It’s the time to clean out my To-Read drawer and boxes for this year’s Challenge. Mostly the drawer and the first box I got my hands on. I’m hoping this year’s list will be easier than last year’s. One of the attributes I have to keep in mind for these 12 months is that a …
This year’s Challenge was full of challenging (read: Difficult) reads for me. Of the twelve here three were substitutions for books I had to drop for various reasons. I think I should have vetted the originals better. As a reader, most of my choices surprised and delighted me. As a writer, the good ones showed …
Octopus! The Most Mysterious Creature in the Sea by Katherine Harmon Courage Current, Penguin Group, 2013 [Substitution: Challenge # 31: Nonfiction of any kind] I was having a lot of trouble finishing Undead Worlds, the collection of zombie short stories I intended as Challenge # 8, because it was only on my iPad and my …
In Pharaoh’s Army by Tobias Wolff Vintage Books, 1995 [Challenge # 24: A book about war, on the lines or the home front, fiction or nonfiction.] For my War is Hell selection I originally chose A Delicate Truth by John le Carré, and was stoked to read it because I had recently enjoyed the 2016 …
Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire Tor Books, 2016 Every Heart a Doorway is a book that spans genres. It’s part YA, part horror, part old-timey Portal fantasy, and part magical boarding school fantasy, with a dollop of LGBTQ. It’s disturbing, in ways both unintentional and obvious. It won a Nebula award, yet could …
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie Little, Brown & Co., 2017 (10th Anniversary Edition) [Challenge # 5: A book by a local author.] The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is a semi-mythic coming of age story of a Native American boy’s freshman year. Arnold Spirit Jr. lives on …
The following book review is condensed from and elaborated on from an earlier post. by Victoria Aveyard HarperTeen, 2015 Red Queen, by Victoria Aveyard, is one of those dystopias that appears to take its high concept to the max. Mare, a teenage girl on the cusp of turning 18 and being drafted into the army, …
The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory A Touchstone Book, Simon and Schuster, 2003 [Challenge # 34: A book about a person you know little about.] The Other Boleyn Girl isn’t the sort of book I usually read. But since I found a copy at one of the Little Free Libraries in my neighborhood, and …
The Mutter Museum of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia by Gretchen Worden Blast Books, 2002 It’s getting close to Halloween, and thus the time for creepy thrills. You can find them at the Mutter Museum in the city of Philadelphia. The Mutter Museum was the brainchild of physician and educator Dr. Thomas Mutter. He …
The Shadow Glass by Aly Fell Dark Horse Books, 2017 The Shadow Glass is filled with some wonderful artwork. The first page shows a view from the Tower of London overlooking a lovely harbor by the river Thames, a red and blue pennant flying, as a traveler named Thomas Hughes arrives. In night-muted colors …