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review: rooftops of tehran

book info: on sale: now copy from: public library pages: 348 review written: 21.12.17 originally published: 2009 edition read: Penguin NAL 2009 title: Rooftops of Tehran author: Mahbod Seraji In a middle-class neighborhood of Iran's sprawling capital city, 17-year-old Pasha Shahed spends the summer of 1973 on his rooftop with his best friend Ahmed, joking around one minute and asking burning questions about life the next. He also hides a secret love for his beautiful neighbor Zari, who has been betrothed since birth to another man. But the bliss of Pasha and Zari's stolen time together is shattered when Pasha unwittingly acts as a beacon for the Shah's secret police. The violent consequences awaken him to the reality of living under a powerful despot, and lead Zari to make a shocking choice... my thoughts: This book was first published in 2009 and I remember adding it to my list around that time but never actually reading it since I preferred checking out library books to ...

The Secret

updates + happy december!

HI EVERYONE! I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH! THANK YOU FOR NOT UNFOLLOWING ME IN MY ABSENCE!

Updates:
  I've missed you all so much, honestly. It's always on the back of my mind that I want to talk to my book blogger friends, that I want to take part in discussions and browse reviews, but I have made the time to do it, balancing between sleep, eating, chores and school. Therefore, I'm proud to declare: I'm BACK! Sadly, two things have happened since I left early November:
how I feel inside during this stressful time, haha

  1. I dropped out of NaNoWriMo (for reasons explained here)
  2. I'm getting a massive amount of homework, and a resolve to study absolutely
 The end of first semester is dawning, which means I have to bring up my straight Bs and 2 Cs in the matter of, oh yeah: 2 WEEKS! And then a full week of final exams. At the start of this week, I thought "Yeah, 3 weeks is plently" but now that it's down to two weeks, I'm thinking, "Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit". I've got several high B's (87) that I have to bring up 3 points! in TWO WEEKS! I HAVE TO GET SOME A's!!!

 So I'm in a mode of constant, agitated, panicked state of mind that evolves around quizzes, tests and homework, all of which I must cleave through with high marks. As of now, I have been working since 1 pm (with like, half hour sleeping breaks, because I think my mind gets tired after more than an hour and a half of constant study) and I have this horrid Biology homework. My teacher hasn't explained punnett squares at all, and I only know how to do the 4 box one, not the 8 boxes or the 16 boxes and I've got two thick packets of problems to finish and....I'm just complaining, aren't I?

Sorry about that :) My point is that I will not be reviewing until the week of December 24th, when I have break and will get around to reading. I haven't been reviewing at all for the past few months: I'm a terrible book blogger!

Literature Class: (in which I claim bragging rights)
It will please you, however, that I am reading snippets of The Iliad in class and I am nailing it. I've already gleaned through it once long ago, forgot a bit, then re-watched the film Troy (2004) and am typing up an entire study guide. I think I've earned the reputation of teacher's pet in my Literature class due to how much I overacheive and therefore seem to know everything. Whenever the class has to write essays, and we have several days to do this, many students come up to me to peer edit their papers. My friend Hanna and I are the go-to's and one day, I literally had written two sentences for one whole 50 minute period because I had been editing so many papers along with Hanna, who hadn't even started her quota for the day. We've managed to become a editing duo that works like this:
(photo credit) how I felt like
  • I'm writing, so when someone comes up, Hanna takes on the editing
  • When I declare that Hanna needs to work, I take on the editing 
  • When we're both at a point when we don't know what to do anymore, and someone asks us to read their paper, we say, quite literally, "Let's edit the shit out of this paper" . The paper is between us, as we write in different colours and consult each other on sections and when we're done, the paper is completely marked up.
  • When we don't edit, we consult. Someone asks "Is this good?" or "Does this part make sense?". A hilarious thing happened when this jock (let's call him Jon) who keeps coming to us, pulled up a chair across from us. The table Hanna and I sit at is one of those black science tables where two people sit at. The chair remained there, and four students came up afterwards, sat in the chair as we faced them and offered advise.
Hanna and I sit up front, so while some students ask our teacher, others come to us. One girl, from the back of the classroom, giggled as she said, "Hey..I came to you guys because the people around me aren't really good at it (peer editing). Could you help?". At that moment, I realised my position in the classroom as a somewhat teacher's pet. I have dozens of stories to tell about this Literature class of mine, but I think I've written enough :D

December
(photo credit) holiday jumpers are becoming a trend
at my high-class, "elite" school.
Happy December everyone!
I love the winter months! The lovely cold which leaves me feet and hands blue, the delicious cool-ness and the hot tea and coffee and the inspiring gloomy atmosphere...ahh, perfect. This is the holiday season! I prefer to call my week and a half long break "Holiday break" while others call it Christmas Break. I understand that's the reason why I have that week off, but I don't celebrate Christmas so to me, it's Winter Holidays! WOOHOO!

 Blogging wise, I can't wait to start reading about holiday gifts, the SECRET SANTA thing I hope someone will host for book bloggers, and all the other holiday cheer! 

 And me? Well, I'll be salvaging the last bits of true, deep winter by staying at home wrapped in blankets, constantly boiling tea and writing and reading. I think it'll be a productive holiday break.

 Of course, this whole post has probably gotten you thinking that I won't be here for another two/two and half weeks, right? Well you are correct, friend. The only reason I have written this post is because I just realised now, thanks to my brother, that I have to redo a great load of the Bio homework I had spent about twenty minutes-half an hour working on and nearly died comprehending this fact. 

 SO until the end of finals my blogger family.
 -Kirthi
(PS: I've been craving Starbucks frappuccinos, which is odd considering its a cold, iced drink and not something warm, despite the season)


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