New Release Tuesday #08: February 28, 2017

Hello dear Readers,

Happy Book Birthday to Everything Belongs to Us: A Novel by Yoojin Grace Wuertz.

Title: Everything Belongs to Us: A Novel

Genre: Fiction/Historical

Author: Yoojin Grace Wuertz

Publisher: Random House
Publication Date: February 28, 2017

Language: English

Hardcover: 368 pages
Meet the Author: Yoojin Grace Wuertz
Buy Me: Amazon

Book Description

Two young women of vastly different means each struggle to find her own way during the darkest hours of South Korea’s “economic miracle” in a striking debut novel for readers of Anthony Marra and Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie.

 

Seoul, 1978. At South Korea’s top university, the nation’s best and brightest compete to join the professional elite of an authoritarian regime. Success could lead to a life of rarefied privilege and wealth; failure means being left irrevocably behind.

            

For childhood friends Jisun and Namin, the stakes couldn’t be more different. Jisun, the daughter of a powerful business mogul, grew up on a mountainside estate with lush gardens and a dedicated chauffeur. Namin’s parents run a tented food cart from dawn to curfew; her sister works in a shoe factory. Now Jisun wants as little to do with her father’s world as possible, abandoning her schoolwork in favor of the underground activist movement, while Namin studies tirelessly in the service of one goal: to launch herself and her family out of poverty.

            

But everything changes when Jisun and Namin meet an ambitious, charming student named Sunam, whose need to please his family has led him to a prestigious club: the Circle. Under the influence of his mentor, Juno, a manipulative social climber, Sunam becomes entangled with both women, as they all make choices that will change their lives forever.

            

In this sweeping yet intimate debut, Yoojin Grace Wuertz details four intertwining lives that are rife with turmoil and desire, private anxieties and public betrayals, dashed hopes and broken dreams—while a nation moves toward prosperity at any cost.

 

Praise for Everything Belongs to Us

“Engrossing. [Yoojin Grace] Wuertz is an important new voice in American fiction.”—Kirkus, starred review

“[A] memorable debut . . . Wuertz crafts a story with delicious scenes and plot threads.”—Publishers Weekly

“An absorbing debut destined for major lists and nominations.”—Booklist

"In Everything Belongs to Us, Wuertz has given us a Middlemarch for modern South Korea. She’s woven the whole social tapestry, and made us care about every last thread.”—Susan Choi, author of My Education

“I found myself engrossed in the difficult choices faced by Wuertz’s nuanced, engaging characters as they navigate college politics and romance in 1970s Seoul. I’m thrilled to have experienced their inner lives in these pages—to have celebrated their victories and commiserated in the pain of their mistakes—and would happily have stuck with them for hundreds more.”—Emily Barton, author of The Book of Esther

“What a story! Everything belongs to this terrific debut: love, family, friendship, and politics. I especially loved the two strong-willed and passionate heroines. Their ideals, choices, and struggles make this an utterly rapturous literary page-turner.”—Samuel Park, author of This Burns My Heart

 

“Historic in scope yet eerily contemporary, Everything Belongs to Us is a stirring debut that immerses readers in a society where some quietly hope for change and others must demand it.  In Yoojin Grace Wuertz’s capable hands, characters come alive with desire for a different kind of life, and heartbreak is the price of longing.”—Jung Yun, author of Shelter

Wendy

Book Review: Shadows of Life: A Collection of Poetry by Nazreen-Poetry

Hello dear Readers,

Below my book review of Shadows of Life: A Collection of Poetry by Nazreen.

Title: Shadows of Life: A Collection of Poetry

Rating: 5/5 Stars

Genre: Poetry

Author: Nazreen

Publisher: Avonlea Publishing 
Publication Date: February 10, 2017

Language: English

Paperback: 150 pages
Meet the Author: Nazreen
Buy Me: Amazon

Book Description

The Shadows of Life are emotions; the thoughts, desires, and aspirations trailing in our wake. Shadow-like in manner but shrouded by our physical form, we often seek to reveal them only in the darkness—sometimes of the day but other times, of our lives. Segregated into three sections, this book is a compilation of poems and prose, dealing with quotidian feelings such as love, longing, lamentation, and moreover, the spaces between them. The words in it will resonate with the reader’s own voice, rendering life to the untold stories carried within. For in the matters of the heart, we are all one and the same.

