March is a month of adventure. 

The sun's out again, spring break is here, and the world is ready to be explored! 

Take a look of this new books for this month!

 

The Passenger by Lisa Lutz (March 1; Simon & Schuster)

 

 "Slippery" is the best adjective to describe the main character of this book — a woman who sheds her identity again and again. As you follow her across the country, in and out of names and hotel rooms, you'll be questioning her motives every step of the way. Why would she flee after her husband's death, when she had nothing to do with it? Who is the mysterious voice she calls to get a new name? And what is she really running from? Thrilling and addictive, this is the thriller you've been longing for.

What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours by Helen Oyeyemi (March 8; Riverhead Books)

 

 Helen Oyeyemi is a literary genius, and it shows in this fantastic collection of short stories. Glowing with imagination, each piece feels like you're stepping into an entirely new universe. With characters that will welcome you, push you, and surprise you, Oyeyemi's writing takes you past your expectations. As locks and keys weave their way throughout these stories, you'll find yourself opening up in new ways.

An Unrestored Woman by Shobha Rao (March 15; Flatiron Books)

This collection of stories is centered on the 1947 division of India and Pakistan, and the mass displacement of families that resulted because of it. Each piece tells its own unique story, ranging from India, Pakistan, the United States, Italy, and England. Rao delivers a remarkable and empathetic exploration of a historical moment's powerful ability to resound across generations.

 

Hold Still by Lynn Steger Strong (March 21; W.W. Norton)

 

The mother-daughter relationship in this debut novel will tie your heart in all kinds of knots. When a mother's good intentions go catastrophically wrong, she and her daughter must find a way to mend their fractured relationship. Pushed forward by its amazingly crafted characters, you're going to hold on tightly to Hold Still. 

 

The Birds of Opulence by Crystal Wilkinson (March 7; University of Kentucky Press)

 

From the award-winning author of Blackberries, Blackberries and Water Street, this sweeping novel will take your breath away. Centered on several generations of women who live in a black Southern township called Opulence, this book is set apart by the strength of its characters and its lyrical style. From the reputable Goode-Brown family's struggle to overcome dark secrets to single mother Francine Clark's journey to raise her daughter, this novel is fueled by relationships intense and complex.

 

source: http://www.bustle.com/articles/140527-15-of-the-best-books-of-march-2016-that-will-make-your-literary-kite-soar

 

-TECHNICAL LIBRARIAN-

Hot for this MONTH! Popular Book in Librarything.com! #RankNo.1

Title: My Brilliant Friend (Goodreads)
Author: Elena Ferrante
Translator: Ann Goldstein
Series: The Neapolitan Novels #1
Published: Text, 2013
Pages: 331
Genres: Historical Fiction
My Copy: Paperback

Buy: Amazon, Book Depository, Kindle (or visit your local Indie bookstore)
 

Elena Ferrante has become a literary sensation lately, with the four-part Neapolitan series. These books are a bildungsroman that explores the lives of friends Elena and Lila. My Brilliant Friend follows their childhoods and teenage years, living in Naples during the 1950s. There are speculations that this series is autobiographical but Elena Ferrante is so secretive and does not do interviews, so no one can know for sure.

Naples was the first Italian city to rise up against the Nazi occupation, in fact when American troops landed they found that the city was already liberated. After the war, while Italy was trying to rebuild and recover, a majority of the focus remained in Rome and this southern city did not much get more attention. The Italian Social Movement and neo-fascist movements across Italy caused plenty of political tension.

Having said that, for Elena and Lila, their entire world consisted of the few blocks they grew up in. Not knowing the devastation running across Italy, these two friends focused on their own problems, both having a very tough life with plenty of dark moments seeping into this novel. Do not expect a normal coming of age story, these two brilliant friends have to live through devastating moments and conditions, making this novel not for the faint of heart.

Source; 

http://www.knowledgelost.org/book-reviews/genre/historical-fiction/my-brilliant-friend-by-elena-ferrante/

Quote of the Day!

If you are new in making reading goals, think of these books to read at least each twice a month. Take your time in reading! :)

The Last Time We Say Goodbye by Cynthia Hand

Hand is a NY Times bestselling author whose story of love, loss and mystery looks to be a book we’re all going to want to read this year. Popular for her young adult books, this novel appears to be breaking her out of that demographic. 

Dark Places, by Gillian Flynn

Gillian Flynn is no stranger to being recognized in the must-read world. Her hit Gone Girl was all over the place last year. Pick up a copy of Dark Places before the movie comes out this year.

The Girl on the Train, by Paula Hawkins

A mystery that has been described as a psychological thriller, The Girl on the Train, looks like a must-read for the coming year. Hawkins’ debut novel seems like it will be the kind of book that keeps you up at night until you finish it.

