Hey my lovely readers!
Yesterday I had the opportunity to visit a Barnes and Noble – with my mom. One thing about shopping with my mom, she always offers to pay for my books. It’s wonderful.
I bought 7 books on this trip (I know, insane) and now I am going to share them with you!
Barkskins by Annie Proulx
Goodreads Rating: 3.71/5
Pages: 717 pages
Published: June 14th, 2016
Publisher: Scribner
Plot:
In the late seventeenth century two penniless young Frenchmen, René Sel and Charles Duquet, arrive in New France. Bound to a feudal lord, a “seigneur,” for three years in exchange for land, they become wood-cutters—barkskins. René suffers extraordinary hardship, oppressed by the forest he is charged with clearing. He is forced to marry a Mi’kmaw woman and their descendants live trapped between two inimical cultures. But Duquet, crafty and ruthless, runs away from the seigneur, becomes a fur trader, then sets up a timber business. Proulx tells the stories of the descendants of Sel and Duquet over three hundred years—their travels across North America, to Europe, China, and New Zealand, under stunningly brutal conditions—the revenge of rivals, accidents, pestilence, Indian attacks, and cultural annihilation. Over and over again, they seize what they can of a presumed infinite resource, leaving the modern-day characters face to face with possible ecological collapse.
Dark Matter by Blake Crouch
Goodreads Rating: 4.11/5
Pages: 342 pages
Published: July 26th, 2016
Publisher: Crown
Plot:
“Are you happy with your life?”
Those are the last words Jason Dessen hears before the masked abductor knocks him unconscious.
Before he awakens to find himself strapped to a gurney, surrounded by strangers in hazmat suits.
Before a man Jason’s never met smiles down at him and says, “Welcome back, my friend.”
In this world he’s woken up to, Jason’s life is not the one he knows. His wife is not his wife. His son was never born. And Jason is not an ordinary college physics professor, but a celebrated genius who has achieved something remarkable. Something impossible.
Is it this world or the other that’s the dream? And even if the home he remembers is real, how can Jason possibly make it back to the family he loves? The answers lie in a journey more wondrous and horrifying than anything he could’ve imagined—one that will force him to confront the darkest parts of himself even as he battles a terrifying, seemingly unbeatable foe.
The Vegetarian by Han Kang
Goodreads Rating: 3.59/5
Pages: 188 pages
Published: February 2nd, 2016
Publisher: Hogarth
Plot:
Before the nightmare, Yeong-hye and her husband lived an ordinary life. But when splintering, blood-soaked images start haunting her thoughts, Yeong-hye decides to purge her mind and renounce eating meat. In a country where societal mores are strictly obeyed, Yeong-hye’s decision to embrace a more “plant-like” existence is a shocking act of subversion. And as her passive rebellion manifests in ever more extreme and frightening forms, scandal, abuse, and estrangement begin to send Yeong-hye spiraling deep into the spaces of her fantasy. In a complete metamorphosis of both mind and body, her now dangerous endeavor will take Yeong-hye—impossibly, ecstatically, tragically—far from her once-known self altogether.
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
Goodreads Rating: 3.88/5
Pages: 317 pages
Published: March 13th, 1989
Publisher: Vintage International
Plot:
Awe and exhilaration–along with heartbreak and mordant wit–abound in Lolita, Nabokov’s most famous and controversial novel, which tells the story of the aging Humbert Humbert’s obsessive, devouring, and doomed passion for the nymphet Dolores Haze. Lolita is also the story of a hypercivilized European colliding with the cheerful barbarism of postwar America. Most of all, it is a meditation on love–love as outrage and hallucination, madness and transformation.
The Vorrh by Brain Catling
Goodreads Rating: 3.51/5
Pages: 500 pages
Series: The Vorrh Trilogy #1
Published: April 28th, 2015
Publisher: Vintage
Plot:
Next to the colonial town of Essenwald sits the Vorrh, a vast—perhaps endless—forest. It is a place of demons and angels, of warriors and priests. Sentient and magical, the Vorrh bends time and wipes memory. Legend has it that the Garden of Eden still exists at its heart. Now, a renegade English soldier aims to be the first human to traverse its expanse. Armed with only a strange bow, he begins his journey, but some fear the consequences of his mission, and a native marksman has been chosen to stop him. Around them swirl a remarkable cast of characters, including a Cyclops raised by robots and a young girl with tragic curiosity, as well as historical figures, such as writer Raymond Roussel, heiress Sarah Winchester, and photographer Edward Muybridge. While fact and fiction blend, the hunter will become the hunted, and everyone’s fate hangs in the balance under the will of the Vorrh.
Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts
Goodreads Rating: 4.26/5
Pages: 936 pages
Series: Shantaram #1
Published: 2004
Publisher: Scribe
Plot:
Shantaram is narrated by Lin, an escaped convict with a false passport who flees maximum security prison in Australia for the teeming streets of a city where he can disappear.
Accompanied by his guide and faithful friend, Prabaker, the two enter Bombay’s hidden society of beggars and gangsters, prostitutes and holy men, soldiers and actors, and Indians and exiles from other countries, who seek in this remarkable place what they cannot find elsewhere.
As a hunted man without a home, family, or identity, Lin searches for love and meaning while running a clinic in one of the city’s poorest slums, and serving his apprenticeship in the dark arts of the Bombay mafia. The search leads him to war, prison torture, murder, and a series of enigmatic and bloody betrayals. The keys to unlock the mysteries and intrigues that bind Lin are held by two people. The first is Khader Khan: mafia godfather, criminal-philosopher-saint, and mentor to Lin in the underworld of the Golden City. The second is Karla: elusive, dangerous, and beautiful, whose passions are driven by secrets that torment her and yet give her a terrible power.
Burning slums and five-star hotels, romantic love and prison agonies, criminal wars and Bollywood films, spiritual gurus and mujaheddin guerrillas–this huge novel has the world of human experience in its reach, and a passionate love for India at its heart. Based on the life of the author, it is by any measure the debut of an extraordinary voice in literature.
The Best Kind of People by Zoe Whittall
Goodreads Rating: 3.62/5
Pages: 404 pages
Published: August 27th, 2016
Publisher: House of Anansi Pr
Plot:
What if someone you trusted was accused of the unthinkable?
George Woodbury, an affable teacher and beloved husband and father, is arrested for sexual impropriety at a prestigious prep school. His wife, Joan, vaults between denial and rage as the community she loved turns on her. Their daughter, Sadie, a popular over-achieving high school senior, becomes a social pariah. Their son, Andrew, assists in his father’s defence, while wrestling with his own unhappy memories of his teen years. A local author tries to exploit their story, while an unlikely men’s rights activist attempts to get Sadie onside their cause. With George locked up, how do the members of his family pick up the pieces and keep living their lives? How do they defend someone they love while wrestling with the possibility of his guilt?
Those are the novels I purchased yesterday! I know it was a lot, and I’m very thankful that my mom was nice enough to purchase them for me!
Thank you so much for reading, don’t forget to follow this blog as well as my other social media accounts that are in the side bar!
Until next time,
Rimpy Toor Blogger & Reviewer at Rimpy’s Reads Blog | Twitter | Goodreads e: rimpyreads@gmail.com |
Oh I purchased The Vegetarian recently! I just need to clear out some more ARCs and library check outs before I can get to it. Dark Matter and Lolita are also on my TBR. Definitely look forward to reading reviews for these! 🙂 Nice haul!
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I’m very glad I got these – I’ve been wanting to read the Vegetarian for a while now! I’m planning on reading it tomorrow, so you can expect a review tomorrow or sunday!
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What a bunch of great purchases. I’ve never heard of The Best Kind of People but it sounds super interesting. Going to add that one to the TBR list. I’ll be looking forward to your review of it!
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I’ll hopefully be getting to it during the next week! So keep an eye out for that
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Oh yay that’s good to know. I’ll make sure to be on the lookout for it!
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Great haul. Ove heard fantastic things about The Vegetarian
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Aren’t moms just the best? My mom always offers to buy my books too – I love it! 😂
I’ve been hearing so many good things about The Vegetarian lately. Let me know what you think of it when you read it! 🙂
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I definitely will! I started it yesterday and so far it sounds great!
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I’m glad to hear you’re enjoying it so far!
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Dark Matter is amazing!!
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I’m so glad you liked it! – need to get to it ASAP
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Shantaram is excellent. I need to get around to the sequel at some point.
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I’ve read lolita, and I absolutely loved reading it! I can’t wait to hear your thoughts about it. I also added the books dark matter and the best kind of people to my amazon wish list, so thank you for the recommendations xxx
Melina | http://www.ivefoundwaldo.com
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No problem! I’m glad you liked lolita it makes me want to read it even more!!
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I have ‘Dark Matter’ on my To Read list. Let me know if it’s really good & worth the read!💓 P.S your mom is so cute & sweet.
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I will definitely let you know! And she sure it ❤️❤️
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936 pages? That must be the thickest book I’ve ever heard of :-). Very happy for you, what a wonderful book haul, and what a lovely mum who knows how to spoil a bookworm!
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It is huge! Also yes my mom is wonderful and spoils me too much!
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