Room by Emma Donoghue: Book Review
Five-year-old Jack has lived his entire life inside Room with his Ma. At night, Old Nick comes to visit while Jack sleeps in Wardrobe. Jack’s life is strictly regimented. Breakfast, Lunch, Phys Ed, TV, and Screaming are at certain times throughout the day. In his world, there’s himself, Ma, and Room and that’s pretty much […]
Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes: Book Review
After many years vacationing in Italy, Frances Mayes and her–husband? I don’t think that’s ever clarified–decide to buy a home in Tuscany. They search for a while, but nothing really calls to them. Then they stumble upon a home called Bramasole in the town of Cortona. It’s a wreck, but they can’t get it out […]
The Sweet Potato Queens’ First Big-Ass Novel by Jill Conner Browne: Book Review
Jill Conner Browne writes a fictional account of how the Sweet Potato Queens came into being and how they truly became queens through some terrible decisions and heartbreak. I absolutely loved the first section of this book. It was sheer perfection I tell you. It starts when the queens are in high school and haven’t […]
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson: Book Review
Chicago wins a bid to be the host of the World’s Fair in 1892, the 400th anniversary of Columbus’s discovery of America. The city’s top architects immediately swing into gear to make this a fair to remember. Paris had hosted a world’s fair a few years earlier and everyone said that it couldn’t be beaten. […]
Empire Falls by Richard Russo: Book Review
Miles Roby is the manager of The Empire Grill in the heart of Empire Falls, Maine–or what’s left of it, anyway. This once-thriving industrial town is dying now that the factories have all closed. Empire Falls still has a tightly-knit, optimistic community though. There are constantly rumors about new buyers for the factories. Miles feels […]
Rise of the Evening Star by Brandon Mull: Book Review
Kendra and Seth are nearing the end of the school year when a new guy joins Kendra’s class. The other girls talk about how cute he is, but all Kendra sees is a disgusting goblin who plays cruel tricks on people. A mysterious stranger offers to help them get rid of the goblin (or kobold, […]
Second Hand Heart by Catherine Ryan Hyde: Book Review
Vida is 19 years old and dying. She’s been dying her entire life. Not in the vague way that we are all destined to die, but in a way that has led her through multiple heart surgeries in her short life. This time, it’s for real. Her doctors are talking weeks if she’s lucky. She’s […]
Inkheart by Cornelia Funke: Book Review
Meggie Folchart and her father, Mo, find themselves on the run from a mysterious man that Meggie knows only as “Capricorn.” Capricorn is chasing after them, trying to steal a book that they own, and he won’t stop at anything to get it. First off, let me say that I’m about 20 years older than […]
Dreams Made Flesh by Anne Bishop: Book Review
Dreams Made Flesh is a collection of four short stories/novellas centered around Jaenelle and her court. One of the events takes place immediately after the third in the Black Jewels series, so anyone reading this should keep that in mind. It definitely has spoilers for the previous books. My favorite story by far, was “The […]
Fire by Kristin Cashore: Book Review
Fire lives in a country known as the Dells, and she is a human monster. There’s a strain of wildness in the country that leaves some of the animals and people with impossibly seductive beauty and power. Fire is so named because of her hair. She can enter minds and control people and animals. But […]
People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks: Book Review
Hanna Heath studies and restores rare books. She is offered the chance of a lifetime when she is contacted by the United Nations to restore a rare illuminated Haggadah at the end of the Bosnian War. Hanna manages to pull out a few clues to the book’s history. As she follows up on the clues, […]