My Thoughts

The year I decide to read more poetry is the year that I am reading great poetry books. This one is not the exception. Shadows of Life. Firs thing I noticed was the necessity of Nazreen to let the words out. I know the feeling, the urge to say the things, to put it all in paper. I like how honest and real it feels. Love, Impossible love, not letting go and letting things behind, decisions we make everyday and how those affect our lives, betrayal, relationships, hate, forgiveness. Reading some of the poems made me go back to some periods of my own life and feel like I was reading about myself. That is how this book made me feel, like I could relate to what the Author is sharing with us. With each poem Nazreen tells us a story, takes us on this journey, with a beautiful, honest and real writing. Shadows of Life, a collection of poems every poetry lover should read.

"I will always 
Wonder why
I could not touch
Your heart.
Why we were
So close?
And sill
So far apart".

I was sent a copy of the book by the Author in exchange for an honest review.

Wendy

New Release Tuesday #07: February 21, 2017

Hello dear Readers,

Happy Book Birthday to I See You by Clare Mackintosh.

Title: I See You: A Novel

Genre: Mystery/Thriller/Suspense

Author: Clare Mackintosh

Publisher: Berkley
Publication Date: February 21, 2017

Language: English

Hardcover: 384 pages
Meet the Author: Clare Mackintosh
Buy Me: Amazon

Book Description

The author of the New York Times bestseller I Let You Go propels readers into a dark and claustrophobic thriller, in which a normal, everyday woman becomes trapped in the confines of her normal, everyday world...

Every morning and evening, Zoe Walker takes the same route to the train station, waits at a certain place on the platform, finds her favorite spot in the car, never suspecting that someone is watching her...

It all starts with a classified ad. During her commute home one night, while glancing through her local paper, Zoe sees her own face staring back at her; a grainy photo along with a phone number and a listing for a website called FindTheOne.com. 

Other women begin appearing in the same ad, a different one every day, and Zoe realizes they’ve become the victims of increasingly violent crimes—including murder. With the help of a determined cop, she uncovers the ad’s twisted purpose...A discovery that turns her paranoia into full-blown panic. Zoe is sure that someone close to her has set her up as the next target. 

And now that man on the train—the one smiling at Zoe from across the car—could be more than just a friendly stranger. He could be someone who has deliberately chosen her and is ready to make his next move…

Wendy

New Release Tuesday #06: February 14, 2017

Hello dear Readers,

Happy Book Birthday to We Were the Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter.

Series: We Were the Lucky Ones

Genre: Fiction/Historical

Author: Georgia Hunter

Publisher: Viking
Publication Date: February 14, 2017

Language: English

Hardcover: 416 pages
Meet the Author: Georgia Hunter
Buy Me: Amazon

Book Description

“Reading Georgia Hunter’s We Were the Lucky Ones is like being swung heart first into history. . . . A brave and mesmerizing debut, and a truly tremendous accomplishment.” —Paula McLain, New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Wife

NAMED ONE OF GLAMOUR MAGAZINE’S BEST BOOKS TO READ IN 2017

NAMED ONE OF HARPER’S BAZAAR’S BOOKS YOU NEED TO READ IN FEBRUARY

An extraordinary, propulsive novel based on the true story of a family of Polish Jews who are separated at the start of the Second World War, determined to survive—and to reunite 

It is the spring of 1939 and three generations of the Kurc family are doing their best to live normal lives, even as the shadow of war grows closer. The talk around the family Seder table is of new babies and budding romance, not of the increasing hardships threatening Jews in their hometown of Radom, Poland. But soon the horrors overtaking Europe will become inescapable and the Kurcs will be flung to the far corners of the world, each desperately trying to navigate his or her own path to safety. 

