I kept seeing this title over and over, in Must-Read lists, in Read-Alike lists, in What-to-Read-Next lists, and in Best-Books-of-____ lists, so I finally broke down and bought it. I admit that I hesitated to purchase it because the reader reviews of the book were mixed. Some called it the best thing since Hunger Games, while others said it was just a lackluster attempt to capitalize on the popularity of the dystopian novel. The final decision was made after a favorable recommendation from a coworker […]
Women Can be Scary Part 2: Shirley Jackson
Shirley Jackson (1916-1965) was an American writer known for novels such as The Haunting of Hill House and short stories such “The Lottery,” which has horrified readers since 1948. To this day I am haunted by the short film version of “The Lottery” (with Ed Begley, Jr.!) which Sr. Mary Cabrini showed in my American Studies course in high school. The 1962 novel We Have Always Lived in the Castle is not exactly scary like Jackson’s other works, but it is disturbing and feels like […]
Who would have thought?
I went to school with Ben Montgomery. We weren’t friends as he was popular and I was a punk rock snob. Through the power of social media, we’ve become friendly almost 20 years later. He’s also become quite the writer, and I would have never have guessed he had it in him. Just like I imagine people would have never guessed a 67-year-old woman could hike 2000+ miles with barely more than the clothes on her back.
The Cluttered and the Dead
Target: David Edison’s The Waking Engine Profile: Weird Fantasy There is point during the creative process when too many ideas can be as bad as too few. I’m personally a very poor judge of where that limit is, but The Waking Engine is firmly on the wrong side of it. Some of the book’s core concepts are interesting and fresh, but they are buried under layers of borrowed imagery, and symbolism stolen from across the width and breadth of fantasy and science fiction. The only thing I took […]
This book is unmissable
How do you solve a mystery when you can’t remember the clues? I mentioned in an earlier review that I do love me an unconventional detective and thus I was really looking forward to reading this book. And, having been lucky enough to score and advance copy, I’ve just finished it and it didn’t disappoint. Maud is old. Maud is forgetful. She makes cups of tea and doesn’t drink them, makes toast and sets fire to the kitchen. But Maud is sure of one thing. […]
Manmohan Singh: The man who rode the tiger
Twenty-fourth book reviewed as part of the 130 Challenge. I loved this book! Of course, a lot of people might want to disagree; calling this book biased, controversial, flagrant, irrelevant, pompous, simplistic or even plain stupid. Yet, they will have to agree that this is a charming tale about a reticent man. A man who accidentally became the leader of the world’s largest democracy and somehow proved himself worthy of that accident. And we would never be able to know about his secret life within […]
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