Bookish Reviewer

التقيت بسعاد العامري في فبراير الماضي في فعالية لمجموعة الروزنا الرائعة، وسمعتها تتحدث عن بداياتها ككاتبة. كنت قد سمعت عن 'شارون وحماتي' وشاهدت الكتاب خلف الأبواب الزجاجية لمعلم متاجر الكتب في غزة المصطفة واحدة تلو الأخرى، ولكنني لم أقرأ الكتاب اعتمادها مني بأنه رواية وليس سيرة ذاتية روائية (هذا التجنيس بناء على ما سمعته من الكاتبة يومها). ذهبت بِنية حضور جميع فقرات فعالية "شباك على فلسطين" دون تفضيل واحدة على الأخرى، ونويت ألا أشتري كتبًا جديدة لا سيما وأنه كان قد مضى على معرض الكتاب أقل من شهر. ولكنني حصلتُ على الكتاب بعد سحب أجرته الروزنا أدرجت فيه أسماء الحضور. كم أنا ممتنة لهم الآن! وحصلتُ أيضًا على توقيع الكاتبة. ترى سعاد نفسها بأنها في "حكواتية أكثر من كوني كاتبة" وتروي بخفة ظلها ونبرتها الساخرة كيف تحولت من معمارية إلى معمارية وكاتبة. بعد أشهر من التأجيل، قررت أن أقرأ 'دمشقيَ' وشرعت في القراءة دون أن أنتبه لكلمة "رواية""على غلاف الكتاب الأمامي أو حتى أن أقرأ النبذة المكتوبة عنه في الغلاف الخلفي. كنت متحمسة للحكايات ...

“Just because things were fair didn't make them easy.” This is a fine retelling of fairy tales. With Cruel Beauty I became a fan of Rosamund Hodge. At the beginning, I thought that Cruel Beauty was better, but things started getting better with each plot twist. And I got attached. I'm glad I read Crimson Bound . The characters here are unique in their complexity. With every decision they make, a particular character trait can be revealed about each of them, and we get to know more about them, but not a lot because you wouldn't know how they are going to act next. Rachelle is so brave and kind more than she ever gives herself credit. Have you ever felt mad at the demise of a wicked character Because Rosamund Hodge made me feel this way! Hodge knows how to handle these retellings and make them more alluring and charming. You cannot guess what's going to happen next, all the time. I'm just going to say this: you're missing a lot if you still have...

"After all their mad escapes and close calls, he’d started to believe the six of them were somehow charmed, that his guns, Kaz’s brains, Nina’s wit, Inej’s talent, Wylan’s ingenuity, and Matthias’ strength had made them somehow untouchable." OHMYHEART! Kaz Brekker is a genius! This has been a wonderful reading experience. From the beginning I decided to take it slowly so it could last longer, which was hard considering the book kept me on edges all the time with every plot twist and each unexpected turn of events. I have never written many updates for a book before Crooked Kingdom. And this says a lot. The story is written flawlessly. The characters' development was intricately displayed in a way that made them the interesting characters they are. Again, I must say Leigh Bardugo writes the best dialogues that are true to their characters. Reading Crooked Kingdom was like Matthias' description of Nina: “You aren’t a flower, you’re every blossom in the...

“Knowing the truth is not always a kindness.”  Cruel Beauty is the Perfect blend of Greek Mythology and a Beauty and the Beast retelling, along with modified hints of other fairy tales. Nyx Triskelion was betrothed since birth to the demons' prince due to a foolish bargain her father struck with him. All her life she had been trained to kill him and save her land, Arcadia forever from his curse. It's thought that nine hundred years the Gentle Lord or Ignefix had sundered Arcadia from the world, casting a false sky over it. Inside the spacious tower, Nyx met Shade, who was a shadow, and instantly liked him as he showed kindness towards her. However, after spending some time in Ignefix's company, Nyx found out that he was quite as helpless as all of them because he's bound to his masters, who were responsible for the sundering. I love that Nyx was not made to be a sweet, innocent girl, and she didn't succumb to her fate and get all overly-confident...

