CBR10BINGO: Cover Art I read through Jenny Lawson’s Furiously Happy in a few days, and honestly, not much of it stuck with me. Most of it was just too stream-of-consciousness and aggressively whimsical for my taste, and I found myself tuning out whole chapters, skimming over the parts that felt empty of meaning other than how self-consciously “crazy” someone can act. These parts rang false, much like those reality show contestants who do nothing but mug for the camera and show off for each other, […]
Texas noir. #CBRBingo
Project: Catch Up On Review Backlog commences. No promises on the quality of my next ten or so reviews. I just want to get them done. (This will probably unfortunately result in subpar reviews for books that deserve much better.) Let’s start with a book I finished over a month ago, Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke. First things first, this book was incredibly well done. It’s a crime book set in Texas, featuring a black Texas Ranger as its protagonist. I knew that going in. […]
Have some actual sourdough ready before you start. #CBRBingo
I read and enjoyed Robin Sloan’s debut novel, Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, when it first came out a couple of years ago. I thought it was a fun concept that didn’t quite hit all the right notes, but was so short and fast to read that I forgave it a lot. This one was also a fast, short read, but it hit me emotionally in a way that Sloan’s first novel didn’t. Some of the storylines and themes didn’t come together perfectly, which is why […]
And in this corner, wearing poisonous fangs…..
My special needs cousin loved the Who Would Win series. It was a tough read at the time, but it got a struggling student/child/reader to want books. (I gladly gave him what books he did not have for a Christmas gift, because, YAY! Books!) I picked up Komodo Dragon vs. King Cobra and wondered what took me so long to find them? (But I think the author picked the wrong winner!) Who Would Win puts two animals together that would not seem like they […]
“This Isn’t a Wonderful Place for Boys to Play and Have Adventures”
Earlier this year I read another one of Christina Henry’s novels, The Mermaid, which is also a reimagining of a classic story or myth (in that case, of PT Barnum’s infamous Feejee Mermaid). While it was a good read though not super captivating, upon looking at some of Henry’s other works, I was drawn in by a series of covers for the UK versions of her various novels to date, which included this one pictured for Lost Boy: The True Story of Captain Hook. And you know […]
Backlog #CBRBingo
According to Goodreads I shelved When Breath Becomes Air on December 6, 2016 so it is a pretty clear choice for the Backlog bingo square. “What makes life meaningful enough to go on living?” Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer at the age of thirty-six just as he was completing his decade’s long training to be a neurosurgeon. He had felt for months he may have cancer but put off getting any scans done until his back pain became unbearable. Paul had […]