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review: rooftops of tehran

book info: on sale: now copy from: public library pages: 348 review written: 21.12.17 originally published: 2009 edition read: Penguin NAL 2009 title: Rooftops of Tehran author: Mahbod Seraji In a middle-class neighborhood of Iran's sprawling capital city, 17-year-old Pasha Shahed spends the summer of 1973 on his rooftop with his best friend Ahmed, joking around one minute and asking burning questions about life the next. He also hides a secret love for his beautiful neighbor Zari, who has been betrothed since birth to another man. But the bliss of Pasha and Zari's stolen time together is shattered when Pasha unwittingly acts as a beacon for the Shah's secret police. The violent consequences awaken him to the reality of living under a powerful despot, and lead Zari to make a shocking choice... my thoughts: This book was first published in 2009 and I remember adding it to my list around that time but never actually reading it since I preferred checking out library books to ...

The Secret

topic: blogging back then vs now + old friends

Inspired by this post at a Reading Daydreamer, I've decided to finally stop being lazy and actually discuss something important (at least, to me)

How Blogging Has Changed:
Well, Jen (Reading Daydreamer) specifically mentioned ARCs and how blogging has become very competitive with the most popular blogs being the ones that receive the most ARCs. When I started four years ago (my anniversary is in two days!) many blogs that are huge today were in their early years. Everything was about sharing a love for books. I know that sounds so cliché and ideal, but it really was. Huge blogs gained followers through giveaways, but bloggers who were at my level: we commented on each other's blogs often and discussed books and what we liked and didn't.

I've noticed a trend in ARCs. Lots of blogs have already spoken about the courtesy and requests for ARCs that one should follow. For the first year, I was too naive to realise that I could actually get an ARC. I just reviewed books that were already published and that I could find at the library. To me, blogging is still just about the love of books. I only ask for ARCs on books that I really really like the sound of, and not just because I want free books. I don't constantly try to get as many as I can, because I don't have the time for that.

I'm not saying I'm better than everyone: it's just that blogging really IS different.

Lack of Blogging Friends
It seems that with so many blogs, it's hard to keep a track of a few. I used to have a group of really close blogging friends that I absolutely enjoyed: but most of them have shut down their blogs, or have gotten thousands of followers so that it's just too hard to keep in contact. Or time has acted as a barrier and I barely speak to them anymore. Back then, being friends with other bloggers was REALLY important, and I think that importance has deteriorated over the years.

Blogging as a business
Blogging is not a business. It shouldn't be. That'd be like owning a website or something. Lately, many bloggers have been turning into super-pro blogs. When this happens, it disconnects them from other people, and therefore defies the purpose of having a blog, in my opinion.

Who Were My Friends? 
You hear me talking about them often. Here are some posts from way back when that really show what blogging was like:

Top Ten (9) Bloggers of 2010 (You'll see the now really popular Brent from Naughty Book Kitties on there!)
Why I love Blogging (2010) I got lots more comments from the people I enjoyed, reading them now makes me feel nostalgic
Blogger Bullying (2010): When I got bullied. The support I received was so comforting and amazing!

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review: the elementary particles

book info: on sale: now copy from: public library pages: 263 review written: 23.5.16 originally published: 1998 ("Les particules élémentaires") edition read: Knopf, 2000, translation by Frank Wynne title: The Elementary Particles author: Michel Houellebecq The Elementary Particles part-story part-metaphysical-rants in an interesting narration from two characters, half-brothers borne of a hippie and absentee mother in the 60s: Michel and Bruno. Michel is an asexual scientist who "expresses his disgust with society by engineering one that frees mankind at last from its uncontrollable, destructive urges" and Bruno is a crass brute driven by sexual desires that lusts after his lost youth. This book follows their stories from childhood to their middle age, spinning around the past and present and major and minor characters in an intriguing narrative that had me reading every single word for fear of missing anything crucial. (quote from book summary) When I first began to...

The Woman Who Ride Like a Man by Tamora Pierce

The Woman Who Ride Like a Man by Tamora Pierce Series:   Song of the Lioness #3 Source:  Bought paperback Publisher:  Atheneum Books For Young Readers Age Genre: Young Adult Challenges: Flights of Fantasy Challenges:  Prequel-Sequel Challenges:  TBR-Cleaning my Shelves Alanna fights on... Newly knighted, Alanna of Trebond seeks adventure in the vast desert of Tortall. Captured by fierce desert dwellers, she is forced to prove herself in a dual to the death. Although she triumphs, dire challenges lie ahead. As her mysterious fate would have it, Alanna soon becomes the tribe's first female shaman, despite the desert dwellers' wariness of the foreign woman warrior. Alanna must battle to change the ancient tribal customs of the desert tribes--for their sake and for the sake of all Tortall. That's me. With everyone else clapping in the background. Once again, I find myself unimpressed with the Song of the Lioness. It's not that I dislike the books. It's just that th...

The Sweet Gum Tree by Katherine Allred

The Sweet Gum Tree by Katherine Allred Source:  bought Kindle copy Publisher: Ellora's Cave Publication Date:  May 12, 2005 Age Genre: adult (not graphic) Sweet tea, corn bread, and soup beans—everyday fare for eight-year-old Alix French, the precocious darling of a respected southern family. But nothing was ordinary about the day she met ten-year-old Nick Anderson, a boy from the wrong side of town. Armed with only a tin of bee balm and steely determination, Alix treats the raw evidence of a recent beating that mars his back, an act that changes both of their lives forever. Through childhood disasters and teenage woes they cling together as friendship turns to love. The future looks rosy until the fateful night when Frank Anderson, Nick's abusive father, is shot to death in his filthy trailer. Suddenly, Nick is gone—leaving Alix alone, confused and pregnant. For the next fifteen years she wrestles with the pain of Nick's abandonment, a bad marriage, her family and friend...

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