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…
During last year’s BlogFestivus, one of the best bloggers I found was RewindRevise, who lives and writes in New York City. Lindsey’s thoughtful and funny, about to get married, and as I can see it, her largest defect as a person is her continuing support for the New York Football Giants. No one’s perfect. This…
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…
Kelly and Tom both did this good set of interview questions from BBAW (Book Bloggers Appreciation Week) and I figured I hadn’t done a meme in a while. This one offers a little view into how reading gets done around The Aerie. Do you snack while you read? If so, favorite reading snack? Rarely. I…
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…
I admit that I had a certain amount of skepticism about Joe Hill as a writer. Being the son of Stephen King, I couldn’t help but think that just maybe he hadn’t quite earned his entrance into the world of publishing the way that other writers had. I felt a little vindicated with this feeling…
Stevil 