As one sibling is forced into exile, another attempts to flee the continent, while others struggle to escape certain death, either by working grueling hours on empty stomachs in the factories of the ghetto or by hiding as gentiles in plain sight. Driven by an unwavering will to survive and by the fear that they may never see one another again, the Kurcs must rely on hope, ingenuity, and inner strength to persevere. 

A novel of breathtaking sweep and scope that spans five continents and six years and transports readers from the jazz clubs of Paris to Kraków’s most brutal prison to the ports of Northern Africa and the farthest reaches of the Siberian gulag, We Were the Lucky Ones demonstrates how in the face of the twentieth century’s darkest moment, the human spirit can find a way to survive, and even triumph.

“A remarkable history . . . extraordinarily moving.” —Publishers Weekly

Wendy

Book Review: The Girl Before: A Novel by JP Delaney/Mystery-Thriller/Psychological Thriller /NETGALLEY READ

Hello dear Readers,

Below my book review of The Girl Before: A Novel by JP Delaney.

Title: The Girl Before: A Novel 

Rating: 5/5 Stars

Genre: Mystery/Thriller/Psychological Thriller

Author: JP Delaney

Publisher: Ballantine Books
Publication Date: January 24, 2017

Language: English

Hardcover: 352 pages
Meet the Author: JP Delaney
Buy Me: Amazon

Book Description

In the tradition of The Girl on the Train, The Silent Wife, and Gone Girl comes an enthralling psychological thriller that spins one woman’s seemingly good fortune, and another woman’s mysterious fate, through a kaleidoscope of duplicity, death, and deception.

SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE DIRECTED BY RON HOWARD

Please make a list of every possession you consider essential to your life.

The request seems odd, even intrusive—and for the two women who answer, the consequences are devastating.

EMMA

Reeling from a traumatic break-in, Emma wants a new place to live. But none of the apartments she sees are affordable or feel safe. Until One Folgate Street. The house is an architectural masterpiece: a minimalist design of pale stone, plate glass, and soaring ceilings. But there are rules. The enigmatic architect who designed the house retains full control: no books, no throw pillows, no photos or clutter or personal effects of any kind. The space is intended to transform its occupant—and it does.

JANE

After a personal tragedy, Jane needs a fresh start. When she finds One Folgate Street she is instantly drawn to the space—and to its aloof but seductive creator. Moving in, Jane soon learns about the untimely death of the home’s previous tenant, a woman similar to Jane in age and appearance. As Jane tries to untangle truth from lies, she unwittingly follows the same patterns, makes the same choices, crosses paths with the same people, and experiences the same terror, as the girl before.

Advance praise for The Girl Before

“Dazzling, startling, and above all cunning—a pitch-perfect novel of psychological suspense.”—Lee Child

“Riveting! One of the most compelling page-turners I’ve read in years. Twisty, turny, and with an ending not to be missed!”—Lisa Gardner

“The Girl Before is a cat-and-mouse game that toys with our expectations and twists our sympathies. At times almost unbearably suspenseful, it keeps us guessing from the first page to the very last. Don’t miss it.”—Joseph Finder

“Riveting . . . Writing with precision and grace, Delaney strips away the characters’ secrets until the raw truth of each is revealed.”—Publishers Weekly

“Superior psychological suspense . . . a cleverly constructed thriller.”—The Bookseller

“A masterfully crafted spellbinder . . . guaranteed to astonish.”—Booklist (starred review)

My Thoughts

As soon as I read the description of this book I knew I wanted to read it, I needed to read it. Lucky enough to have received an early copy thanks to the Publisher and Netgalley.

Oh God. What a book. I understand comparing it to other books such a Gone Girl helps to attract more readers, maybe?, but in this case no need of it because this book is unique on its own. 

Want to be in a place, in specific this house which has the most unimaginable "rules" for the people who want to live in and still wishing you can get it? That is the basic premise of this book. Told from two different points of view, Emma and Jane, The Girl Before is a suspense packed, magnificent psychological thriller. Going back and forth between characters, it manages to keep you interested and makes it pretty much difficult to easily figure out what the end will be. I loved the unexpected turns and the writing style. I am so looking forward to the Movie, which will be directed by Ron Howard, I cannot wait to see these characters come to life. The Girl Before is so unique and different from other books of this kind I have read before. Could not put it down and now I need more JD Delaney in my life.

