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Showing posts from October, 2021

Review : We Were Liars

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So "We Were Liars"  is a 2014 young-adult novel by  E. Lockhart . The novel has received critical acclaim and won the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Young Adult Fiction.  It was also listed as an  ALA Top Ten Best Fiction for Young Adults  for 2015. The book is based on a wealthy family who every summer go off to their island (which in turn lies off the coast of Martha's Vineyard). The island has a number of houses which are allocated to each of the three adult sisters and their children...  (Formatting note : I think that one of the things about reading books on Kindle is that you can't just flick back to things like this map when needing to remind yourself where things are. In this story it's not really essential as it is all set over a relatively small geographical area but in other books I have found this much more of an issue! I am someone whoever who quite often reads quickly and then find I have to double check on certain details etc. so the Kindle'...

Final Thoughts : The Marrying of Chani Kaufman

So once I got my head round the changes in perspectives etc. this book improved considerably. I'm also kind of hoping that the author writes some spin offs (if only short stories) as I would love to know: 1. Is the marriage a success? What happens next for Chani and Baruch? 2. What happens with the Rebbetzin? 3. Avromi/Shola - please say they reunite!!  The Marrying of Chani Kaufman provides a really interesting view into marriage within the Orthodox community.  I had never consider many of the things discussed in the book. As a female reader I found the mikveh a particularly interesting concept i.e purity following menstruation. I found this article online when I finished reading and I think it addresses (at least for me) the question of why the Rebbetzin had to be present at such a personal event.                       https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-middle-east-47129538  Another point that s...

Thoughts so far : The Marrying of Chani Kaufman

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So I am unsure if it makes any difference to any of my blog readers but I am reading this on a Kindle. The reason why I am pointing this out is that I'm kind of glad that it's in this format as it definitely helps when trying to get to grips with some of the language and terminology. (I always used to see using a dictionary as defeatist and would try to guess the meanings of words, I'm wondering how many books I spoiled by doing that.) I am presently 39% into this book and I'm not 100% sure that I am feeling the love.  I love learning about other cultures and this is a really great book for providing an insight to the  ultra-orthodox Jewish community of North West London however, I am somewhat struggling with the changes between characters, locations etc. and I have completely lost track of who some of them even are.  I am hoping that over the remaining 61% things are going to become clearer as it feels like the sort of book I really do want to like but I'm not sure...

Intro to the blog

I Shall Wear Midnight is apparently the 38th Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett. I say this because despite having a shelf full of Terry Pratchett books since 2018 I have not read any of them.  I chose the title for this blog mainly by looking up on to said shelf of books and trying to find something that would work within the word and character limit as well as making vague sense.  The Terry Pratchett books came to me by way of an acquaintance. (As much as I'd like said acquaintance to be a friend it doesn't seem to be happening, maybe she has enough friends, or maybe she doesn't do anything more than acquaintanceship.) Anyway said acquaintance was moving to Kyrgyzstan (as you do) and needed a home for her books. I selflessly volunteered as our bookshelves weren't overly full enough at the time and as a result here they are.  Anyway "I Shall Wear Midnight" is going to be my book blog. For the last few years I have taken part in the Goodreads annual reading ch...