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fionag11

fionag11@bookwyrm.social

Joined 6 months, 1 week ago

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fionag11's books

Currently Reading

2025 Reading Goal

50% complete! fionag11 has read 3 of 6 books.

reviewed The Push by Ashley Audrain

Ashley Audrain: The Push (Hardcover, 2021, Pamela Dorman Books)

It's rare I actively dislike a book

It's not badly written. technically. It's just so miserable. And I don't mind a book with grim subject matter, but this book feels like the misery is piled on for effect, and I'm not convinced the situation it depicts is realistic, although it may be which is even worse.

One thing that bugs me is a lot of the publishers' and literary reviews, make out that the book is about ambiguous feelings around motherhood. It's not. The woman in the book wanted to be an engaged, loving mother but there was an extreme, unusual, but I think unfortunately not unheard of, factor. There is another book that deals with this topic that I read previously and also found disturbing, and when I read reviews for that book I could hardly believe how many people were stubbornly taking away the opposite message probably because they didn't want to believe, and it's …

reviewed Walk with Me by Dawn Hurley

Dawn Hurley, Argentine Imanirakunda: Walk with Me (2025, SHONA Congo)

What if your whole village had to run to hide in the woods from marauding thugs - and you were the disabled girl whose legs didn't work?

 This is the first time I've read a published memoir when I actually know one of the authors. There may be many people who had childhoods similar to Argentine, but few of them are in the position to write books - in English - about them, and for this book to happen, Dawn, the other author and Argentine's dear friend, had to meet, these women both had to have the hearts to reach out to each other across different cultural backgrounds, and Argentine's memories and stories (some of which must have been very emotional to relive) have come together with Dawn's way with words, and enough familiarity with the Congo and rapport with Argentine to paint the picture for us in a way that lets the story unfold, in such a beautiful, vivid way, with humour and heart, but not glossing over any of the tension and pain and fear …

Khaled Hosseini: A Thousand Splendid Suns (2007)

A Thousand Splendid Suns is a 2007 novel by Afghan-American author Khaled Hosseini, following the …

What was it like to live in Kabul under the Taliban - as a woman?

A friend recommended me this book, but at first I couldn't read it. This book is hard to read, because of the domestic abuse, but if you can stand it, it is also such a fascinating window into the last few decades of Afghanistan's history, powerful, full of tension. You will be rooting for these two women and looking forward to the liberation of Kabul as much as they did - will it be in time to save them? Even more poignant given that we have now gone back to the days of the Taliban. OK, don't despair, there are light moments! - one detail that sticks with me is when the Titanic craze hits Taliban-controlled Kabul - Titanic burkhas!

reviewed Bird Hotel by Joyce Maynard

Joyce Maynard: Bird Hotel (2023, Skyhorse Publishing Company, Incorporated)

What if you kept losing everyone you loved.. so you got on a hippy bus and let it take you where-ever?

A potential plot hole* that didn't quite sit right with me, but overall a delightful and atmospheric book 

*Message me if you want to know what I mean; I don't want to post a spoiler. And don't let this discourage you from reading the book - the best thing about it is the atmosphere, not so much the plot. A lot of the book is actually a series of vignettes about the people who visit the hotel and the characters in the nearby Mayan village.

Ferdia Lennon: Glorious Exploits (2024, Holt & Company, Henry)

On the island of Sicily amid the Peloponnesian War, the Syracusans have figured out what …

What if two crazy potters in ancient Syracuse tried to put on a Eurypides play with Athenian prisoners of war?

Very original! It really brought ancient Syracuse to life in a charming but also disturbing way...

The Prairie Chicken Dance Tour

The hilarious story of an unlikely group of Indigenous dancers who find themselves thrown together …

What if you had to lead a motley group of barely passable dancers with problematic personalities on an international tour?

This book is great! It's funny, it's full of unexpected twists and turns, and it's a unique twist on indigenous people laughing at themselves and how the world sees them, and sometimes laughing through tears, because this book is a fun romp, but it is steeped in the indigenous experience in Canada, and it goes there.  Many things are not as they seem. 

The history of Ducks Unlimited Canada

Dense, but a must read for anyone involved in DUC or the history of waterfowl conservation. An image that will stay with me is the volunteers moving ducklings stranded in dried out wetlands. It's illuminating how the main concerns and strategies have changed over the years, but the determination to keep healthy populations of ducks on the landscape goes on.