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. That

Flaws in the Glass, a self-portrait by Patrick White: book review

The manuscript, Flaws in the Glass (1981), is Patrick Victor Martindale White’s autobiography. White, born in 1912 in England, migrated to Sydney, Australia, when he was six months old. For three years, at the age of 20, he studied French and German literature at King’s College at the University of Cambridge in England. Throughout his life, he published 12 novels. In 1957 he won the inaugural Miles Franklin Literary Award for Voss, published in 1956. In 1961, Riders in the Chariot became a best-seller, winning the Miles Franklin Literary Award. In 1973, he was the first Australian author to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for The Eye of the Storm, despite many critics describing his works as ‘un-Australian’ and himself as ‘Australia’s most unreadable novelist.’ In 1979, The Twyborn Affair was short-listed for the Booker Prize, but he withdrew it from the competition to give younger writers the opportunity to win the award. His autobiography, Flaws in the Glass

The Beggars' Strike by Aminata Sow Fall: book review

The Beggar’sStrike (1979 in French and 1981 in English) is set in an unstated country in West Africa in a city known only as The Capital. Undoubtedly, Senegalese author Sow Fall writes of her own experiences. It was also encapsulated in the 2000 film, Battu , directed by Cheick Oumar Sissoko from Mali. Mour Ndiaye is the Director of the Department of Public Health and Hygiene, with the opportunity of a distinguished and coveted promotion to Vice-President of the Republic. Tourism has declined and the government blames the local beggars in The Capital. Ndiaye must rid the streets of beggars, according to a decree from the Minister. Ndiaye instructs his department to carry out weekly raids. One of the raids leads to the death of lame beggar, Madiabel, who ran into an oncoming vehicle as he tried to escape, leaving two wives and eight children. Soon after, another raid resulted in the death of the old well-loved, comic beggar Papa Gorgui Diop. Enough is enou

FEAST OR FAMINE

Search This Blog