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Samantha Lin

Samantha Lin

Tag Archives: text type: novel

My 2018 in Books

03 Thursday Jan 2019

Posted by Samantha Lin in Booktastic

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

text type: non-fiction, text type: novel, text type: short story

Happy New Year from Sydney, Australia! Throughout the past 2.5 years, I have been constantly ashamed to see I haven’t updated my blog since June 2016, when I was frolicking around in Finland – in fact, some of the posts on my homepage were from the glorious pre-Brexit days!

A lot has happened over the last 2.5 years (I was awarded my PhD, I moved back to Sydney semi-permanently, I started an English tutoring business, etc etc), but the one thing that’s remained the same is my passion for books. In fact, I am now more determined than ever to make time to reading – and I would very much like to share some coherent thoughts about the books I’ve read and loved (primarily because my memory has become quite shocking).

On that note, I’d like to say a few things about the best books I read in 2018. According to Goodreads, I read 69 books last year (yes, I did in fact excuse myself from family festivities for an hour on New Year’s Eve to finish Northanger Abbey, because I am evidently very mature). The full list and statistics can be found on my Goodreads page here.

Of these, my favourites are (in no particular order):

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Books from July to December (Music, comedy, erotica, Russian greats)

07 Monday Dec 2015

Posted by Samantha Lin in Booktastic

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Tags

era: 19th century, era: 20th century, era: ancient greece, reading: brainless bedside books, reading: challenges (2015), reading: far and wide, reading: fun book reviews, reading: stunning, text type: drama, text type: non-fiction, text type: novel, writer: contemporary, writer: dostoevsky, writer: euripides, writer: tolstoy

Yup, this post is looooong overdue. Over these past few months, I’ve read the following funfunfun books:

18. Vikram Seth – An Equal Music (11 July)
19. Stephen Fry – The Liar (2 Aug)
20. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels – The Communist Manifesto (3 Aug)
21. Leo Tolstoy – Resurrection (7 Aug)
22. Fyodor Dostoevsky – Netochka Nezvanova (9 Sept)
23. Sue Monk Kidd – The Secret Life of Bees (18 Sept)
24. Kit Rocha – Beyond Shame (30 Nov)
25. Miles Jupp – In and Out of the Kitchen (3 Dec)
26. James A. Grymes – Violins of Hope (6 Dec)
27. Euripides – Electra and Other Plays (7 Dec)

An eclectic selection, perhaps, but books are books are books. ♥

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April to July(-ish): 8 funfunfun books

07 Tuesday Jul 2015

Posted by Samantha Lin in Booktastic

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

era: 20th century, era: ancient rome, era: contemporary, reading: challenges (2015), reading: far and wide, reading: fun book reviews, reading: stunning, text type: novel, text type: philosophy, writer: cicero, writer: contemporary, writer: young adult authors

It seems real life has gotten in the way of reading and “reviewing” again… And so, here’s what I’ve read since March (I know, I know–but better late than never!):

10. Marian Keyes – Watermelon (25 April)
11. Roberto Bolaño – Antwerp (25 April)
12. Cicero – On the Good Life (trans. Michael Grant; Penguin) (3 June)
13. Lois Lowry – Messenger (5 June)
14. Ruth Ozeki – A Tale For the Time Being (12 June)
15. Sarah Quigley – The Conductor (27 June)
16. Anne Bishop – Murder of Crows (28 June)
17. Evelyn Waugh – A Handful of Dust (3 July)

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February books

01 Sunday Mar 2015

Posted by Samantha Lin in Booktastic

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Tags

era: 19th century, reading: challenges (2015), reading: fun book reviews, reading: stunning, text type: novel, text type: short story, writer: contemporary, writer: nabokov, writer: pushkin, writer: young adult authors

February turned out to be a lot busier than anticipated, primarily due to a teaching position I was offered at the university that was very, very last-minute. But yay, I managed to squeeze in four books during my (sometimes sleepy) bedtime reading!

4. Alexander Pushkin – The Queen of Spades and Other Stories (trans. Rosemary Edmonds; Penguin) (8 Feb)
5. Joanna Briscoe – You (17 Feb)
6. Jennifer E. Smith – The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight (22 Feb)
7. Vladimir Nabokov – Despair (28 Feb)

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Reviews: January classics (Nesbit, Gaskell, Aeschylus)

03 Tuesday Feb 2015

Posted by Samantha Lin in Booktastic

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

era: ancient greece, era: victorian, reading: challenges (2015), reading: fun book reviews, reading: stunning, text type: drama, text type: novel, writer: aeschylus, writer: gaskell

January wasn’t anywhere near as booktastic as I would’ve liked, but the three I’d finished were all very enjoyable. I had decided to start working on the Classics Reading challenge first, and now I’m finding it hard to put down those lovely old books!

