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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

Spirit Bound by Richelle Mead

Spirit Bound by Richelle Mead
Series: Vampire Academy #5 
Source: Bought
Publisher: Razorbill
Publication Date: May 18th, 2010
Age Genre: Young Adult
Dimitri gave Rose the ultimate choice. But she chose wrong...
After a long and heartbreaking journey to Dimitri's birthplace in Siberia, Rose Hathaway has finally returned to St. Vladimir's-and to her best friend, Lissa. It is nearly graduation, and the girls can't wait for their real lives beyond the Academy's iron gates to begin. But Rose's heart still aches for Dimitri, and she knows he's out there, somewhere.
She failed to kill him when she had the chance. And now her worst fears are about to come true. Dimitri has tasted her blood, and now he is hunting her. And this time he won't rest until Rose joins him... forever.

So, as I'm starting my Vampire Academy experience on The Book Babe's Reads at book five, I'll sum up some things for you: I have been reading the Vampire Academy series for about a year now. I have owned all the books in the series for a similar amount of time. Fact is, I enjoy these books... but they lack that certain something that makes me need to read them.

Which is why, I brought this book with me on my trip to Europe, with the intention to just, once and for all, read it. That didn't work quite as well as I hoped. I had so much trouble immersing myself in the story for the first 200 pages that I had to read other books between every 70 pages or so. This is the main source of my rating - this book just didn't grab me, and so, though I enjoyed it, I can't give it more than 3.5 stars.

I think, finally, after five books, I've come to understand why I have so much trouble with this series - it's the writing. Something about it just... doesn't click with me. Doesn't flow smoothly as I read it.
If this book (and series) was written slightly differently, I think I might've loved it. I think I might've finished it in a week (like I did Percy Jackson) instead of a year (and I'm not finished yet). But it's not, so I struggle.

I will say this - half way through the book, things finally started happening in a way that made me want to read the book nonstop. Which is funny, cause from that point on it was all basically Mead setting things up for the final book.

Now, let's go into some specifics, since I realize this "review" is mostly very vague and general so far. I love Rose. I love Dmitri. I love Adrain. I love Lissa and Christian (he is probably my favorite character in the series). But they all kind of annoyed me this book. Especially the thing with Adrian and Rose, because he deserves better. At the very least, someone who will truly love him, and not just use him (albeit, probably unconscionably,) to forget someone else.

Oh, and Lissa and Christian need to get over themselves and go make some beautiful babies with snarky humor and kind hearts (okay, maybe not right away, but you get my drift).

Okay, this review is kind of lacking... as all my Vampire Academy reviews seem to be. I feel like a failure, but I just really wanted to share my revelation with you guys! It's not everyday that you finally figure out what has been bothering you for 5 books...
Nitzan





















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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...

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