Afterlift by Chip Zdarsky
OMG what was Afterlift? It was part … I do not know, and I do not know. Chip Zdarsky, Jason Loo, Pairs Alleyne, and Aditya Bidikar put together a graphic novel that takes you on a ride. There is everything in heaven, hell, and earth on the pages. We have our main character, an “uber driver” to Hell. Literally. Only she does not realize that at first. No, she only realizes this after she learns that one of her passengers is dead, The Hord of […]
Full Throttle by Joe Hill
Full Throttle is a collection of 13 (heh) short stories penned or co-authored by Stephen King’s spawn, who goes by ‘Joe Hill’ in an admiral attempt not to trade of his father (and mother’s) name. The stories within range from disappointing, to confusing, to middling, to verging on brilliant. It’s an uneven achievement and overall I found it disappointing. The quality of each story was so uneven, I’ve tackled a very brief review of each below… Full Throttle Hill’s answer to a modern retelling of […]
The Return by Rachel Harrison
The return is Rachel Harrison’s debut novel which I listened to on audiobook from my library. It is the story of four old college friends; Molly, Mae, Elise and Julie. Not long after getting married, Julie disappears without a trace during a hike and is eventually presumed dead. Elise, our narrator and the friend who is closest to Julie, does not believe she is dead. She is proven right when, two years after her disappearance, Julie appears back home with no apparent memory of her […]
NOS4A2 by Joe Hill
NOS4A2 by Joe Hill (2013) is a horror novel that bears similarity to some of Stephen King’s work, which is probably why it ended up on my to-read list, along with The Passage by Justin Cronin (2010). The antagonist of NOS4A2, Charles Manx, is reminiscent of Pennywise the Clown of King’s IT: both vampirically stay young by kidnapping and feeding upon kids, and both warp happiness into horror, Pennywise with his clown suit and Manx with the trappings of Christmas. His lair, for lack of […]
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
Do not start this book if you are looking for a light, fun read. Do not start this book if all you want to do while reading is scan a page and flip the page. Do not start this book if you are uncomfortable with feelings of unexplainable dread. House of Leaves is not an easy read. It took me a full two weeks to finish reading. Not only are there footnotes and footnotes that have footnotes, but the way the words are typed on […]
The Turn of The Screw by Henry James
Full disclosure: I was supposed to have read Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw for my AP Language class about 15 years ago, but like many books assigned to me, I forewent the reading and instead drew my knowledge heavily from my studious best friend and Spark Notes. That being said, I am currently quarantined in my parents’ house where a stack of my high school “faux reads” gather dust in the basement. I decided to tackle my abandoned scholastic literary foes — which […]