Wendy

Book Review: Misery by Stephen King-Mystery/Thriller/Suspense

Hello dear Readers,

Below my book review of Misery by Stephen King.

Misery by Stephen King was the Novels at Night IG Book Club pick for January. 

I saw the movie based on this book, it was a long time ago. I plan on watching it again now that I read the book.

Title: Misery: A Novel 

Rating: 5/5 Stars

Genre: Mystery/Suspense

Author: Stephen King

Publisher: Scribner; Reissue edition
Publication Date: January 5, 2016

Language: English

Paperback: 368 pages
Meet the Author: Stephen King
Buy Me: Amazon 

Book Description

The #1 national bestseller about a famous novelist held hostage by his “number one fan” and suffering a frightening case of writer’s block—that could prove fatal. One of “Stephen King’s best…genuinely scary” (USA TODAY).

Paul Sheldon is a bestselling novelist who has finally met his number one fan. Her name is Annie Wilkes, and she is more than a rabid reader—she is Paul’s nurse, tending his shattered body after an automobile accident. But she is also furious that the author has killed off her favorite character in his latest book. Annie becomes his captor, keeping him prisoner in her isolated house.

Annie wants Paul to write a book that brings Misery back to life—just for her. She has a lot of ways to spur him on. One is a needle. Another is an axe. And if they don’t work, she can get really nasty.

“Terrifying” (San Francisco Chronicle), “dazzlingly well-written” (The Indianapolis Star), and “truly gripping” (Publishers Weekly), Misery is “classic Stephen King...full of twists and turns and mounting suspense” (The Boston Globe).

My Thoughts

This is the second book I read by this Author (my first one was The Shining, a long time ago) and like that one, Misery did not disappoint.

It is amazing how great of a storyteller Stephen King is. No matter how creepy and scary his books are, you cannot help but keep reading them. I give that to everything, unique characters, the way he tells the story, all these suspense elements that makes you want to know what will happen next. In this particular book, personally I think the main idea, it may not seen that great, Bestselling Author Paul Sheldon is kidnapped by his biggest fan, in reality that does not happen that easy or does not happen at all but Stephen King manages to take that seemingly simple idea and writes an amazing book. Each character brings something special to the table and like in other books I love how the dialogue plays a huge part in the development not only character development but the story in general. Have to admit near to the middle in the story it got a little bit slow for me but then passed that it got better until the end. I enjoyed the book a lot and was satisfied with the ending.

I will definitely be reading more Stephen King in the future.

Wendy

Book Review: Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur-Poetry

Hello dear Readers,

Below my book review of Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur. One of the best poetry books I have ever read.

Title: Milk and Honey 

Rating: 5/5 Stars

Genre: Poetry

Author: Rupi Kaur

Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing
Publication Date: October 06, 2015

Language: English

Paperback: 208 pages
Meet the Author: Rupi Kaur
Buy Me: Amazon 

Book Description 

Milk and Honey is a collection of poetry and prose about survival. About the experience of violence, abuse, love, loss, and femininity.

The book is divided into four chapters, and each chapter serves a different purpose. Deals with a different pain. Heals a different heartache. Milk and Honey takes readers through a journey of the most bitter moments in life and finds sweetness in them because there is sweetness everywhere if you are just willing to look.

My Thoughts

Like I mentioned before, Milk and Honey is one of the best poetry books/poetry collections I have ever read.I was very impressed how such complex matters are beautifully written. 

Poetry with purpose, poetry to make conscience on everyday situations women have to deal with. Simple but powerful. A source of healing for every woman suffering violence, loss, pain, a heartbreak. I could not help but feel understood as to some of the experiences described in the lines of this book have happened to me or I have met other people going through it.

It is always comforting to find a book, an Author who can write with such honesty and who can relate to the people reading it.

I like how brutally honest the writing is, and also like how the illustrations help a lot to the message intended to be delivered. I like how through each of the four sections the book is divided we can see the different stages of the Author's mind and what she wants to transmit to the readers. 

