The Old Woman With the Knife
Disclosure: I received a copy of this book free of charge for review purposes only. Receipt of a book does not guarantee a review or endorsement. My reviews are my honest opinion and are not biased for the purpose of…
Vita Nostra
Read The World: Ukraine Sasha Samokhina is a straight A student looking forward to going to university. When on holiday with her single mother a strange man starts to follow her. He sets her a challenge to repeat every day,…
The Three-Body Problem
Read the World: China Where to begin? The Three-Body Problem is the first instalment of a popular Chinese science fiction trilogy by Cixin Liu* which has been translated into English by Ken Liu. It’s the first Chinese book I have…
The Travelling Cat Chronicles
Read the World: Japan I’m not sure why I picked up The Travelling Cat Chronicles, it’s not my usual thing and I’m not even a cat person, but I have been wanting to read more translated work, so there is…
Freedom Hospital
Read the World: Syria Freedom Hospital is a mix of fact and fiction, based around an underground Syrian hospital which tends to injured rebels. At the start of the book, it feels like the rebels wanted a peaceful solution to…
Anna
Read the World: Italy When the Red Fever came, it killed only the adults. On the island of Siciliy, young Anna and her little brother Astor are left orphaned. Before her death, their mother wrote The Book of Important things,…
Persepolis
Read the World: Iran I didn’t really know much about Iran, other than it doesn’t get on with neighbouring Iraq much, so Persepolis gave me a brief introduction on its more recent history. Before the comic strips start there is…
Down the Rabbit Hole
Read the World: Mexico Down the Rabbit Hole is both a story about a lonely boy who wants a pygmy hippo and a glimpse into the world of a drug lord. Tochtli lives with his father in a secluded and…
Octavio’s Journey
Octavio’s Journey contains an allegory for Venezuela’s history and you will probably get a lot more out of it with some prior knowledge. I know next to nothing about Venezuela but can only assume it’s had the same problems of…
Soviet Space Dogs
Space dogs were part of Soviet propaganda, perhaps in its most demonstrative form. This was quite an apt birthday book as my birthday shares the date with the anniversary of the first animal in space. Many of us have heard…
