Anna Tan's Blog, page 39

Rethinking my approach to #bookreviews and star ratings

I blogged about blogging more and then dropped off the grid. haha.

Well, Tuesday I did blog, but over at Teaspoon Publishing. And then classes started again yesterday. I was still hoping to finish my review of New Suns by then, but we hung out after class, and then I dropped by the department's New Year thing, and then I procrastinated dinner, and by the time I actually finished reading the book, it was almost midnight and I was falling asleep. I'm not usually that last minute in reviewing boo...

#musicmonday: Heroes | Amanda Cook

I will trust
Here in the mystery
I will trust
In you completely

Awake my soul to sing
With your breath in me
I will worship
You taught my feet to dance
Upon disappointment and I
I will worship
---
I've been rethinking my approach to this blog and what I want it to be. I've been blogging for roughly 17 years now, which is like half my life (I DID NOT JUST SAY THAT), starting at the now-defunct tabulas (ah, good times) and then switching over here to blogger sometime in 2011 (I maintained dual blogs...

#bookreview: Blackberry and Wild Rose | Sonia Velton

Blackberry and Wild Rose by Sonia Velton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Set against the dramatic backdrop of the Spitalfields riots, Blackberry and Wild Rose tells the stories of an unhappy Huguenot wife, trying to both support her husband and live her dreams, and her English maid, trying to make something of herself.

It's a study in contrasts; rich against poor, churched against the unchurched, pious wife against former prostitute, noble worker against discontent firebrand, masters against journeyme...

#bookreview: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Parts One and Two by John Tiffany
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Slightly conflicted about this. The beginning feels very disjointed, as if they're trying to squeeze in too much backstory. It skips through the years fairly quickly--skims, rather. It's really rather hit or miss. And then it somehow settles into the meat of the story midway through and gets better.

The Cursed Child supposedly centres on Albus Severus Potter, Harry Potter's middle child. He's trying to...

#bookreview: To Best the Boys | Mary Weber

To Best the Boys by Mary Weber
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

All Rhen Tellur wants is to find a cure for her dying mother. But two things stand in her way: first, she's a Lower so no one is going to take her seriously as a scientist and second, she's a girl so no one's going to take her seriously as a scientist. There's only one way to get into university--to best the boys in Holm's annual scholarship competition, and then somehow convince the university to let her take the entrance exams.

To Best the...

Merry Christmas!

The Painted Hall Collection releases today!

If you've been following my instagram, facebook page or twitter, you'll kind of be aware that I've put together a new book. Well, not a new new book, but a boxset collection of the short stories in the Painted Hall series, which was formally just called the North series, because I'm unimaginative at titles like that. (If you're on my mailing list, check your email!)

AT ANY RATE!


Since I've put them all into a single book, plus a bonus short story (brand new! yay!), I decided to also make i...

#bookreview: Catch-22 | Joseph Heller

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

So on my second read, mainly because it's on the reading list, I think I enjoyed it a little better.

It's still confusing, but maybe a little less so because I have some sort of a basis to start with. I do find that Heller executes the little time jumps back and forth very seamlessly, so that you do feel like you're reading one single novel, rather than several pieces stitched together. Heller leads you through a narrative that flows from timelin...

#musicmonday: O Little Town of Bethlehem

... because this is how you sing O Little Town of Bethlehem.

HONESTLY!



And again.

#bookreview: Suspense week, with a lot of blood!

Baptism by Max Kinnings
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Well, I generally like crime thrillers, so this one was pretty fun to read. It was also an interesting turn (for modern-day thrillers) of having a Christian terrorist instead of a Muslim one. The use of symbolism (baptism of fire and water) was chilling.

Kinnings moves things along quite quickly with the jumps between perspectives and places through the use of time, tracking movements of the main players in this drama throughout the day. He does st...