One of the books that I’ve enjoyed recently is Night Film by Marisha Pressl. In it, Scott McGrath, a down-on-his-luck reporter is drawn into a deepening spiral of intrigue as he investigates the apparent suicide of the famous film director Stanislas Cordova. You see, it was over-zealousness in a story digging into allegations about the…
Not that you’d know it from the appalling lack of book reviews here (or any other posts, really), but I had a good “book year” in 2013. Several excellent ones, mostly good ones, with only a few clunkers or disappointments. I even succeeded in my Goodreads Challenge of reading 45 books — though it was…
I’m a Stephen King fan. Have been for most of my reading life. A good number of my friends are King fans, too – and we take great pleasure discussing which books are our favorites and which ones maybe missed the mark. Clearly at the top of the consensus list are The Stand, The Shining,…
I don’t know about you, but after I’ve read a few serious or “heavy” novels, I often look for a little murder to cheer me up and clear my mind. What, don’t you? Of course, I’m talking about murder mysteries. For me, a good murder mystery is a great palate cleanser — the language and…
The Bible tells us that there is nothing new under the sun. And, at least in terms of book and movie plots, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised by the similarities between stories and themes that appear time and time again. Sometimes though it’s not just themes that are revisited but occasionally you might have…
Well, here we are rushing towards the end of another year. For me, it was another good year for books and reading, though alas, I think I am going to fall a couple of books short of my Goodreads challenge of reading 45. Close though — and I still have this weekend! (Not gonna happen).…
I think it’s pretty safe to suggest that most readers love and are enthralled by the power of language to take us places we’ve never been and to understand old concepts in new ways. That transformative power of language is at the heart of China Mieville’s 2011 wonderfully creative science fiction novel, Embassytown. The title…
Sometimes expectations are a hard thing. You root for a sports team that’s supposed to be terrible and a .500 season feels great. If that same .500 team was supposed to vie for a championship, the season was a disaster, right? The same might be said for certain books. Unknown authors can knock your socks…
One of the things I’ve been trying to do over the past few years is catch up on some classics that escaped my education (or I was able to avoid, I’m not sure which it was). So, last month, I fired up the audiobook of John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, which I had never…
Book series – they are both a boon and bane to readers. A boon because they can allow readers a richer connection to favorite characters and have the capacity to explore long, subtle plot arcs. A bane, perhaps, because sometimes when the well goes a little dry for the author, we tend to hang on…
Stevil 