(JUST LOOK AT THIS COVER!) “He was a book, and he was holding his final pages, and he wanted to get to the end to find out how it went, and he didn't want it to be over.” This is the final instalment of The Raven Cycle , an amazing book series. Maggie Stiefvater has a unique writing style. Frankly, I have no idea how I feel about the ending right now. The book was quite hasty; there were times when I had to slow down my reading just to grasp everything that's happening and each revelation. And I want to know more...my something more from this series. It's good to see Adam reconciling with his past self and reorganising the past in his memories. Ronan Lynch matured and, somehow, developed as a character. I love the righteousness of Gansey, and his interactions with his family especially Helen. Blue Sargent, I think, is my favourite character in the series. And against my better judgement, I like the Grey Man. Well, that's that.

This is my seventh Rick Riordan's read, with books having the same intriguing style of writing, yet I am hooked. However, maybe Percy Jackson's point of view is my favourite, with all the sass and sarcasm. This book evoked so many feelings in me.  Percy is sent to the Roman Camp with barely any memories of his past after an eight-month nap. Initially, he is met with suspicion and distrust except from Hazel Levesque and Frank Zhang. Frank gets assigned by his father, Mars, the Roman figure of Ares, to go to a quest to free Death, Thanatos and take Percy Jackson and another person with him. He obviously chooses Hazel, the girl he has a crush on. Together they face a lot of troubles, open up to each other and become best friends. They succeed, of course, and get back to camp in time of a battle. They win and celebrate. Percy gets his memories back. The story ends when the warship from Camp Half-Blood is hovering over Camp Jupiter.  I loved Frank and all his usual clumsi...

“This is our life. We get to decide the rules. We get to say what goes and what stays, what matters and what doesn’t.” 4.5 / 5 stars! This is the first book I read by an Indian author that is not fanfiction (YES, I read and love fanfiction). I really, really liked this book; it is unputdownable.  The writing style is so good. The characters are sweet and lovely. My favourite bit of romantic books is when the characters go out of their usual way for love and change and surprise themselves and make their own rules, just like in this story. Dimple is a coder. Her life mainly revolves around her dreams. She's smart, strong, and independent. The last thing she would agree to was an arranged marriage; it's something that has always seemed unfathomable to her. Enters Rishi, the family guy, who was not into coding, and cared about fulfilling the wishes of his family, including an arranged marriage to the daughter of family friends, that he abandoned his dreams till the e...

4/5 stars! I decided to read this book because people who loved 'The Hating Game', which is about my favourite romance book, recommended it. And it turned out to be great! I am a sucker for love-hate relationships as long as things don't go dark. Which is why I like this book. “Simply put, Evelyn Abbey is my former almost-girlfriend-turned-archnemesis-turned-tentative-ally whom I would now very much like to permanently seduce.” Evie Abbey and Carter Aaron met at a mutual friends' party, went out for a date, instantly liked each other. Thankfully, the didn't make a big issue of the age difference or the commanding job they have. However, they had to work together after the merge of their companies, and also compete for the same position. At some point they fell for their boss' sick games. Then they turned into Allies as in Us Against Them before they realised that none of this deserved to risk a potentially beautiful relationship for. And love wins....

"Brave doesn't mean you're not scared, Starr," she says. "It means you go on even though you're scared. And you're doing that."  I'm an emotional mess right now. This book exceeded my expectations. An apt representation of what Black people have to go through, and the #BlackLivesMatter Movement. At some parts, I couldn't go on; it's like this book broke my heart, but then mended it. Warmed some parts of me. Chanted that sometimes you should try to have things end differently- the right way. ********** The book starts with Starr Carter, a sixteen-year-old black girl, explaining the two versions of hers: the Starr of Garden Heights, where she lives among her people; and the Starr of Williamson, where she goes to school. She reluctantly attends a party with her friend Kenya, with whom she shares a brother, Seven. There she meets Khalil, one of her best friends whom she has not seen in months. Due to some chaotic shots, they h...

Rating: 3.5/5 stars! "Sure, but why not more poems about the sun? The sun is also a star, and it's our most important one. That alone should be worth a poem or two." The Nicola Yoon young adult fiction 'The Sun Is Also a Star' is an enjoyable read. Two different personalities meet in NYC; they click, talk, visit a few places, realise that they've got something, and then ta-da! Life happens. While this is quite Before Sunrise plot, the lead characters have obstacles. Daniel is Korean American, and Natasha is Jamaican. His family has all his life planned out, and it does not include falling in love with a black girl. Her family is dealing with deportation to their country. With Daniel, Natasha is out of character. With Natasha, Daniel is at his utmost self. The novel deals with themes like immigration, the American Dream, and racism. The narration style is quite different as there are entries of things, feelings and minor characters we get to ...

