The Patient Poppy

  • I was alive. Or was I?

    Excerpt from Confessions by Kanae Minato This is an excerpt from the book Confessions by Kanae Minato, translated from the Japanese by Stephen Snyder. But I was awake, and I was in my room, even if it had been trashed somehow, and I was still breathing. I could still move my arms and legs. I…

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  • The word is like

    This is a quote from the book Bunny by Mona Awad. Have you read this book? I’d love to hear your thoughts in a comment below! If you’re interested, you can read an excerpt from the book here. Bunny – Summary We were just these innocent girls in the night trying to make something beautiful.…

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  • Five books to help you re-think productivity

    When I think of September, I often think of starting a fresh school year. In honour of starting fresh or doubling down on your goals for the last four months of the year, I want to share some productivity or self-help type books that might help you in your endeavours. Productivity is a big topic…

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  • The Cave

    Excerpt from Bunny by Mona Awad This is an excerpt from the book Bunny by Mona Awad. Workshop is held in what is called the Cave, but is really just a black-box theater in the basement of the Narrative Arts Center. No visible doors, no windows, and of course, no clocks. Only dark, damp walls…

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  • Everything is as fleeting

    This is a quote from the book The Dark Forest by Liu Cixin, translated from the Chinese by Joel Martinsen. The Dark Forest is the second book in the trilogy titled Remembrance of Earth’s Past, or commonly known as the The Three-Body Problem series. I should note that I do not support this author, due…

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  • Five books to read when starting a business

    When I think of September, I often think of starting a fresh school year. In honour of starting fresh or doubling down on your goals for the last four months of the year, I want to share some productivity or self-help type books that might help you in your endeavours. For this week, I wanted…

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  • It’s worse than I imagined

    Excerpt from The Dark Forest by Liu Cixin This is an excerpt from the book The Dark Forest by Liu Cixin, translated from the Chinese by Joel Martinsen. The Dark Forest is the second book in the trilogy titled Remembrance of Earth’s Past, or commonly known as the The Three-Body Problem series. I should note…

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  • His mistake

    This is a quote from the book Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. Have you read this book? I’d love to hear your thoughts in a comment below! If you’re interested, you can read an excerpt from the book here and here. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow – Summary In this exhilarating novel…

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  • Five books from around Asia published by Epigram Books

    Last month was all about women in translation, and I highlighted three different independent book publishers that focus on publishing works in translation. In a similar vein, I wanted to highlight Epigram Books, an independent publisher based in Singapore. However, since English is one of Singapore’s official languages, much of what they publish is originally…

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  • By living in the future

    Excerpt from Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin This is an excerpt from the book Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. Ichigo, though it was not yet called Ichigo, was supposed to be easy. Something that Sam and Sadie could accomplish during the summer between their junior and senior years. Although…

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