Winter reading ideas

Looking for classic or popular reading material for the winter months in the southern hemisphere? Below is a list of five great reads:

1. Possession: by A.S. Byatt

The 1990 Man Booker winner weaves a compelling story of two Victorian poets and two scholars of Victorian poetry as their lives and loves slowly parallel.

2. Nectar in a Sieve: by Kamala Markandaya

Twelve-year-old Rukmani and her new husband Nathan struggle with raising a family as India turns from its more pastoral and agricultural roots into something more industrial. Rukmani and her loved ones contend with poverty, disease, and death, but the heroine’s journey reflects literature’s most enduring tales of interpersonal strengths.

3. The House on Mango Street: by Sandra Cisneros

Sandra Cisneros’ novella follows a Chicana girl who dreams of leaving the Chicago slums and forging a life for herself before coming back to rescue her family. Esperanza Cordero’s monologues reflect the triumphant and tragic elements of her environment, and how life builds character.

4. After Dark: by Haruki Murakami

Set in Tokyo, everything revolves around a pair of sisters, one at home in a drug-induced coma, the other swept up in unwanted urban adventures. They must learn to connect with one another despite the distance.

5. The Joy Luck Club: by Amy Tan

Two generations of Chinese-American women narrate their stories of both nations and the struggles involved with coming to terms with new cultural mores and, in some cases, biracial backgrounds. They are stories of mothers, daughters, and family bonds.

Want more reading ideas? See 21 classics that make for great beach reads by Accredited Online Colleges: http://www.accreditedonlinecolleges.com/blog/2012/21-classics-that-make-for-great-beach-reads/

Comments

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. ...

Apes go to the movies - and remember the scenes

Apes remember major events in movies, even after a single viewing. That’s the findings of primate research in Japan (New Scientist, September 17, 2015). Researchers at the Kyoto University in Japan conducted experiments with two species of apes – chimpanzees and bonobo primates – to test their memory and recall. Instead of using food to test memory, they used films. The researchers made two short movies to show to the apes. Fumihiro Kano and his colleague, Satoshi Hirata, starred in the films with another person dressed as an ape. They wanted to have strong dramatic scenes to see if the apes remembered them. In the first 30-second movie the character ape bursts through a door on the right hand side (there is also a door on the left hand side) and attacks the two researchers (characters) 18 seconds after the start. After 24 seconds a human character choses one of two weapons next to each other and launched a revenge attack on the ape. In the second 30-second movie t...

The acacia thorn trees of Kenya

There are nearly 800 species of acacia trees in the world, and most don’t have thorns. The famous "whistling thorn tree" and the Umbrella Thorn tree of Kenya are species of acacia that do have thorns, or spines. Giraffes and other herbivores normally eat thorny acacia foliage, but leave the whistling thorn alone. Usually spines are no deterrent to giraffes. Their long tongues are adapted to strip the leaves from the branches despite the thorns. The thorny acacia like dry and hot conditions. The thorns typically occur in pairs and are 5-8 centimetres (2-3 inches) long. Spines can be straight or curved depending on the species. MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Suda...

FEAST OR FAMINE

Search This Blog