Saturday, April 22, 2017

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley


Publication Date: 1932
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Series: Stand Alone
Genre: Science Fiction
Synopsis: Far in the future, the World Controllers have created the ideal society. Through clever use of genetic engineering, brainwashing and recreational sex and drugs, all its members are happy consumers. Bernard Marx seems alone harbouring an ill-defined longing to break free. A visit to one of the few remaining Savage Reservations, where the old, imperfect life still continues, may be the cure for his distress...

Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Mental Illness in Literature and Media


With the recent release of the Thirteen Reasons Why TV series and other publications featuring characters with mental illnesses, one could hope that the world is slowly becoming more accepting and understanding.  However, I find that there is one key component that is always off gear in these types of books:  that mental illnesses are rare, that they are wrong, and if the character has one, they are broken.

Saturday, April 15, 2017

The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman


Publication Date: January 15, 2015
Publisher: Tor UK
Pages: 329
Series: The Invisible Library #1
Genre: Fantasy
Synopsis: Irene is a professional spy for the mysterious Library, which harvests fiction from different realities. And along with her enigmatic assistant Kai, she's posted to an alternative London. Their mission - to retrieve a dangerous book. But when they arrive, it's already been stolen. London's underground factions seem prepared to fight to the very death to find her book. 
Adding to the jeopardy, this world is chaos-infested - the laws of nature bent to allow supernatural creatures and unpredictable magic. Irene's new assistant is also hiding secrets of his own. Soon, she's up to her eyebrows in a heady mix of danger, clues and secret societies. Yet

Friday, April 7, 2017

My Heart and Other Black Holes By Jasmine Warga


Publication Date: February 10, 2015
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Pages: 320
Series: Stand Alone
Genre: Contemporary
Synopsis: Sixteen-year-old physics nerd Aysel is obsessed with plotting her own death. With a mother who can barely look at her without wincing, classmates who whisper behind her back, and a father whose violent crime rocked her small town, Aysel is ready to turn her potential energy into nothingness. There's only one problem: she's not sure she has the courage to do it alone. But once she discovers a website with a section called Suicide Partners, Aysel's convinced she's found her solution—Roman, a teenage boy who's haunted by a family tragedy, is looking for a partner. Even though Aysel and Roman have nothing in common, they slowly start to fill in each other's broken lives. But as their suicide pact becomes more concrete, Aysel begins to question whether she really wants to go through with it. Ultimately, she must choose between wanting to die or trying to convince Roman to live so they can discover the potential of their energy together.

Tuesday, April 4, 2017

Spring TBR


For as long as I can remember, Spring has been my favorite season.  Although this might have something to do with my birthday being in April, it's also the flowers, the rain, and the warm weather that has yet to become unbearably hot and humid.  Maybe I'll even take my reading outside for once...