Category: Book Review

Audiobook Review & Narrator Interview: Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark T. Sullivan

Saturday Nite Reader10 Comments

4_DiscoBalls

4 disco balls

Published: May 1, 2017 by Brillance Audio, Narrated by Will Damron
Purchase: Audible  Amazon Kindle unlimited  Barnes & Noble: $9.29 for the audio
Category: Historical Fiction

Beneath a Scarlet Sky, by Mark T. Sullivan, was inspired by the real life story of WWII hero, Pino Lella. This book was 10 years in the making for author, Mark T. Sullivan, whom met Pino by chance and knew he wanted to tell his story. It is a work of fiction, but has been rumored to be about 90% true.

First things first, this audiobook is a commitment. It is 17 hours long! About 25% way through I upped the speed to 1.25x and it cut a few hours off, phew. I am terribly bad at paying attention to audiobooks, but I do find I am most engaged in listening and not being distracted by everything around me (look a squirrel!) when I am taking a long drive. During a long weekend I went to visit friends in CT (about a 2 hour drive) so it was a perfect time to dive into Pino’s story.Read More »

Book Review: Two Girls Down by Louisa Luna

Saturday Nite Reader16 Comments

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4_DiscoBalls

4 disco balls

Published: January 9, 2018 by Doubleday
Purchase: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, BOTM $9.99 add on
Category: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Fiction

This book is the reason I need an extra shot of espresso in my coffee this morning. I may have stayed up until 2:00 a.m. last night (or technically this morning) reading the last 13% of the book. I thought, 13% left I can finish that in thirty minutes…um, I grossly underestimated how much time it takes me to read 13% – it was more like 1.5 hours or something like that: I obviously lost track of time. Plus the ending was where most of the action was and I could not go to sleep half way through it.  Read More »

Book Review: Song of a Captive Bird by Jasmin Darznik

Saturday Nite Reader11 Comments

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3.5 disco balls

Expected publication: February 13, 2018 by Ballantine Books
Pre-order: Amazon, Barnes & Noble
Category: Historical Fiction, Cultural

In Song of a Captive Bird (a beautiful and perfect title), author Jasmin Darznik is the voice for Iranian poet, Forugh Farrokhzad. Forugh – an influential poet of the 20th century – was notorious for rebelling against cultural norms, especially in her work.

Forugh’s accomplishments come at the expense of her reputation and family life. In her thirty-two years she has been through so much pain; all she wanted was to be loved for who she was. Darznik captures that and uses her own words to bring that love to Forugh. Read More »

Book Review: Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

Saturday Nite Reader17 Comments

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3 disco balls

Published: September 12, 2017 by Penguin Press
Purchase: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, BOTM $9.99 add-on
Category: Fiction
Goodreads Choice Awards 2017, Best Fiction

With over a 4 star rating on goodreads and on the heels of winning their 2017 Best in Fiction award, I wanted to really love this book. I didn’t love it, but I liked it. I don’t regret reading it and welcome a book discussion on some of the topics covered in the book; the book just hit a few painful spots for me and it was a tough read.Read More »

Fun Fact Friday: Social Sciences

Saturday Nite Reader17 Comments

Round V (and probably final round, as I am running out of things to share…yes, I am that boring) of Fun Fact Friday.

I graduated from Providence College with a Bachelors in Social Sciences. Go Friars!

I took primarily Sociology classes and really was a soc major minus the capstone class. If I only knew then what I know now I would have taken the darn class. It wouldn’t have affected my career either way, but still. I should have just done it.

I love the study of sociology and researching/engaging in discussion on things related to culture, social interactions, and group dynamics. Cue in a book review…Read More »