Following her last novel, 2015’s Circling the Sun (which I blogged about here), Paula McLain has written another historical novel, Love and Ruin, featuring a real-life heroine, this time journalist and author Martha Gellhorn. Gellhorn, born in 1908 it St. Louis, Missouri, is one of the greatest war correspondents of the twentieth century. During her career, she covered the Spanish Civil War and Word War II, reporting from the field in Finland, Hong Kong, Burma, Singapore, and England at a time when female correspondents were rare to say the least. Despite being denied official press credentials partway through the war, she was also on scene to cover the landings at Normandy after sneaking aboard a hospital ship and was the only woman to land at Normandy on D-Day. Continue reading
All posts by Kim
Caraval
Enter the magical world of Caraval, where nothing is what it seems and magic is around every corner. Scarlett Dragna has been writing to Legend, the mysterious game master behind Caraval, since she was a little girl, hoping to receive an invitation to play the game and escape with her sister, Tella, from their abusive father. In order to leave their homeland without their father’s notice, Tella makes a deal with handsome sailor Julian to secure safe passage on his ship to Legend’s island. As the game begins, Scarlett soon discovers it is more than she bargained for. When Tella is kidnapped, Scarlett forms a tentative alliance with Julian to navigate the streets of Caraval, not knowing whom she can trust, and solve a number of clues in order to find Tella and win the game.
I had a major case of TEABS* when I finished this book. I just wanted to stay in Stephanie Garber’s fantasy world and find out what other surprises mastermind Legend has in store for his Caraval guests. Although I found Tella super annoying and sometimes got frustrated with Scarlett as well, I did enjoy the mysterious characters Julian and Legend. As I was reading the book I didn’t quite know what was real and what wasn’t, which made me want to rush through to the end. Recommended for fans of fantasy and romance.
*The End of an Awesome Book Syndrome
Freedom Isn’t Free
My grandfather told me that love burns brighter than any star. – Sungju Lee
Before reading Sungju Lee’s Every Falling Star: The True Story of How I Survived and Escaped North Korea, I didn’t know much about North Korea, much less what it is like to grow up in a country that Lee describes as “a true-to-life dystopian nation.” Lee’s story begins with his father teaching him war tactics at age six, lessons that will later save his life as he and his friends run from the police.
As a child young Sungju dreams of becoming an army general. His life in the capital city, Pyongyang, is one of relative luxury, with a nice apartment, a good education, and after-school tae kwon do lessons. He is taught to idolize his country’s leader, Kim Il-sung, and to fear South Korea and the United States.