Milk and Honey. Poetry for the Soul. A book I totally recommend.

Wendy

Wendy Recommends #1

Hello dear Readers,

This year at the end of every month I will be sharing my best read of that month and that will be my recommendation.

I know I am little late for January but still wanted to share my best read of January 2017. You can find my review in the link below.

In Order to Live by Yeonmi Park.

http://thecostaricanreader.blogspot.com/2017/02/book-review-in-order-to-live-by-yeonmi.html

Title: In Order to Live 

Rating: 5/5 Stars

Genre: Biographies/Memoirs

Author: Yeonmi Park

Publisher: Penguin Books
Publication Date: Reprint Edition September 27, 2016

Language: English

Paperback: 288 pages
Meet the Author: Yeonmi Park
Buy Me: Amazon

Book Description

Yeonmi Park has told the harrowing story of her escape from North Korea as a child many times, but never before has she revealed the most intimate and devastating details of the repressive society she was raised in and the enormous price she paid to escape. 

Park’s family was loving and close-knit, but life in North Korea was brutal, practically medieval. Park would regularly go without food and was made to believe that, Kim Jong Il, the country’s dictator, could read her mind. After her father was imprisoned and tortured by the regime for trading on the black-market, a risk he took in order to provide for his wife and two young daughters, Yeonmi and her family were branded as criminals and forced to the cruel margins of North Korean society. With thirteen-year-old Park suffering from a botched appendectomy and weighing a mere sixty pounds, she and her mother were smuggled across the border into China.

I wasn’t dreaming of freedom when I escaped from North Korea. I didn’t even know what it meant to be free. All I knew was that if my family stayed behind, we would probably die—from starvation, from disease, from the inhuman conditions of a prison labor camp. The hunger had become unbearable; I was willing to risk my life for the promise of a bowl of rice. But there was more to our journey than our own survival. My mother and I were searching for my older sister, Eunmi, who had left for China a few days earlier and had not been heard from since.

Park knew the journey would be difficult, but could not have imagined the extent of the hardship to come. Those years in China cost Park her childhood, and nearly her life.  By the time she and her mother made their way to South Korea two years later, her father was dead and her sister was still missing. Before now, only her mother knew what really happened between the time they crossed the Yalu river into China and when they followed the stars through the frigid Gobi Desert to freedom. As she writes, “I convinced myself that a lot of what I had experienced never happened. I taught myself to forget the rest.”

In In Order to Live, Park shines a light not just into the darkest corners of life in North Korea, describing the deprivation and deception she endured and which millions of North Korean people continue to endure to this day, but also onto her own most painful and difficult memories. She tells with bravery and dignity for the first time the story of how she and her mother were betrayed and sold into sexual slavery in China and forced to suffer terrible psychological and physical hardship before they finally made their way to Seoul, South Korea—and to freedom. 

Still in her early twenties, Yeonmi Park has lived through experiences that few people of any age will ever know—and most people would never recover from. Park confronts her past with a startling resilience, refusing to be defeated or defined by the circumstances of her former life in North Korea and China. In spite of everything, she has never stopped being proud of where she is from, and never stopped striving for a better life. Indeed, today she is a human rights activist working determinedly to bring attention to the oppression taking place in her home country. 

Park’s testimony is rare, edifying, and terribly important, and the story she tells in In Order to Live is heartbreaking and unimaginable, but never without hope. Her voice is riveting and dignified. This is the human spirit at its most indomitable.

Wendy

Book Review: In Order to Live by Yeonmi Park-Biographies/Memoirs

Hello dear Readers,

Below my book review of In Order to Live by Yeonmi Park.

Title: In Order to Live 

Rating: 5/5 Stars

Genre: Biographies/Memoirs

Author: Yeonmi Park

Publisher: Penguin Books
Publication Date: Reprint Edition September 27, 2016

Language: English

Paperback: 288 pages
Meet the Author: Yeonmi Park
Buy Me: Amazon

Book Description

Yeonmi Park has told the harrowing story of her escape from North Korea as a child many times, but never before has she revealed the most intimate and devastating details of the repressive society she was raised in and the enormous price she paid to escape. 

