I am ashamed to admit that until this past week, I had never read any Mark Twain. How does a person enter their 6th decade of life, born and raised in the United States, and not have read Tom Sawyer or Huckleberry Finn? I have no explanations or excuses, but I thank Badkittyuno, who drew my name in the holiday book exchange, for guarding my shameful confession and sending both books to me. In some respects the two classic novels are like a lot of […]
Is this the real life, is this just fantasy?
Part memoir and part exposé, I feel like this book could be alternately titled Leah Remini: Giver of No Fucks. First off, I have been fascinated by Scientology for years now; more specifically the mindset behind the religion, how it came to be created, and how it has flourished over the years. It is straight up bananas. It’s like a real life science fiction story come to life. I think my first big introduction to it was Paul Haggis’s essay about Scientology after he left […]
Ugh, Teenagers! (No, It’s Not Wuthering Heights)
To be clear, I am phoning it in so much with these two that I am putting two unrelated contemporary romances in one review, borrowing plot summaries from Amazon, and giving myself the personal challenge of reacting to both as succinctly as possible. I thought I had purchased new adult romances, but it turned out I had purchased young adult romances. It’s apparently a very fine line and I suspect down to tone as much as anything else. The Hazards of Skinny Dipping and Ransom […]
Temeraire Meets the Far East
Just in case there was any doubt, dragons are still my JAM. I should clarify that it’s specifically the dragons in Naomi Novik’s world that I am adoring. I’ve never encountered such interesting characters inhabiting and giving personality to such mythic bodies. Sure, lots of great stories have dragons, or dinosaurs, or talking frogs, or whatever. But these dragons are the heart and soul of this corner of the multiverse and I am ON BOARD. Throne of Jade picks up just a few weeks after […]
Run away with us for the summer, let’s go upstate
I spent most of this book being bummed out or annoyed at the protagonist (which hasn’t happened since Atonement YEARS AGO, yaaaaaay), so I was as surprised as anyone when the ending snuck up on me and brought some tears with it, even though SURPRISE EMOTIONS ARE THE WORST. Longbourn focuses on those who were left out of Pride & Prejudice, the servants. Mr. and Mrs. Hill are in charge (well, Mrs. Hill is in charge), and Sarah and Polly, the two housemaids, round out […]
Tryin’ to reach my goal, my power of speech: unimpeachable
Everyone (like…internet everyone, I don’t know anyone in real life who read these books) said I’d love Across a Star-Swept Sea more than For Darkness Shows the Stars and I scoffed (that’s right SCOFFED) because I super loved For Darkness Shows the Stars the first time I read it (because Persuasion) so I just couldn’t imagine. And, in fact, had I not reread For Darkness Shows the Stars before reading Across a Star-Swept Sea, the first novel may have remained my favorite. But Across a […]
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