biancasbookblog.blogspot.com
Bianca's Book Blog: August 2014
http://biancasbookblog.blogspot.com/2014_08_01_archive.html
Saturday, 9 August 2014. The Sorrow of War (Bao Ninh). Kien's job is to search the Jungle of Screaming Souls for corpses. He knows the area well - this was where, in the dry season of 1969, his battalion was obliterated by American napalm and helicopter gunfire. Kien was one of only ten survivors. This book is his attempt to understand the eleven years of his life he gave to a senseless war.". The world of modern fiction is already replete with classic war-based literature: Catch-22. Dombey and Son (1848).
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Bianca's Book Blog: Death of a Salesman (Arthur Miller)
http://biancasbookblog.blogspot.com/2014/02/death-of-salesman-arthur-miller.html
Monday, 17 February 2014. Death of a Salesman (Arthur Miller). Willy Loman is on his last legs. Failing at his job, dismayed at his the failure of his sons, Biff and Happy, to live up to his expectations, and tortured by his jealousy at the success and happiness of his neighbour Charley and his son Bernard, Willy spirals into a well of regret and reminiscence.". Another highly popular GCSE text. Furthermore, Willy's desolation, and the densely descriptive stage directions, parallel those seen in The ...
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Bianca's Book Blog: Disclaimer
http://biancasbookblog.blogspot.com/p/disclaimer.html
Allof the books that I review have been bought, tested and paid for by myself, unless provided by a company for review purposes, which will not affect my review in any way at all. If a book has been provided as a review copy, this will always be disclosed. Equally, if any content is sponsored by a company, this will also always be clearly indicated. Please email, using the address under the 'about me' tab, for other advertising options (banners etc). Subscribe to: Posts (Atom). Shop at Book Depository.
biancasbookblog.blogspot.com
Bianca's Book Blog: The Sorrow of War (Bao Ninh)
http://biancasbookblog.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-sorrow-of-war-bao-ninh.html
Saturday, 9 August 2014. The Sorrow of War (Bao Ninh). Kien's job is to search the Jungle of Screaming Souls for corpses. He knows the area well - this was where, in the dry season of 1969, his battalion was obliterated by American napalm and helicopter gunfire. Kien was one of only ten survivors. This book is his attempt to understand the eleven years of his life he gave to a senseless war.". The world of modern fiction is already replete with classic war-based literature: Catch-22. In the biscuit tin.
biancasbookblog.blogspot.com
Bianca's Book Blog: April 2015
http://biancasbookblog.blogspot.com/2015_04_01_archive.html
Sunday, 5 April 2015. Why my 2014 literary challenge didn't work. Picking up this blog again has taken a long time. Partly out of shame. Partly out of apathy. Partly out of being incredibly busy. And partly because of simply not knowing where to begin again. Needless to say, I failed my challenge to read 50 (very literary) books in one year miserably. There are several reasons why. One was, quite simply, laziness. My other "excuses" are perhaps more, well, excusable. So what strategies for going forward?
biancasbookblog.blogspot.com
Bianca's Book Blog: November 2013
http://biancasbookblog.blogspot.com/2013_11_01_archive.html
Monday, 18 November 2013. Pushing yourself in an arena that you love means that coming up with different, new challenges is par for the course. Over the years there have been plenty of them for me in terms of literature. At eleven, it was perhaps making the big leap from the Babysitters' Club series. After this, it was more about creativity and more trivial challenges again, with me taking part in NaNoWriMo. In 2010, running a junior book club, and (in multiple years) taking part in the 50 book challenge.
biancasbookblog.blogspot.com
Bianca's Book Blog: Tender is the Night (F Scott Fitzgerald)
http://biancasbookblog.blogspot.com/2014/03/tender-is-night-f-scott-fitzgerald.html
Sunday, 16 March 2014. Tender is the Night (F Scott Fitzgerald). Dick and Nicole Diver are handsome and rich, their dinners are legendary, their atmosphere magnetic. But Nicole has a secret and Dick has a weakness. Together they crash their lives on the rocks and only one of them really survives.". Other novels by F Scott Fitzgerald. This Side of Paradise (1920). The Beautiful and the Damned (1922). The Great Gatsby (1925). The Love of the Last Tycoon (unfinished and published posthumously; 1941). As a t...
biancasbookblog.blogspot.com
Bianca's Book Blog: October 2013
http://biancasbookblog.blogspot.com/2013_10_01_archive.html
Thursday, 31 October 2013. Swimming and Flying (Mark Haddon). Prize-winning novelist Mark Haddon, author of THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME and most recently THE RED HOUSE, explores his childhood fear of swimming and his adult fear of flying in a[n.] essay that unfolds into [.] reflections about the craft of writing and about life itself.". Other works by Mark Haddon. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time (2003). A Spot of Bother (2006). The Red House (2012). The Man in the ...
biancasbookblog.blogspot.com
Bianca's Book Blog: Books Read: 2013
http://biancasbookblog.blogspot.com/2013/12/books-read-2013.html
Tuesday, 31 December 2013. Every year, whether it's a spoken or unspoken target, I challenge myself to read 50 books a year. So did I manage it in 2013? 3 An Imperfect Life. 4 The Flying Creatures of Fra Angelico. 5 The Shadow of the Wind. 7 A Proper Place. 8 The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. 9 The Great Divorce. 11 Don't Sleep, There Are Snakes. 12 and 13. The Etymologicon and the Horologicon. Both by Mark Forsyth). 14 Major Pettigrew's Last Stand. 15 The Tragedy of Fidel Castro. 18 The Breakfast Bible.
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Bianca's Book Blog: The Pearl (John Steinbeck)
http://biancasbookblog.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-pearl-john-steinbeck.html
Sunday, 23 March 2014. The Pearl (John Steinbeck). Kino is a desperately poor Mexican-pearl diver. But when he finds 'The Pearl of the World' he believes that his life will be magically transformed. Obsessed by his dreams, Kino is blind to the greed, fear and even violence the pearl arouses in his neighbours - and himself.". In many ways this is done to great effect: we, the readers, are on Kino's side, urging him on and longing for his success. As mentioned, the descriptions of emotions and the natu...