Park’s family was loving and close-knit, but life in North Korea was brutal, practically medieval. Park would regularly go without food and was made to believe that, Kim Jong Il, the country’s dictator, could read her mind. After her father was imprisoned and tortured by the regime for trading on the black-market, a risk he took in order to provide for his wife and two young daughters, Yeonmi and her family were branded as criminals and forced to the cruel margins of North Korean society. With thirteen-year-old Park suffering from a botched appendectomy and weighing a mere sixty pounds, she and her mother were smuggled across the border into China.

I wasn’t dreaming of freedom when I escaped from North Korea. I didn’t even know what it meant to be free. All I knew was that if my family stayed behind, we would probably die—from starvation, from disease, from the inhuman conditions of a prison labor camp. The hunger had become unbearable; I was willing to risk my life for the promise of a bowl of rice. But there was more to our journey than our own survival. My mother and I were searching for my older sister, Eunmi, who had left for China a few days earlier and had not been heard from since.

Park knew the journey would be difficult, but could not have imagined the extent of the hardship to come. Those years in China cost Park her childhood, and nearly her life.  By the time she and her mother made their way to South Korea two years later, her father was dead and her sister was still missing. Before now, only her mother knew what really happened between the time they crossed the Yalu river into China and when they followed the stars through the frigid Gobi Desert to freedom. As she writes, “I convinced myself that a lot of what I had experienced never happened. I taught myself to forget the rest.”

In In Order to Live, Park shines a light not just into the darkest corners of life in North Korea, describing the deprivation and deception she endured and which millions of North Korean people continue to endure to this day, but also onto her own most painful and difficult memories. She tells with bravery and dignity for the first time the story of how she and her mother were betrayed and sold into sexual slavery in China and forced to suffer terrible psychological and physical hardship before they finally made their way to Seoul, South Korea—and to freedom. 

Still in her early twenties, Yeonmi Park has lived through experiences that few people of any age will ever know—and most people would never recover from. Park confronts her past with a startling resilience, refusing to be defeated or defined by the circumstances of her former life in North Korea and China. In spite of everything, she has never stopped being proud of where she is from, and never stopped striving for a better life. Indeed, today she is a human rights activist working determinedly to bring attention to the oppression taking place in her home country. 

Park’s testimony is rare, edifying, and terribly important, and the story she tells in In Order to Live is heartbreaking and unimaginable, but never without hope. Her voice is riveting and dignified. This is the human spirit at its most indomitable.

My Thoughts

More than the being the best book I read in January, In Order to Live is a big reminder of the reality we, human beings, are surrounded by. I could not help but cry while reading this book because it is still hard for me to comprehend, to accept all the evil in our world, that bad things happen to good people, that horrible things happen, period. 

In Order to Live is the story of Yeonmi Park, a 23 years old girl, born in North Korea and how she escaped her country, went to North Korea to finally settle in South Korea, where she was free. Well, free from her oppressive country but still in a strange land, having to get used to a new country, a new culture, a different life from the one she always knew.

I love her honesty, she does not keep anything to herself. Is it true she had doubts about telling the whole story at the beginning but at the end she understands and realizes that the only way to heal, to make her sacrifices worth, to be able to help other people by telling what happened to her was by telling the true and everything. I admire her courage to do so because I strongly believe these kind of stories can somehow help other people. 

In my case like other books I have read, this one made me reflect on my own life and that sometimes we take things from granted even our own freedom when we should not. Other people have to fight harder for freedom and equality because like Yeonmi, that is the only option they have. They have to fight and survive In Order to Live.

In Order to Live touches very sensitive subjects. Human trafficking, killing, prostitution, and all these other situations Yeonmi tells us. It is hard to read about it but even harder to write about it, I like the openness in Yeonmi's story. 

In order to live, a story about pain, suffering, sadness, family, love, sacrifices, the strength of a young woman to live and find her purpose in life. A story I urge everybody to read.

Wendy