Category: Historical Literature & Fiction

Book review by Dinh.

Read synopsis.

Review:

Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell got our attention because its title name is interchangeable with Hamlet, which is a play written by William Shakespeare. I’m not a big Shakespeare fan but I’m familiar with the play Hamlet.

We chose to read Hamnet partly because Maggie O’Farrell is a new author to us and also because it’s an historical fiction about Shakespeare’s family.

Book review by Dinh.

Read synopsis.

Review:

If you have never read any of Khaled Hosseini’s books, please do so now! His 2003 debut novel The Kite Runner was a fantastic book and was a five stars read! We were curious to see if his subsequent book, A Thousand Splendid Suns (2007) was just as good.

My expectations were set high since I loved Hosseini’s first book.

So, was A Thousand Splendid Suns good as his first book? The bottom line is, it’s was just as good!

Here’s why A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini gets a 5 out of 5 stars from me.

Book review by Dinh.

Read synopsis here.

Review:

I love reading books that are set in different countries and show the values and cultures of that country. A Burning, a debut novel by Megha Majumdar piqued my interest because it is set in modern India.

Going in, I thought the book would be depressing, as books that I have read set in India are usually sad. There’s always the issue of poverty which shows the unfairness of life. Other than it being sad, I had no other expectations.

So I was pleasantly surprised by how much I loved this book. Yes it was sad, but the story line was interesting and the author did a great job in weaving a tale that made me think.

Book review by Dinh

Read synopsis here.

Review:

I always look forward to reading a book about different traditions and cultures. Etaf Rum’s debut novel A Woman Is No Man hits that mark with a story about three generations of Palestinian- American women.

There’s been a lot of praises for this book so I was eager to see if they were correct.

Was it worthy of all the praises? Most definitely yes! You know it’s a really good book when it gives you all the feels. Emotionally I bounce between sad and mad. Regardless, my heart was squeezed throughout this book. It was a gut wrenching book!

Book review by Dinh.

Read synopsis here.

Review:

I do so love reading about women who have made an impact in the world! Their contributions to the world are not always well known and it’s refreshing to discover historical women and see them in a different perspective.

A few years back I read Enchantress of Numbers by Jennifer Chiaverini which was an interesting read on the unrecognized accomplishments of Ada Byron King, who is considered to be the first computer programmer.

Review by Dinh.

Read synopsis.

Review:

I have been wanting to read a book that moves you and leave you satisfied at the end of it. I have found it in The Story of Arthur Truluv by Elizabeth Berg.

The Story of Arthur Truluv (2017) is the first novel in the Mason series. There are two more books to follow, A Night of Miracles (2018), and The Confession Club (2019).

Book review by Dinh.

Read synopsis here.

Review:

Apparently if you liked Where The Crawdads Sing, then you’ll love This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger according to Parade Magazine. There were so many praises for this book and it was so highly recommended that we had to check it out for ourselves!

Having read Kueger’s Ordinary Grace (such a great book), I had high hopes going into This Tender Land.

Did it meet my expectations? Yes!

Here’s why you should read it:

Book review by Dinh.

Read synopsis here.

Review:

I was super excited to read American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins because of the controversy surrounding it. The book has been criticized because the author is white, not an immigrant, and her her use of stereotypes exploits Mexican immigrants, in addition to depicting an unauthentic story.

I really didn’t pay attention to these criticism as this novel is a work of fiction. All authors have the liberty to use their imagination. Cummins did do 5 years of research before completing this book and judging the author because she is not an immigrant is ridiculous.

Read synopsis here.

Review:

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid has been recommended by a bunch of readers on social media and its popularity has snowed balled so much that we were intrigued. We capitulated and chose it for our monthly read.