The Literary Adventures of an Opinionated Bookworm

Be nice, but not too nice. Be heard, but don't be loud. Look pretty, but don't be too feminine...or too masculine. Are you getting this? No. Absolutely not. I don't get it.  When I was speaking to my best friend about the sexism I felt I was facing at my workplace, she was empathetic, having similar experiences at her own job. When I spoke to my best male friend about these instances, he asked me why I was determined to find a problem with all of my male coworkers.  Needless to say, these polar opposite responses to my experiences forced me to question whether or not these instances were sexist...until I stumbled upon Feminist Fight Club  by Jessica Bennett in a bookstore.  An Official Survival Manual Jessica Bennett is an award winning journalist who based  Feminist Fight Club  on her own experiences, and the experiences of the women in her own FFC. Most of the book was light-hearted while discussing this very serious topic, which makes it accessible and w...

I clearly remember the feeling I had when I watched Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's TedTalk about the dangers of a single story; she discussed reading about girls with blonde hair, blue eyes, and pale skin, and how these girls eventually became the characters of the stories she wrote.  But these characters were not like her.  Girls Like Me Part of the reason I wanted to do a literary journey around the world was because I wanted to read about characters who I could connect with in a more meaningful way. I am not going to delve deeply into my own past, because that is not what this blog is about, but I will say that this journey has meant a great deal to me. R eading about characters from Arab speaking countries, or people with similar traditions and experiences in immigrating to North America as my own family, has caused me to see a wider picture of the world, and of myself.  The next stop in my literary travels was Sudan, with the author Leila Aboulela and her col...

Who can deny themselves a forbidden summer romance set on the breathtaking Italian island of Capri? I have been to Italy, but only glimpsed Capri from the coast, still I can safely say it is a beautiful place. Naturally, I was excited to read Kevin Kwan's latest novel, Sex and Vanity,  strictly based on the summary and the fact that I am a huge fan of his writing. Unfortunately, something seemed to be lacking from the story, and some scenes seemed to drag on forever.  What happens on vacation... Lucie Churchill arrives in Capri to attend her close friend, Isabel Chiu's, wedding, which is set to be quite the affair. Her older cousin Charlotte accompanies Lucie as her chaperone, although Charlotte seems to stir up more drama as opposed to keeping her young cousin out of trouble, especially when they discover their rooms have a splendid view of the alley. Enter George Zao and his mother, Rosemary, who offer to swap rooms with Lucie and Charlotte, in an attempt to b...

I must begin this post by stating how grateful I am to my local library for their gradual reopening process; thanks to their efforts, I am finally able to restart my literary journey around the world! Off to Morocco When Driss Guerraoui, a Moroccan immigrant living in California, is killed in a hit-and-run, the lives of those around him are forever altered. His youngest daughter, Nora, is determined to prove that her father's death was no accident, but the more she tries to learn about his death, the more she unwillingly discovers about his life. The Other Americans by Laila Lalami is "at once a family saga, a murder mystery, and a love story, informed by the treacherous fault lines of American culture." I had my doubts about this novel, mainly because it is a mix of genres that I wasn't sure could mix, but needless were my doubts; Lalami masterfully weaved these genres together to tell a beautiful story about the complexity of present-day America. The writing...

Today is Monday, and I have tasked myself with the near impossible goal of writing an adequate blog post (and subsequently an Instagram post) before I have to go to work.  Why does this task have such an intense deadline, you may ask.  Well, I read this book, and I just cannot wait to talk about it.  What would you miss... ...If you were an astronaut tasked with observing other planets in the galaxy? Try to remember, that it takes about fourteen years to get back to Earth, and just as long for a message to be sent or received. Thus, any news you receive is over a decade old, and you must spend the time you are not working in torpor, which slows your body's aging process as you move from planet to planet.  This is the mission Ariadne and her crew are set with in Becky Chambers' novel, To Be Taught, If Fortunate . Although the chemistry of the crew allows them to operate more as a family than as coworkers, they still face challenges during their decades lo...

A story of political marriage, a truce between warring nations, and the secret dealings of the agents of the King... Medieval England was so dramatic, it's hard to believe that these events actually happened. If this is not enough of a draw, Conn Iggulden's writing certainly was. I was impressed by how captivating,  Stormbird , the first book in the Wars of the Roses  series, was. It was a gripping, well paced drama that had me eagerly turning the pages... The Drama Iggulden did something amazing when he wrote Stormbird ; he wrote through the eyes of peasants and great lords alike. Many historical accounts of great battles such as these will more often than not be told from the perspective of the leaders and the rich. We know that the Wars of the Roses began because of a feud between the English and French thrones, but what Iggulden dares to imagine is how the English landowners and peasants in France reacted to the political decisions made for them. He also looks at...