When Dhumketu's first collection of short stories, Tankha, came out in 1926, it revolutionized the genre in India. Characterized by a fine sensitivity, deep humanism, perceptive observation, and an intimate knowledge of both rural and urban life, his fiction has provided entertainment and edification to generations of Gujarati readers and speakers.The Shehnai Virtuoso brings together... Continue Reading →
ALC Review: Thank You for Listening by Julia Whelan
For Sewanee Chester, being an audiobook narrator is a long way from her old dreams, but the days of being a star on film sets are long behind her. Sheβs found success and satisfaction from the inside of a sound booth and it allows her to care for her beloved, ailing grandmother. When she arrives... Continue Reading →
ALC Review: The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean
Out on the Yorkshire Moors lives a secret line of people for whom books are food, and who retain all of a book's content after eating it. To them, spy novels are a peppery snack; romance novels are sweet and delicious. Eating a map can help them remember destinations, and children, when they misbehave, are... Continue Reading →
ARC Review: The Book of Gothel by Mary McMyne
Everyone knows the tale of Rapunzel in her tower, but do you know the story of the witch who put her there?Haelewise has always lived under the shadow of her mother, Heddaβa woman who will do anything to keep her daughter protected. For with her strange black eyes and even stranger fainting spells, Haelewise is... Continue Reading →
Book Review: Forbidden City by Vanessa Hua
A teenage girl living in 1960s China becomes Mao Zedong's protΓ©gΓ©e and lover--and a poster child for the Cultural Revolution--in this provocative, poignant novel from the bestselling author of A River of Stars.On the eve of China's Cultural Revolution and her sixteenth birthday, Mei dreams of becoming a model revolutionary. When the Communist Party recruits girls... Continue Reading →
Book Review: The Invisible Kingdom by Meghan O’Rourke
A landmark exploration of one of the most consequential and mysterious issues of our time: the rise of chronic illness and autoimmune diseases.A silent epidemic of chronic illnesses afflicts tens of millions of Americans: these are diseases that are poorly understood, frequently marginalized, and can go undiagnosed and unrecognized altogether. Renowned writer Meghan OβRourke delivers... Continue Reading →
Book Review: The Code Book by Simon Singh
In his first book since the bestsellingΒ Fermat's Enigma, Simon Singh offers the first sweeping history of encryption, tracing its evolution and revealing the dramatic effects codes have had on wars, nations, and individual lives. From Mary, Queen of Scots, trapped by her own code, to the Navajo Code Talkers who helped the Allies win World... Continue Reading →
ARC Review: Lightblade by Zamil Akhtar
In three days, Jyosh will slay the God Emperor, or die trying.But first he must train his lightblade skills. While asleep.Each hour of sleep equals a day in a lucid dream, plenty of time to master the essential lightblade techniques and hopefully get skilled enough to defeat the monster who enslaved him and beheaded his... Continue Reading →
Book Review: On a Red Station, Drifting by Aliette de Bodard
For generations Prosper Station has thrived under the guidance of its Honoured Ancestress: born of a human womb, the stationβs artificial intelligence has offered guidance and protection to its human relatives.But war has come to the Dai Viet Empire. Prosperβs brightest minds have been called away to defend the Emperor; and a flood of disorientated... Continue Reading →
ARC Review: A Mirror Mended by Alix E. Harrow
Zinnia Gray, professional fairy-tale fixer and lapsed Sleeping Beauty is over rescuing snoring princesses. Once youβve rescued a dozen damsels and burned fifty spindles, once youβve gotten drunk with twenty good fairies and made out with one too many members of the royal family, you start to wish some of these girls would just get... Continue Reading →