EXCALIBUR

EXCALIBUR by Ana Alonso and Javier PelegrínYA Fantasy / Literature in Spanish This is the first book in the Spanish tetralogy that is a retelling of the Arthurian myth - with a twist. The society is actually dystopian, and 'Britannia' is a sort of hologram wherein magic is based on computer codes and all of …

THE MAGICAL LIFE AND WORK OF REMEDIOS VARO

THE MAGICAL LIFE AND WORK OF REMEDIOS VARO by Silvana Ávila Non-fiction, Art This is a wonderful illustrated book on Spanish surrealist painter Remedios Varo, written by Silvana Ávila. It includes a short but comprehensive biography and a study on her life's work, that is, her surrealist paintings.What I liked most about this book was …

STILL ALICE

STILL ALICE by Lisa GenovaAdult Contemporary Still Alice is a book about Alice Howland, a cognitive psychologist, research scientist, and Harvard college professor. Alice is brilliant, intelligent, and outstanding in her field, but her life takes a turn for the worse when she finds out she has early onset Alzheimer’s disease. The book is well-written …

PRINCE LESTAT

PRINCE LESTAT by Anne RiceAdult Dark Fantasy For those of you unfamiliar with The Vampire Chronicles, Ms. Rice’s Children of the Night were the blood-sucking monsters that haunted our dreams and epitomized vampires, before Twilight came along. And they’re not for the faint of heart.True Blood‘s human-loving vampires are tame by comparison (never mention Twilight‘s sun-sparkling fairies). …

GATES OF FIRE

GATES OF FIRE by Steven PressfieldHistorical Fiction Gates of Fire is one of my go-to books, a story that for me is almost magical. No matter when or how often I pick it up, it never fails to inspire me in different and new ways.The novel is about the historical epic Battle of Thermopylae (aka …

LOOKING FOR ALASKA

LOOKING FOR ALASKA by John GreenYA Contemporary Looking for Alaska is about a teenage boy named Miles who decides to go to Boarding School in order to escape his dull and friendless existence at home. His world is turned upside down when he meets a beautiful, smart and self-destructive girl named Alaska Young.Miles falls hard …

ALEPH

ALEPH by Paulo CoelhoAdult Contemporary Aleph is an autobiographical book relating Paulo’s experiences while traveling on a book tour through the Trans-siberian railroad with a 21-year old girl he used to know 500 years ago, in one of his past lives. This book is touching and beautiful in many ways, and embellished in others, like …

THE WAR OF ART

THE WAR OF ART by Steven PressfieldNon-Fiction, Writer The War of Art is written by the same author who penned the classic Gates of Fire and it’s aimed at writers, musicians, painters, etc. who can’t seem to sit down and do the work. The funny thing about this book is that it doesn’t give you a magic …

I CAPTURE THE CASTLE

I CAPTURE THE CASTLE by Dodie SmithYA Romance I was in a store that sold used books in Alexandria, Washington, when I overheard a woman telling her friends about this particular book. “It’s such a wonderful story!” she said. “Why, what’s it about?” asked her friends curiously. The woman was stroking the cover of the …

THE WHITE QUEEN

THE WHITE QUEEN by Philippa GregoryHistorical Fiction The White Queen is a historical novel written by Philippa Gregory about Elizabeth Woodville, the Queen of England from 1465 to 1483. Gregory’s book includes romance, royal intrigue, wars, scheming and plotting, blood, death, and magic, all spanning over the course of 20 or so years. Gregory’s book …