively Genre : Contemporary Fiction Publisher : Viking Pages : 229 Source : Publisher ARC Rating : 4.5/5 Dame Penelope Lively’s “How it all began” starts off with a violent mugging. A frail old schoolteacher Charlotte Rainsford is pushed to the […]

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Book Review : The Artist of Disappearance

[amazon_link id=”0547577451″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ][/amazon_link]Title : The Artist of Disappearance Author : Anita Desai Pages : 176 Publisher : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Rating : 3.5/5 Source : NetGalley / Publisher ARC Anita Desai’s latest book “Artist of Disappearance” is composed of three novellas. Each is about art and the artist, and presents a problem […]

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Book Review: Children of Paranoia

[amazon_link id=”0525952373″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ][/amazon_link]Title : Children of Paranoia Author : Trevor Shane Publisher : Dutton Genre : Dystopian Thriller Release Date : September 8, 2011 Source : Publisher ARC Pages : 371 Rating : 4.5/5 There is a war on and Joseph is in the thick of it. It’s Us vs. Them with […]

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