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Enlightenment99 Nights in Logar is a well-crafted novel where the main plot thread is entwined with multiple tales, incidents, interesting characters, enthralling history and a harsh location. There is a common sense of atmosphere from many books based in Afghanistan and it’s probably due to the wonderful writings that depict…
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Foreboding
“I still remember the day my father took me to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books for the first time. It was the early summer of 1945, … ‘Daniel you mustn’t tell anyone what you’re about to see today’ my father warned.”
The wonderful opening line that sets the scene for…
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Sinister
The Winters is an audacious book, in that it grabs very explicitly the iconic story Rebecca, by Daphne du Maurier, in both hands and writes a bold new modern-day retelling of Max Winter and his new wife, following the death of his first wife Rebecca (or Rebekah in this…
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Adaptability
Aminatta Forna doesn’t just write stories to captivate us for a few hours, she challenges us to think about our homogeneity with the world and how we share this world with other living beings. She invites us to consider our relationships with others, both at a personal and societal…
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Closure
There is something educational, captivating and very endearing in listening to an elderly person reflect on the events and experiences they witnessed during their life, especially through eventful times. When the writing is as good as Juliet Conlin’s, you get a front-row view into the life of Alfred Warner….
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Persistence
A book of love, loss and loneliness, with its encounters of uplifting emotion, that nourishes the heart.
At 11 years of age, the story’s narrator, Jules, and his older brother and sister, Marty and Liz, lose their parents in a car accident. They are re-homed in a boarding school with…
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Perseverance
Mohsin Hamid has written a poignant, thought-provoking love story amidst the worldwide turmoil of conflict, disharmony and its horrendous consequences of displacement. These two themes are dealt with in a wonderfully balanced and fluid way, which illustrates Hamid’s clever writing skills, and is a clear observational overview of today’s world.
The…
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Essence
Whether we live in a heavily populated metropolis or a sparsely populated and isolated valley, the Centre of OUR World is our family, friends, and the environment we live and work in. Malachy Tallack has written a great book capturing various facets of life and presented them in a…
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Man Booker Prize Winner 2018
The Reading Desk is pleased to welcome Barbara De Garcia as our Guest, to provide us with her wonderful review of Milkman.
An unconventional book about an unconventional girl, living in times where life was highly conventionalized within the respective communities (working class Catholic and working-class Protestant). The vision…
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Narcissism
Beauty is only Skin Deep! But to what extent can it mask the evil that lies beneath?
Skin Deep is a breath-taking, expressive and ultimately heart-breaking novel. The title reflects on the ever-increasing preoccupation we have on image over substance. The story portrays the lack of normal intermutual human relationships, camouflaged…
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