The cover drew me in: this book looks like it should be a delicate coming-of-age tale about a boy growing into a man, using baseball as an allegory for the wins and swings-and-misses of life. Given the cover model’s relaxed repose (and likely heavily influenced by the amount of fanfic I read, which, as John Cho says “gets gay fast”), I also assumed it would be a tale of a young man discovering his homosexuality. Baseball, young men exploring their sexuality: tick, right up my alley. […]
Is it just me, or it the title never mentioned in the book?
Some rolling thoughts as I went through the book: I have no idea what’s going on. Jessica is a bitch. Was Richard cheating on her? I think he mentions underwear belonging to someone else… but he doesn’t seem the type…or was this a figment of my imagination… Richard does not deserve that phone. It makes him appear way cooler than he is. “Richard was not an enthusiastic holder of pigeons, even at the best of times.” I like how they used the special effect for […]
A review almost as long as a Russian novel
As the nights grow longer and temperatures begin to drop, atmospheric conditions become right for reading some Russian literature, with its deep snows, howling wolves, tragic lovers, wars and revolutions. Given their lengthiness, if you’re stuck at home with nowhere to go, a classic Russian novel will keep you occupied for a good long time. Plus, if the unthinkable happens on November 8th, it’s not a half bad idea to be on cultural speaking terms with our new overlords. CBR8’s recent survey of classic novels […]
The Book of Three and Revisiting Old Friends
After finishing The Chronicles of Narnia, the first three Harry Potter books and starting “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children”, only to discover we couldn’t renew at the library due to the waiting list, my 8 year old daughter wanted new fantasy to read. I handed her “The Book of Three”, first volume in the Prydain Chronicles, by Lloyd Alexander and off she went to be completely absorbed in the story and declare she would use it for her oral book presentation. The Prydain Chronicles […]
A non-European Based Fantasy
Saladin Ahmed’s name regularly kept coming up on lists of fantasy authors to check out. Last Christmas I put “Throne of the Crescent Moon”, book one of The Crescent Moon Kingdoms series, on my wish list, in June it came with me on a family vacation. The vast majority of the fantasy I’ve read over the years has been in some way based on/inspired by feudal Europe. TotCM is written from a different perspective with roots in Middle Eastern culture and that made it […]
Butterflies are free…except not so much.
I feel like this sort of high concept story would have read better in a fantasy or sci fi setting. The dialogue and character interaction just didn’t work for me in the modern day U.S. It’s also very possible that someone who hasn’t read a metric ton of true crime and gritty realistic crime fiction might find this book more enjoyable. Personally, while the overall story was engaging and kept me interested until the end. The writing style came off almost as if a […]
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