The Radish

               For this blog post, I will be reviewing the book Relativity: The Special and General Theory  by none other than Albert Einstein. This is different from the previous books I have reviewed, as they have all been science fiction but fiction nevertheless. This is a nonfiction book detailing the special and general theory of relativity, the most accurate descriptions of the workings of space, time and gravitation that we have today. Developed by Einstein himself in the early twentieth century, the theories are summarized in this book translated from German by Robert W. Lawson. This book is enjoyable due to many reasons, one of which are its clear methodical approach which allows the reader to fully comprehend the content.               Einstein uses a rigorous approach in this book, starting off with the basics of geometry and coordinate systems. He then introduces the principles of class...

“The one thing she still had was the freedom to follow the narrative that suited her best.” Kathryn Phillips 26-year-old black babysitter Emira Tucker’s life is thrown into a confusing spiral when a police officer wrongly accuses her of kidnapping the white child she’s looking after. The child’s mother is Alix Chamberlain, a feminist author who reluctantly moved away from the hustle of New York to start a family with her news reporter husband, Peter. Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid tackles themes of racism, classism, and privilege as it follows the complicated lives of the two women and their relationship with each other. The thing that makes this book so good, in my opinion, is the format it’s written in and how that enhances the message. Specifically the fact that each chapter alternates between Emira and Alix’s perspective. I have seen this in a lot of books, but I think it’s especially powerful in Such a Fun Age because it not only gives you information about the characters, but...

  I believe everyone should read the "Time Machine," not because of any narrative reasons (even though it was a decent book) but because it was one of the first Science Fiction books to ever be written. Being written in the 1800's it was extremely interesting to see where he though the future would lead, and while the the "Time Machine" takes place several hundred years in the future even now; I can confidently say it won't be accurate. We only know the main character by the name The Time Traveler. He builds a time machine in his workshop, using all sorts of Victorian era materials like ivory and gems. After a lengthy talk trying to convince his friends that he really did create a time machine. He travels to the year 2800 and finds no humans as we recognize them. Instead he finds a bunch of short and dumb people with no one doing any work in sight.  The structure of the time machine is surprisingly easy to understand for a book as old as it is, and with it b...

Aya Surheyao " Nishat can be anything she wants to be, except herself " (Jaigirdar 204)   In 2021 I’m making an effort to branch out from sci-fi/fantasy books and read more realistic fiction. Full of love, laughter, and tears, The Henna Wars does not disappoint. This novel, by Adiba Jaigirdar, tells the story of a Bangladeshi teenager who moved to Ireland with her family when she was young. At home, Nishat grapples with her new family dynamic when she comes out to her parents. At school, she’s used to the occasional rumors flying around about her culture and her parent’s Bengali restaurant. She’s shocked when in a school business competition, two of her classmates (including the starter of the rumors) decide to start selling henna designs, just like her. Furious, Nishat becomes determined to beat them. Throughout the story, Nishat displays great strength and persistence. She refuses to break down after her mother essentially gives her ultimatum saying, “Your Abbu and I love v...

     Although I am going to continue blogging about fairy tales for the time being this will not be a continuation of the Grimms' Fairy Tales blog. The stories do come from about the same time from an author just a country away from the Brother's Grimm. This blog will of course be about Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales . Hans Christian Andersen is of course best known for writing The Little Mermaid and The Ugly Duckling . And although The Ugly Duckling is in this book, unless it was renamed The Little Mermaid is sadly not. Other than The Ugly Duckling the book includes 28 other stories The specific fairy tale the blog will be about this time around is The Garden of Paradise . It is a rather strange story about a prince's search for the namesake garden. So without delay let us start the synopsis.     The story begins with an explanation by the narrator of the prince's grandmother explaining the Garden of Paradise to him. The Prince is utterly absorbed b...

                         The Andromeda Evolution  is the second part of the book I did my last blog post on, The Andromeda Strain  by Michael Crichton .  It is set several generations after the original book, and discusses a potential re-emergence of the mysterious hexagonal shaped microorganisms that nearly caused a global crisis in the previous book (Disclaimer: as this book is the second part in one that I've already done a post on, so it will contain spoilers). Like its predecessor, this book hooks the reader on the first page and makes it difficult to put the book down. Before finding this book, I didn't think it would be possible to create one better than its prequel. I haven't finished the book yet, but from what I've read it seems like this book will not disappoint. It is exciting and enjoyable to read for many of the same reasons as The Andromeda Strain. Michael Crichton introduced ma...

  Kathryn Phillips “Everything was beautiful, and nothing hurt.” Seventeen-year-old Alice Prosepine and her mother, Ella, have been living on the road their entire lives in an attempt to escape the terrible luck that seems to follow them around wherever they go. But when Alice receives a letter telling her that Alice’s estranged grandmother Althea Prosepine, the author of a famous cult-classic collection of dark fantasy stories called The Hinterland has died alone on her estate, Alice learns how bad her luck can get. After her mother mysteriously disappears, leaving behind nothing but an excerpt from The Hinterland , Alice must reluctantly team up with an Althea Prosepine superfan, Ellery Finch, and travel to her grandmother’s estate to find Ella. The two soon realize that Althea’s fairy tales might be more fact than fantasy. The main reason I loved The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert was the characters. They’re extremely well-written, with realistic aspirations, personalities, ...