Monthly Wrap Up

New Year, new books, guys. Here goes. Welcome. 1. CLASSIC AND MAGICAL REALISM: Cien Años de Soledad by Gabriel García Márquez Now I’m going to start this review saying that I was fortunate enough during college to meet Gabriel García Márquez (GGM). He visited my school campus in 2004 and I had the privilege to listen to a Q&A session about A Hundred Years of Solitude (Cien Años de Soledad)  with other students of the Bachelor program I was in. I also tried to get his autograph. Unfortunately, he stopped signing books before it was my turn, and I couldn’t….

Hi everyone. Welcome back to Bibliophilia Book Reviews. Here is what I thought about all the books I read in December 2024. I apologize for posting this so late into January but, once again, life got in the way. I am also still planning on posting my End of the Year Wrap Up soon. 1. FICTION AND MAGICAL REALISM: The Tiger’s Wife by Téa Obreht The epitome of magical realism in modern literature is A Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez. But García Márquez did not invent magical realism. Yes, he is often credited as the father of…

Hi everyone. Welcome back to Bibliophilia Book Reviews. I apologize for posting this so late into December, but here it is. In November, I read four books and here are my thoughts on all of them. I will also be posting my End of the Year Wrap Up soon. 1. SCIENCE AND PREHISTORY: A Pocket History of Human Evolution by Silvana Condemi and François Savatier This is indeed a pocket history of human evolution. It is 154 pages long and it is roughly the size of a Paperwhite Kindle e-reader, so it is both short and small and can effectively…

Hi everyone. Welcome back to Bibliophilia Book Reviews. This month I finished 3 books. Here is what I think about them:  1. NONFICTION AND HISTORY: The Coming Of The Third Reich by Richard J. Evans This is the first book of The History Of The Third Reich trilogy by Richard J. Evans, and it describes the events both in world and German history that led to the Nazis assuming power in 1933. These include, for example, the economic disaster of hyperinflation in Germany after WWI, the antagonism of Germany’s population towards the Weimar Republic, the country’s new democratic government instituted…

Hi everyone. Welcome back to Bibliophilia Book Reviews. This month I finished 7 books. Here are my thoughts on all of them:  1. NONFICTION AND HISTORY: The Nuremberg Trial by Ann Tusa and John Tusa I mentioned this book last month and it is the most in-depth account of the Nuremberg Trial out there that I could find. It was published in 1984 and it is one that should still be read on the topic. The Nuremberg Trial tried 22 members of the defeated Third Reich in 1946. Among these were Martin Bormann, one of the closest men to Hitler…

Hi everyone. Welcome back to Bibliophilia Book Reviews. I have a confession to make. This month I didn’t finish any books. I did, however, pick up several, and I will talk here about what I am currently reading or why I didn’t finish some of those books. 1. NONFICTION AND MILITARY HISTORY: Inferno: The World at War, 1939-1945 This is the book I was reading when I posted by July Wrap Up last month, but ultimately decided to put it down for now. The reason: It is a one-volume account of World War II and it goes into every significant…

Hi everyone. Welcome back to Bibliophilia Book Reviews. Today, I’m doing my July Wrap Up. This month was also rather slow, and I only finished three books, just like in June. I did, however, finish the longest book I’ve read this year thus far and that, I think, is a big achievement. Nonetheless, it feels like I haven’t finished a book in a very long time. Here are my thoughts on all three of them: 1. CLASSIC AND HISTORICAL FICTION: The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu is one of those books that…

Hi everyone. Welcome back to Bibliophilia Book Reviews. Today, I’m doing my June Wrap Up. This month was rather slow compared to the previous two; I only finished three books. Here are my thoughts on all of them: 1. NONFICTION AND MYTHOLOGY: Troy by Stephen Fry Stephen Fry’s Great Mythology series is a retelling of Greek myths similar to Charlotte Higgins’ Greek Myths: A New Retelling, Edith Hamilton’s Mythology, Robert Graves’ The Greek Myths and Bulfinch’s Mythology by Thomas Bulfinch. Troy is the third book in this series (after Mythos and Heroes), and it focuses on the Trojan War. Some…

Hi everyone. Welcome back to Bibliophilia Book Reviews. Today, I’m doing my May Wrap Up. This month I finished 9 books, quite a lot more than I was expecting honestly. And I read more romance too. Shocking, I know. Here are my thoughts on these books. 1. FANTASY AND MYSTERY: Age of Assassins by R.J. Barker This is the first book of The Wounded Kingdom trilogy and the second book I pick up by this author. In fact, it doesn’t seem like this book and The Bone Ships, also by R.J. Barker, were written by the same person at all….

Hi everyone. Welcome back to Bibliophilia Book Reviews. Today, I’m doing my April Wrap Up and this month I finished 8 books and DNF’d 2. Here are my thoughts on all of them. Please bear with me, it’s a bit of a long one.   1. CLASSIC AND MAGIC REALISM: The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov I picked this book up for one of my book clubs, and I admit I had never heard of it before. It is also not a book that I would typically associate with Russian literature because it is so unlike Crime and Punishment…