Weekly Update 1

This week I read 2 books and DNF'd 1.

I started out reading Cries Unheard by Gitta Sereny. This is a non-fictional account of a child murderer who when she was only 11, killed two toddlers. The premise was to understand the crime and the motivations for killing two children she barely knew. Unfortunately, she really doesn't focus on the reasons why and strangely seems to be sympathetic to the killer. Her writing is also incredibly redundant and inexplicably it was boring! I decided to quit around 43% and have returned it to the library.

The next book I finished was A Winter's Promise by Christelle Dabos and translated by Hildegarde Serle. This is a wildly popular children's quartet in France and has recently had the first book translated into Engilsh. The story is about a 17 year old girl named Ophelia who has two magical talents. The first is being able to travel through mirrors and the other is reading objects. She finds out she is engaged to a man from a different land (highly unusual) and travels with him to his land called Pole. There she finds out more about her fiancee and the very different ways of this land. It is scheming and political. I enjoyed it very much and am eagerly awaiting the translation of the next book. I gave it 4 stars.

Then I read One Hundred Nights of Hero by Isabel Greenberg. This is a beautiful graphic novel about two lovers named Hero and Cherry.  A man comes to rape Cherry as a means to win a bet with her husband. Hero (the lady's maid/lover) weaves beautiful stories to enchant the man so that he continues to put off "seducing" Cherry. The stories were lovely, the feminism was inspiring, and the artwork was beautiful. I loved this book and will seek out other works by Isabel Greenberg. 5 stars!