Getting through Drown, a collection of short stories by Junot Diaz, took me close to a month. This delay was due to my very bad, no-good month of January, which included some emotional fall-out after the inauguration and the first two weeks of this administration. I can thus say that the stories in the book can be divided like so: Read pre-Trump vs. read post-Trump. Obviously this wasn’t Diaz’s intent – after all, it was published in 1996 – but personally, for me, the short stories […]
Half a King – Abercrombie with half the gore
Joe Abercrombie is the author of the First Law Trilogy. A fairly brutal series that is more graphic than most standard fantasy, I recall wincing at times while reading the series. While I thoroughly enjoyed the First Law books, I have never gotten around to the follow up books in the world setting. In 2014 “Half a King” came out and was featured at my favorite bookstore as the speculative fiction pick of the month. I seem to recall hearing that he had written this […]
First book of the year
This book is about wholesome American sweetheart tennis player turned warrior princess turned just plain herself Charlie Silver. After a serious injury sidelined her for a few months, Charlie decided that being seeded somewhere in the double digits was not enough. She wanted her grandslam win and would do anything to get it. Including hiring an asshole coach, revamping her image ang disappointing her Dad. So Charlie started living the glamorous life of a top seeded tennis player after her rebranding as a Warrior Princess. […]
Well, the cover’s cool, but as they say…
Why do people like this book? Am I missing something? I get it. Bad writing and an improbable plot that could also operate as a pasta strainer have united like a defective pair of power twins before to create cult successes (I’m looking at you Sharknado). And really, there is a whole genre of bad horror films…but does it work with books, too? I’m not a horror book reader, so I’m sincerely asking. Why do people think this book is so scary? Creepy kids? Scary. […]
Geographical oddities and realistic timelines
The main character in these books is India Burke – the getting it on boss I first ran into in Due South. First off, I love India, because India is a stone cold bitch. Being a bit prickly myself I was so happy that someone thought someone like me deserved the HEA and the romance while still getting to be herself, to be hard and tough. She doesn’t have to take off the black eyeliner as soon as someone wants her. India is a Sub […]
To The Extreme
Confessions is a psychological thriller/murder novel that keeps a fast pace and tight organization throughout. Told from the points of view of multiple narrators, the story focuses on the murder of a middle school teacher’s 4-year-old daughter and the fallout from that murder. Parent-child relationships, teacher-student relationships and the allure of revenge are the themes that run throughout. Chapter one is narrated by middle school teacher Moriguchi. It is the last day of the term, and she announces to her class that it is also […]
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