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, Continue Reading…
Twelve-year-old Odd doesn’t quite fit in with the rest of his village. He crushed his leg when he was younger and that’s left him with a limp. He’d rather be carving alone in the woods than hanging out in the hall with the other villagers fighting and telling stories. His stepfather is just awful. So Continue Reading…
Dr. Montague, a researcher into paranormal activity, has rented the fabled Hill House for the summer. The house has a reputation for being haunted. Very few people have managed to stay in it for more than a night. In order to sort of help the house do its worst, he invites people to stay with Continue Reading…
I tried, but I give up. The first story, “Santa Land Diaries,” was great. Sedaris’s tale of working as a Macy’s department store elf is hilarious! Those people who inevitably make the news every Black Friday by pepper spraying and punching their fellow shoppers? I think they all go to Macy’s at Christmas. Sedaris writes Continue Reading…
This book is the one that Hermione inherited from Dumbledore. It contains the “Tale of the Three Brothers” that was told in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It also contains notes about each story written by Dumbledore and J.K. Rowling. I’ll be honest here. True, morbid, Brothers Grimm fairy tales are just not my Continue Reading…
Twinklestar, the last reindeer, panics in a thunderstorm and sends Santa’s caravan plunging toward the ground. After making sure everyone is okay, Niklas Goodfellow, the last real Santa, realizes that he has come to earth in a territory controlled by the evil new head Santa, Gerold Goblynch. Niklas is on the run from Goblynch and Continue Reading…
Gumdrop Coal has gotten the axe. Founder of the Coal Patrol, those elves who deliver coal into bad little kids’ stockings, Gumdrop is out on his ear when Santa decides that every child deserves a real gift on Christmas. Gumdrop takes it hard. His methods might be harsh, but he believes they’re fair and they Continue Reading…
Nobody Owens is being raised in a graveyard. His “parents” are two ghosts. His guardian is a man who only comes out at night and who seems to be neither dead or alive. His real family was murdered and the murderer is still looking for Nobody. As long as he stays in the graveyard, he’s Continue Reading…
Wade Watts is just your average kind of guy, living in his aunt’s trailer, trying to get through the last months of high school, playing video games, and trying to solve a multi-billion dollar puzzle. Yup. Billion with a b. See, it’s 2044 and video game designer James Halliday has just passed away without an Continue Reading…
Jared is one of the more powerful members of the Blood, the vaguely aristocratic magic-wielding rulers of the lands he lives in. After a life-alteringly bad choice in his teens, Jared has become a pleasure slave for the Queens and Witches of Hayll. After nine years of bowing to sadistic whims, he does something that Continue Reading…
I’m having a hard time summarizing this without either giving away the story or making it sound like something it’s not. Katsa is a fighter with almost supernatural abilities. This is the story of how she grows into her power and herself. Not the greatest summary, but at least it doesn’t sound like a book Continue Reading…