Category Archives: Books
The Girl With All The Gifts
Every morning, Melanie waits in her cell to be collected for class. When they come for her, Sergeant keeps his gun pointing at her while two of his people strap her into the wheelchair. She thinks they don’t like her. … Continue reading
Black Bear Lake by Leslie Liautaud
Black Bear Lake by Leslie Liautaud is almost a 1980s period piece, full off cassettes and feathered hair, told in an extended flashback to a family vacation when he was growing up. Adult Adam is looking back on the summer … Continue reading
Rich Kids of Instagram: Satyricon And The City
Rich Kids of Instagram is a Tumblr of, well, rich kids posing with their expensive stuff. Whether it’s yachts, sports cars, resorts, or dropping $10,000 on cosmetics , the Tumblr recalls late-Roman excesses. It’s hard to tear my eyes away, … Continue reading
The History of Rome
IT WAS THE WORST YEAR IN the history of Rome. Well, perhaps it wasn’t quite that bad. — Opening line of John Maddox Roberts’ SPQR VIII: The River God’s Vengeance (The SPQR Roman Mysteries) This whole series is great, but … Continue reading
‘Careful’ by Randy Anderson
Careful by Randy Anderson opens with Tyler returning to his tiny hometown in the Pacific Northwest after his father calls to tell him that his mother’s in the hospital, but refusing to say why. This sets the tone for the … Continue reading
JPodding
So it turns out that I don’t love JPod as much as I previously thought. Sure, there was a completely genius part where our hero, Ethan, can’t quit his job because he’s been kinda-sorta-promised a promotion to assistant production assistant … Continue reading
Or Something
I’ve been reading a wonderful reinvention of Northanger Abbey by Val McDermid, and it’s full of clever references to Austen stories, or jokes about Twilight, or literary snark in general. I’ve been highlighting a passage on practically every page, but this … Continue reading
JPod: Continue? y/n
I just started reading a secondhand copy of Douglas Coupland’s JPod, and it turns out the previous owner has annotated it, adding another layer of marginalia on a novel that has instructions for ramen noodles and software bug reports in … Continue reading
Alchemy and Assassination in ‘The Red Lily Crown’
The Red Lily Crown by Elizabeth Loupas is out today, and I’ve reviewed it over at The Absolute. I love fiction set in this time period for all the over-the-top disregard for laws among the elite, and The Red Lily Crown … Continue reading
Reviewing School
A few months ago, I reviewed the novel School over at The Absolute, and the book is now out, with a quote on the back from my review! For some reason, they went with my summary and not with my … Continue reading
