SantaLand Diaries by David SedarisMy rating: 3 of 5 stars I enjoy David Sedaris’s humor. This story has a very original perspective on the holiday season. The protagonist is a Macy’s elf, Crumpet/Blisters, and – through him – we get a behind-the-scenes look at the business of manufactured levity. There is a bitter tone to […]
Elves Need Love too. Read More »
Grave Peril by Jim ButcherMy rating: 4 of 5 stars Such an enjoyable story, but to be honest, I found Harry to be pretty annoying until the last third of the book. His arrogance and chivalry bordered on absurd. He needed to be pressed up against the edge to find his solution this time though,
Grave Peril – Harry Dresden #3 – by Jim Butcher. A great ride! Read More »
Skin Deep by Brandon SandersonMy rating: 3 of 5 stars I love Brandon Sanderson’s imagination. Mistborn and the world of The Rithmatist are two of my favorite places to dream about being. My expectations for Legion were, therefore, unrealistic, but that’s the danger when your audience becomes acquainted with dining gourmet. A lesser meal just
Legion II (Skin Deep) Read More »
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. SalingerMy rating: 4 of 5 stars Another book where I make a new discovery each time I read it. As a youth, I adopted some of the character’s contempt for fitting in, and then in the 90s, when I went on a literary beatnik immersion, I understood the
Revisiting An Old But Still Relevant Gem Read More »
Ulysses by James JoyceMy rating: 3 of 5 stars This story of typical people from Dublin being ordinary is one of the oddest novels I’ve ever read. Though there are many admirers, it’s clear that the target audience for this book is James Joyce, and it celebrates his self-pleasure and creative freedom. This novel was
The Psychopathology of Everyday Life by Sigmund FreudMy rating: 2 of 5 stars Freud analyzes language, memory of names, and behaviors for signs of our repressed subconsciouses. He uses different anecdotes, describes the observation, and then uses his theory of the mind to explain how a forgotten name or a missed appointment derives from the
The Real Reason I Can’t Remember Names… Oh Shit! LOL. Read More »
The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar WildeMy rating: 4 of 5 stars It’s been years since I had read this or watched it performed, but I still remembered how crisp and clever was the dialog. After reading it again, I enjoyed it even more than the pleasant memory. This play is about two men,
The Importance of Great Dialog and Sharp Wit Read More »
The Goblin Emperor by Katherine AddisonMy rating: 3 of 5 stars The Goblin Emperor is a delightfully refreshing fantasy novel replete with rich world building and a unique backdrop of gender and racial division that paints a poignant image of our own world’s challenges. Maia, the protagonist of mixed Elven and Goblin descent, becomes emperor
The Goblin Emperor is such a treat! Read More »
The Rithmatist by Brandon SandersonMy rating: 4 of 5 stars Absolutely delightful. This is a story about Joel, the son of a deceased chalk maker whose mother is a cleaning lady in an expensive famous school. Part of the school is also dedicated to teaching Rithmatists, magicians who can animate chalk figures. Joel wants to
The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson is a wonderful tale! Read More »
The Dark is Rising by Susan CooperMy rating: 4 of 5 stars The Dark Is Rising, the second novel of The Dark Is Rising Sequence, a set of five novels of speculative fiction and fantasy published from 1965 to 1977, is a lot more sinister than the first novel of the series: Over Sea, Under
The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper Read More »
Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan CooperMy rating: 3 of 5 stars The first novel in the Dark Is Rising sequence, a five book seiries published from 1965 to 1977, is perhaps the story most directed to younger audiences. The principal characters in the story are Simon, Jane, and Barney Drew. Their family is visiting
Over Sea Under Stone by Susan Cooper Read More »
She Comes First: The Thinking Man’s Guide to Pleasuring a Woman by Ian KernerMy rating: 3 of 5 stars It’s been a while since I’ve read a non-fiction book about sexuality (the last was the excellent Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex), and because it is an area of intense interest where actual
Is she coming first even if she is cumming first? Read More »
Rosemary’s Baby by Ira LevinMy rating: 5 of 5 stars Ira Levin specializes in disturbing tales of enormous vision. As such, Rosemary’s Baby is a quintessential tale of terror, standing beside giants like Frankenstein and Dracula, because it creates a new, oft-imitated horror form. The book is essentially a psychological conflict set in New York
Rosemary’s Baby – Review after my Happy Halloween reread Read More »
Harvest Home by Thomas TryonMy rating: 4 of 5 stars Let’s take a successful, but troubled couple (Ned & Beth Constantine) with a daughter (Kate) who has emotional issues that manifest in physical illness out of the city and put them in the country where all their problems will be solved. Give them a rainbow
Thomas Tryon – Harvest Home Read More »
Seven Days In May by Fletcher KnebelMy rating: 3 of 5 stars This is the third time I’ve read Fletcher Knebel’s novel about a beleaguered president whose job is threatened by a charismatic military man. Before I go into my new impressions I will give a short summary of the political situation of 1961-2, when
My Review of Knebel’s Seven Days in May (a reread after 35 years) Read More »
The Martian by Andy WeirMy rating: 4 of 5 stars Yeah, this was a great romp. Good story, well told, and left me dreaming of space travel. It’s really rare to find a good science-fiction book that relies on good science, but it sure is a pleasure when it happens, and it’s done right. The
My review of The Martian Read More »
Such a good book. One that I fought with, but came out loving it even more because of the challenge. Do you want to see how to do polytheistic cultures? The Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth MoonMy rating: 5 of 5 stars It’s pretty hard to talk about a book of over 1000 pages that
The Deed of Paksennarion – my review on Goodreads Read More »
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King My rating: 4 of 5 stars Nice. So, I avoided reading this for years because I thought it would be another one of the “Can you survive the _____?” books like Misery and Gerald’s Game. Oh, and I’m also not a Red Sox fan. 😉 It
My Review of “The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon” Read More »
Usually I love Stephen King books but this fell flat for me. The Colorado Kid by Stephen KingMy rating: 2 of 5 stars Well, I see. Yes, mystery is important, but let’s talk about Sudoku. Imagine a game of Sudoku that gets to the last few moves, just when you have to make the deepest
My Review of “The Colorado Kid” Read More »
Storm Front by Jim ButcherMy rating: 3 of 5 stars Delicious, but like a snack with too much salt rather than the healthy hearty meals to which my reading self is accustomed. Jim Butcher has built a picturesque world, but Storm Front is only going to give us tastes of what’s inside. Still, I’m very
My Review of “Storm Front: Dresden Files #1” Read More »