1. E. Nesbit – The Story of the Treasure Seekers (3 Jan)
2. Elizabeth Gaskell – Mary Barton (16 Jan)
3. Aeschylus – Prometheus Bound, The Suppliants, Seven Against Thebes, The Persians (trans. Philip Vellacott) (31 Jan)

As always, I’ve included cover images of the version I’d picked up. Some of them were a little difficult to find, so please pardon the poor image quality!

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Reviews: A December Assortment

27 Saturday Dec 2014

Posted by Samantha Lin in Booktastic

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

reading: blahtastic, reading: challenges (2014), reading: far and wide, reading: fun book reviews, text type: novel, text type: philosophy, writer: contemporary

December was a pretty interesting month (as I’m sure it was for you as well), but I managed to read all the books I’d needed to finish both my 2014 reading challenges. I’ll be putting together a wrap-up posts of sorts in the next few days, but for now, here are the books I read this past month:

53. Robert M. Pirsig – Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values (6 Dec)
54. Arnošt Lustig – Lovely Green Eyes (14 Dec)
55. Marcus Pfister – The Rainbow Fish (15 Dec)
56. Barbara Kyle – The Queen’s Captive (25 Dec)
57. Emily Gillmor Murphy – You & I (26 Dec)

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Reviews: November (Xenophobes, Dumas, and more chick lit)

01 Monday Dec 2014

Posted by Samantha Lin in Booktastic

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

reading: blahtastic, reading: challenges (2014), reading: fun book reviews, text type: non-fiction, text type: novel, writer: contemporary, writer: dumas

November was, in short, an insane month on my end. I took the last week off to “catch-up” with “life things” (such as going to Belgium and doing NaNoWriMo and reading), which was when I managed to read these books (few as they are). Anyway, books!

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Reviews: July to October, with quite a bit of YA (and some “classics”)

06 Thursday Nov 2014

Posted by Samantha Lin in Booktastic

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

era: ancient greece, reading: blahtastic, reading: challenges (2014), reading: far and wide, reading: fun book reviews, reading: stunning, text type: novel, text type: philosophy, writer: contemporary, writer: young adult authors

Hihihihiii from Belfast! I know it’s been aaaaaages since I’ve posted, but things have been rather hectic with the move from Sydney back to the UK. In addition, I had quite a few writing projects going on during August (hence no books were read then!), and I’m now back to my PhD, which comes with its own set of eyeball-killing books… Anyway, here’s what I’ve been reading over the last few months–some amazing titles, and some awful ones (unfortunately).

39. Lauren Oliver – Delirium (2 July)
40. Elizabeth Harrower – In Certain Circles (17 July)
41. Alice Munro – Dear Life (31 July)
42. Kim Harrison — Dead Witch Walking (12 September)
43. Natsume Soseki – Kokoro (trans. Meredith McKinney) (14 September)
44. Lois Lowry – Gathering Blue (20 September)
45. Lauren Willig – The Secret History of the Pink Carnation (28 September)
46. Classical Literary Criticism (3 Oct)
47. Cath Crowley – Graffiti Moon (4 Oct)
48. Anne Bishop – Written in Red (10 Oct)
49. Claudia Carroll – A Very Accidental Love Story (25 Oct)

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Reviews: Fall On Your Knees and The Hours

01 Tuesday Jul 2014

Posted by Samantha Lin in Booktastic

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

reading: challenges (2014), reading: fun book reviews, reading: stunning, text type: novel, writer: contemporary

Happy Australian Financial New Year! On this monumental day, we have reviews of the two books I’ve been enjoying over the last two weeks or so!

37. Ann-Marie MacDonald – Fall On Your Knees (26 June)

I don’t remember when I got my copy, but I think I purchased it after hearing about it on Oprah’s Book Club over a decade ago. Anyway, I finally picked it up, and…wow.

37 - Fall On Your Knees

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Reviews: A little semi-mid-June update (with 3 YA books!)

22 Sunday Jun 2014

Posted by Samantha Lin in Booktastic

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

era: ancient greece, reading: challenges (2014), reading: far and wide, reading: fun book reviews, reading: stunning, text type: drama, text type: novel, writer: aeschylus, writer: contemporary, writer: young adult authors

I’ve been sitting on this update for aaaaaages, and, it being a Sunday evening, thought it’ll be a good idea to post this before a new week begins. I’m the lead (read: only) writer for Regency Love, a Regency-set iOS game/interactive novel, and have been working on new content for the app. It’s great fun, but significantly cuts down my reading time!

30. Gabrielle Zevin – The Collected Works of A. J. Fikry (19 May)
32. Amanda Hocking – Wake (1 June)
33. Annie Proulx – The Shipping News (7 June)
34. Jo Riccioni – The Italians at Cleat’s Corner Store (15 June)
35. Lois Lowry – The Giver (18 June)
36. Aeschylus – The Oresteia: Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, The Eumenides (trans. Robert Fagles) (19 June)

(In case you’re wondering, 31 was The Theban Plays, about which I’ve already posted.)


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