What We Are Reading Today: ‘The Ministry of Time’

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Updated 23 September 2024
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What We Are Reading Today: ‘The Ministry of Time’

  • In the story he is assigned to a female bridge who starts teaching him about life in the present day and how he can manage to live in the modern world, despite the major lifestyle changes he experiences throughout his day

Author: Kaliane Bradley

Kaliane Bradley’s 2024 novel “The Ministry of Time” invites readers along on an interesting adventure of time travel which also investigates the complexities of human emotion.

Set around a secretive organization that controls time, the story explores themes of destiny, choices, and the consequences of dealing with historic events.

The story follows a secret project designed to rescue some well-known characters from the past and transport them to the future.

In the future each visitor will be assigned a “bridge,” who is an officer to help them adapt to their new era.

One of the visitors from the past is Cmdr. Gore, an explorer who died in a failed Victorian Arctic expedition, according to history books.

In the story he is assigned to a female bridge who starts teaching him about life in the present day and how he can manage to live in the modern world, despite the major lifestyle changes he experiences throughout his day.

One of the strengths of this book is the author’s writing style, which is lyrical yet accessible. It takes the reader to different times and places easily. Each chapter is carefully crafted and contains clear descriptions that allow the reader to live the historic event.

Moreover, the dialogue is written with humor and awareness of the unfolding drama, which in some ways keeps readers engaged, while adding twists to maintain the tension without losing track of any character’s development.

Bradley’s story also explores how a simple change in history can create damage through time, leaving an impact not only on historic events but also on how the events affect personal relationships.

Some readers may find the timeline and character count a little overwhelming, but the author weaves these concerns together to a satisfying, thought-provoking conclusion.

Bradley’s imaginative storytelling and captivating writing skills make this novel a must-read for people who enjoy fiction and are fascinated by the possibilities of time travel.

 


What We Are Reading Today: ‘The Regime Question’

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Updated 29 July 2025
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What We Are Reading Today: ‘The Regime Question’

Author: Amel Ahmed

The regime question—often boiled down to “democracy or autocracy?”—has been central to democratic politics from the start.

This has entailed not only fights over the extent of the franchise but also, crucially, ongoing struggles over core principles of democracy, the “rules of the game.”

In this timely study, Amel Ahmed examines the origins and development of the regime question in Western democracies and considers the implications for regime contention today.

She argues that battles over the regime question were so foundational and so enduring that they constitute a dimension of politics that polarized political opponents across the regime divide.

Ahmed investigates four historical cases in the study of democratic development: the United Kingdom between the Reform Act of 1832 and World War II (1832–1939), Imperial and Weimar–era Germany (1876–1933), the French Third Republic (1870–1939), and the US before World War II (1789–1939). 

 


What We Are Reading Today: Himalaya: A Human History

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Updated 28 July 2025
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What We Are Reading Today: Himalaya: A Human History

  • The book offers a panoramic, character-driven history on the grandest yet most human scale, encompassing geology and genetics, botany and art

Author: Ed Douglas

This is the first major history of the Himalaya: an epic story of peoples, cultures and adventures among the world’s highest mountains.

Spanning millennia, from its earliest inhabitants to the present conflicts over Tibet and Everest, Himalaya is a soaring account of resilience and conquest, discovery and plunder, oppression and enlightenment at the “roof of the world.”

The Himalaya has throughout the ages been home to an astonishing diversity of indigenous and local cultures, and a meeting point and conflict zone for the world’s superpowers, according to a review on goodreads.com.

The book offers a panoramic, character-driven history on the grandest yet most human scale, encompassing geology and genetics, botany and art.

 


Review: ‘Citizen Sleeper 2’ is narrative gaming at its best

Updated 28 July 2025
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Review: ‘Citizen Sleeper 2’ is narrative gaming at its best

DUBAI: The sequel to one of indie gaming’s most beloved narrative gems, Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector, proves that lightning can strike twice. Again featuring an imaginative space setting, the dice-driven roleplaying game thrives on subtle storytelling that feels both intimate and epic.

In Citizen Sleeper 2, you step once more into the worn metal frame of a Sleeper — a synthetic body powered by a digitized human consciousness, stripped of its original memories. While the first game saw you fleeing the corporate entity that created you, the sequel shifts gears. This time, you are a Sleeper who has broken free from the chemical leash of Stabilizer only to find yourself bound by another kind of chain — indentured to ruthless gang boss Laine, trading one form of control for another.

What sets Citizen Sleeper 2 apart is its ability to make every choice matter without bombarding the player with flashy moral prompts. Conversations feel organic, decisions ripple outwards with quiet but devastating impact and the characters are drawn with nuance and compassion.

The gameplay remains as relaxing as it is engrossing. The dice mechanic returns, offering a meditative rhythm of planning and risk, but there is added depth in how resources, relationships and time must be balanced.

As the hours pass, the stakes rise. What begins as a personal quest for survival grows into a meditation on community, identity and the cost of freedom. By the time the credits roll, Citizen Sleeper 2 feels less like a game you played and more like a story you lived.

It is narrative-driven gaming at its best.


What We Are Reading Today: Under the Naga Tail

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Updated 27 July 2025
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What We Are Reading Today: Under the Naga Tail

  • This gripping and inspiring memoir is a testament to the human spirit’s capacity to endure and prevail in spite of great adversity

Author: Mae Bunseng Taing

This book is a courageous and poignant memoir of a young man’s daring escape from Cambodia’s genocidal regime.

Forced from his home by the Khmer Rouge, teenager Mae Taing struggles to endure years of backbreaking work, constant starvation, and ruthless cruelty from his captors — supposed freedom fighters who turned against their own people. Mae risks torture and death to escape into the dark tropical jungles, trekking across a relentless wilderness crawling with soldiers, according to a review on goodreads.com.

This gripping and inspiring memoir is a testament to the human spirit’s capacity to endure and prevail in spite of great adversity.

 


What We Are Reading Today: ‘The Atlas of World Embroidery’

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Updated 27 July 2025
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What We Are Reading Today: ‘The Atlas of World Embroidery’

  • “The Atlas of World Embroidery” examines many distinctive embroidery styles and traditions found across the Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australasia

Author: GILLIAN VOGELSANG-EASTWOOD 

Embroidery is one of the world’s most widely shared forms of creative expression—and one of its most varied and diverse.

It can be found in every region, yet its visual languages, themes, and techniques vary greatly: Some are marked by unique styles and others show influences from neighboring cultures.

“The Atlas of World Embroidery” examines many distinctive embroidery styles and traditions found across the Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australasia.