There are dozen good books you can add to your Good reads to-read shelves for the coming year. Hope you can find it in different bookstore near your place. #HappyReading

Technical Librarian at your Service!

TIPS IN READING BIBLE!

Read your Bible, read it more than once. It’s more fun that way, and way more worthwhile. #BibleReadingList

1. Start with this map.

The Bible is about a place — one eventually called Israel, but also its surrounding regions; later, the story spreads into parts of the Roman Empire. 

All of the stories in the Bible are about people who lived in those particular places long, long ago. Reading their stories without knowing something about their location is like watching a movie with your screen totally dimmed.

2. Don’t read from start to finish — at least not right away.

I mean, you can do that if you want. But you might fail to get through many of the 66 “books” that make up the whole Bible. The first two books, Genesis and Exodus, can be engrossing, but then the story grinds down for long stretches. So give yourself permission to hop around, and even to start with the highlights. 

3. Read the best stories first.

The Bible has some greatest hits. In just a few minutes, you can read some quick stories that are among the most famous and influential pieces of writing ever. And you’ll soon see why, because these tales tend to knock around in your head long after you’ve read them.

These are some stories in the Bible, each of which takes between one and five minutes to read: Jesus and the woman caught in adultery (John 8:1-11, which is just beautiful); Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-8, which might blow your mind if you’ve never read it); the first creation story (Genesis 1-2:3, which is best read slowly and out loud); the Binding of Isaac (Genesis 22:1-14, which is not for the faint of heart); and the entire, but very brief,Book of Jonah (which is like a dark comedy).

4. Read a re-ordered Bible.

When you’re ready for longer stretches, try The Books of the Bible, a version that tries to correct for some odd choices made long ago. The order of books in most Bibles doesn’t always make sense chronologically, narrative, or in terms of authorship. This version tries to present the Bible as a more coherent reading experience.

It also does away with those distracting chapters and verses, which have transformed the Bible into a long list of standalone verses that get put to all sorts of misleading uses.

5. If you have to read just one book, read Genesis.

You can spend a lifetime thinking about Genesis, and people do. It’s my favorite book in the Bible in part because it shows up everywhere, all the time — in controversies about science and education, pressing social and political issues, and all sorts ofgreat (or not so great) movies, music, and novels.

Genesis permeates the world, and the more you familiarize yourself with it, the more interesting and layered a place the world becomes.

6. But don’t just read one book. At least read theGospel of Luke, too.

Or one of the other gospels — Matthew, Mark, or John. Each of these accounts of Jesus’ life and teaching is distinct, which is why all four are included. I think Luke has the best opening story — it’s the Christmas story, basically, but with an awesome preface — and it also folds really neatly into Acts of the Apostles, which was written by the same author, which is pretty dramatic, and which will get you reading at least three Bible books. So there.

7. Don’t go it alone.

The Bible isn’t a novel, and it isn’t an inspirational book or a history book or any other thing you’d normally put into the category “book.” It wasn’t made with the goal of getting you curled up in a chair, coffee in hand — and actually, individual Bible reading is a pretty modern phenomenon. This collection of writing is meant to be shared, debated, and wrestled over with others.

So try to find somebody — ideally, a friend or few friends, a church or synagogue group, or perhaps an online community. But find a partner for the journey.

8. Read out loud.

For centuries, the Bible was almost always an auditory experience, and it remains a text that’s better heard than read silently. Much of it is more like music or poetry than, say, the newspaper. Hearing it read, even if you’re the one reading it, makes for a different, and better, experience of the Bible.

9. Compare the Jewish Bible (TaNaKh) to the Christian Bible (Old and New Testaments).

Christians call everything before the gospels the Old Testament, but for Jews those books are the whole Bible. Take a look at a Jewish Bible (aka “Hebrew Bible”) and you’ll see that the books are ordered differently — Christians reset the order to make the overall story point more naturally toward Jesus. Both versions have an internal logic, and it’s worth comparing one to the other.

The Bible is also organized differently for Catholics and Orthodox Christians. Here’s a pretty handy comparison chart.

10. Real reading means re-reading.

Those four stories I listed in #3 will become more interesting with practice. The tenth time you read them, you may notice things that did not occur to you the first nine times. This is truer still if you spend some time learning about the Bible and its historical and theological background and legacies — Kristin Swenson’s Bible Babel: Making Sense of the Most Talked About Book of All Time is one nice place to start — and then come back to the text for more.

link: http://www.faithstreet.com/onfaith/2015/01/06/10-tips-for-reading-the-bible-for-the-first-time/35659