The Necklace  (French:  La Parure ) is an 1884 short story written by the French writer Guy De Muapassant. The charming lady, Madame Loisel, thought that she deserved a better life, better house, better husband and, most importantly, more exquisite clothes and jewels. Chance knocked at her door for a great opportunity for her to show off her elegance and beauty, and she lived it all as she and her minor clerk in the Ministry of Education husband attended a party of the Minister of Education. She borrowed from a friend what she thought to be a diamond necklace, and acted like a rich lady with a high class. But life is unpredictable. The necklace was lost! In the very last line, Guy De Maupassant revealed one of fiction’s master denouements when we get to know that the necklace, which was lost was actually an imitation and not real. For a few moments of sheer Ecstasy Madame Loisel had to endure ten years of paying off debts and working hard all day long to sa...

3.5/5stars. I just do not know how I feel towards all the characters except Nick. Before starting reading the story, I had got to know about the narrator, and I wondered why is not the story written from Gatsby or Daisy's POV. However, once I got to know the characters, I knew that the story couldn't have been well-narrated except by Nick; he was the sane one in the story, the one with self-composition. If others were to narrate it, it would have been incoherent and so confusing. I liked Nick's narration and the rich prose that was written so beautifully. The language was a refreshment while the actions were not appealing. Gatsby spent years of his precious youth to gain fame and wealth, mistakenly thinking that with them he could gain back a young love. In all the haze to get the status he wanted, he forgot to make friends and to live normally. I pitied him at the beginning and I pitied him when he died. What a waste of youth!

5/5 Stars! L. M. Montgomery was at her best here, I think. This book is so enticing and magnificent; a book of revelations that makes you want to question your choices. In this book Anne is a college student, outside of her favourite Avonlea, but Anne being Anne, she manages to find beauty everywhere and have beautiful relationships with amazing friends. Being of the same age as Anne was in this book, I could relate more to this character. I could understand what it means to be at a crossroad and have to make big decisions that were to be for a life-time. I loved the college girls, especially Phil, who was such a sweetheart; her talks were generally hilarious and attractive. As for the romance which was unfolded here, I admit that I liked that Anne didn't take Gilbert's first proposal for granted and consented only when she was so sure about her affections, and that made it worth the agonising two years of a shallow relationship between them. The dialogues of the ...

"Glance into the looking-glass which hangs on one of the walls, and it distorts your countenance in all directions in the most merciless way! The shaving and haircutting is done before this looking-glass."     At the Barber's is a short story by the Russian writer Anton Chekhov. It portrays the story of Makar Kuzmitch, a hard-working and unwashed barber, and his encounter with Erast Yagodov, his godfather. Chekhov starts the story with a detailed description of the setting and Makar.    The shop is described in a poor condition as small, narrow and unclean. This is not something to be taken lightly as we get to know later that the reason behind Erast's rejection of Makar is his poverty. Makar is a well-mannered boy as we can see from the way he greets Erast and speaks with him politely. However, Erast Yagodov seems to be a greedy and stingy old man, who walked a far distance to have a free haircut despite his illness. He actually comes for a haircut just when ...

  Soldier's Home is one of Hemingway's stories in his first collection In Our Time. Hemingway once again takes us to the war, but this time he focused on its aftermath, and the struggle to move on in life. Who could transfer that experience into deep, harsh and heart-touching words more than Hemingway, who had to go through that himself. Krebs came back home two years after the war, and as Cecil Harrison said, the war is never over. When he was back, all the glorifying of heroes and celebrations were done. The story is about Harold's take on life after what he had seen. We get no details about his experiences, but we know the consequences. For him, noting is worth fighting for anymore. He wanted things to happen in their own accord; he did not want to seek anything anymore; he wanted things to come his way by their own without having to work for them because everything was not worth it. He never was desperate to get anything. He never wanted things bad enough that he ...