We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler is a book I would never have read on my own, and when my book club chose it, I almost decided to skip that meeting because the description of the book looked so awful. I didn’t think I had it in me to deal with […]
Gulliver’s Travels, by Jonathan Swift, has been on my list of books to read for a very, very long time. Possibly decades. It’s one that I’d start, get a few pages into, and never go back. And thus the quandary I find myself in for this review. Should everybody read this book, as Neil deGrasse […]
First, if you haven’t read Mary Poppins, written by P. L. Travers, do it now! Second, don’t expect it to be anything like the Disney movie. Now onto the real review… Such a charming and amusing book! Stories like these reaffirm my belief that children’s literature deserves more respect from serious literary scholars. Children’s books […]
Ok. 52 books in 52 weeks is hard! So I’m counting a couple shorter books in order to keep me going. That’s where The Terrible and Wonderful Reasons Why I Run, a short graphic novel by The Oatmeal, comes in. I’m hoping to get into running. I was hoping this book would be a short […]
The disgruntled reader has returned! Here I was, on such a lovely stretch of books that, while maybe not great, were at least readable. And then along came The Girls of Atomic City. As a female scientist, this book ought to be right up my alley. As a female scientist who’s done some work with […]
The Elements of Style by Strunk and White. That lovely mini-bible among writers is the first book I chose to read for my 52-books-in-52-weeks resolution. And why? Because I’m also on a tirade against all people who think adverbs are to be avoided, and rumor has it that this ridiculous rule first came about thanks to […]
I recently finished the horror and dystopia that is Hugh Howey’s, Wool, and I didn’t have a clue what I was getting myself into when the adventure began. I knew vaguely that it was a dystopic novel; that it was self-published and became a huge success; and I’d heard whispers of movie deals. I went in with […]
I finished The Ocean at the End of the Lane, by Neil Gaiman recently, and I have to say, I thought it was meh. I know a lot of people LOVED it, and they LOVE him, so throwing out any criticisms could rub people the wrong way. But I’m going to do so with the […]
It happened! It finally happened! I completely escaped into a wonderful novel and read the whole thing this evening. I can’t remember the last time such a feat occurred. The book is called The Escape Artist by Diane Chamberlain, and I recommend it as a fun, engaging read. I came down with a mild case […]
My first complaint as a reader? I don’t have enough time! How can I complain about reading if I don’t have time to read??? Fortunately, I’ve been forcing myself to spend at least a little time doing some writing, so I haven’t reached epic failure yet. But still. I want to read! Even if the […]