We need to get fear back into the vampire tale! I thought that back in 1990. Maybe it was 1991. I’m not sure, because I didn’t write these things down back then like I do now. I had just finished reading Anne Rice’s Queen of the Damned, and I hated it so much I threw… Continue reading Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist
Category: Book Review
Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote
Holly Golightly as a name is ironic, because everywhere she goes, she goes loudly. She’s a seeker with only a vague idea of what she hopes to find. She’s also a runaway with a clear understanding of what she’s fleeing. She might not know where she’s going to, but she knows where she’s been, and… Continue reading Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote
Book Review: Leaving Berlin by Joseph Kanon
The Nook, Barnes and Noble e-reader, lacks the same cachet as Amazon’s Kindle, but it has at least one noteworthy feature that makes it the right reader in a specific situation. That situation is when you’re visiting a Barnes and Noble store. While at the store, you can connect to their WiFi and read any… Continue reading Book Review: Leaving Berlin by Joseph Kanon
Book Review: The Snowman by Jo Nesbø
To use a trite, overused, but descriptive phrase, Jo Nesbø’s The Snowman is a page turner. Once I picked up the novel and began reading it, I didn’t want to set it down, no matter how tired I felt, how hungry, how many other things I needed to do, and how many other pastimes I neglected.… Continue reading Book Review: The Snowman by Jo Nesbø
Book Review: It by Stephen King
Halfway through Stephen King’s It, I realized that I find neither clowns nor balloons scary, and since they’re the principle devices King use to suggest the supernatural, that aspect of the novel failed to scare me. But It isn’t about clowns or balloons. It is about childhood fears, both real and imagined, and how we grow… Continue reading Book Review: It by Stephen King
Into the Forest by Jean Hegland
My home shares the same power grid as the county courthouse and jail, so when it goes out, it’s high priority to restore it. The power doesn’t go out often, but when it does, I find myself in a surrealistic confusion. What now? Since my computer’s down, I can’t write, so I decide to watch… Continue reading Into the Forest by Jean Hegland
A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin
There’s trouble in Westeros. Following King Robert Baratheon’s death, his son Joffrey Baratheon takes the throne. But when a rumor surfaces that casts doubts of Joffrey’s legitimacy, his uncles, Renly and Stannis, each claim the throne and prepare for war. Meantime, Robb Stark fights a war of independence for the North, while his half brother… Continue reading A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
As a rule, I avoid these bitter-sweet, coming-of-age novels. Don’t ask me why, because I fear the answer will come too close to the adage against judging a book by its cover. Is judging a book by its topic or sub-genre just as bad? I made an exception for The Perks of Being a Wallflower,… Continue reading The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Erotic Literature: Fanny Hill
Published in 1748 under the title Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure, Fanny Hill tells the story about a young woman, orphaned at 15, who travels to London to make her way. She intended to find employment as a domestic servant, but instead she fell in with madams, prostitutes, and pleasure seekers, who steered her… Continue reading Erotic Literature: Fanny Hill
Dystopia: Logan’s Run
In the society of the future, people live for twenty-one years, before they turn themselves in for Sleep, a socially demanded suicide. As can be imagine, not everyone is onboard with this idea. Many people want more than twenty-one years, so when the imbedded flower in their palm begins to blink red and black, they… Continue reading Dystopia: Logan’s Run