
Ancestral Findings (Genealogy Gold)
Podcast
Genealogy is the most wonderful of pastimes. I love it, and you should, too. There are endless...

Jet City Rewind: Aviation History of Seattle and the Pacific Northwest
Book
From the dawn of human flight to today, Seattle has hosted flying history from dirigibles and fabric...

The Gourmands’ Way: Six Americans in Paris and the Birth of a New Gastronomy
Book
“In The Gourmands’ Way, Justin Spring brilliantly recounts the French odyssey of six remarkable...
Biography food

Renegades
Book
From #1 New York Times-bestselling author Marissa Meyer, comes a high-stakes world of adventure,...
Fantasy Young Adult

Sean Farrell (9 KP) rated All the Summer Girls in Books
Mar 15, 2018

Quilter's World
Lifestyle and Magazines & Newspapers
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30-DAY RISK-FREE TRIAL - Download and read the current issue for FREE for 30 days. Cancel within...

ClareR (5879 KP) rated The Testaments (The Handmaid's Tale #2) in Books
Sep 22, 2019 (Updated Sep 23, 2019)
The Testaments is written from three different perspectives. I was delighted to see the return of Aunt Lydia - and she seems to have hit her stride. She’s much more sure of herself here, even though she is still having to watch her back. Gilead may be ultra-religious, but that doesn’t stop the literal back-stabbing. Aunt Lydia shows just how high the poison has spread. We see more than the subservient Aunt that she seems to be in front of The Eyes, and her backstory is fascinating.
Then there is Agnes, a child brought up in Gilead in a high profile family. We see how girls are ‘educated’ in a world where women and girls aren’t allowed to read and write. Agnes is contrasted with Daisy, a teenaged girl living in Canada, who was smuggled out of Gilead by her mother as a baby. There are obviously some pretty big differences. I don’t actually want to say too much, because I hate having my own reading experience ruined.
I loved this book. I really liked that by the end we couldn’t actually be sure whether Aunt Lydia’s records were genuine or fabricated. The symposium at the end (just as there was at the end of The Handmaid’s Tale) casts doubt on the authenticity of the papers that were found. Just like any written records found in this situation, historians have to be open minded about who could have written them. So we’re left wondering at the end whether what we’ve just read is actually what happened.
So does this deserve to be on the Booker Prize 2019 shortlist? Yes, I think it does. I believe it’s well written, I finished feeling thoroughly entertained and emotionally exhausted! I liked the open end too. Whether Atwood does anything with this open ending is up to her really, isn’t it. But I won’t be disappointed if she decides to leave the world of Gilead here. This book is a great way to end the story.

Popular Mechanics SA
Lifestyle and Magazines & Newspapers
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Be the first to know how things work, read about the latest launches and what makes them drive the...

The Terrible Business of Salmon & Dusk
Podcast
In this podiobook: Part film noir detective story, part fantasy adventure, part East End gangster...

Forbes Indonesia
Business and Magazines & Newspapers
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Forbes Indonesia is a world-class business magazine of uncompromising quality and scope, providing...