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
Category: Novels
A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin
Why read the book? Why, indeed, when you have the HBO series to watch? It’s a popular series, now in its 5th season, and it has a lot to recommend it. Well-written dialogue. Dramatic performances by Sean Bean, Lena Headey, Kit Harington, and too many others to name. Let’s face it, watching Peter Dinklage play… Continue reading A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin
5 Novels to Read to Avoid Seeing Mr. Grey
Confession: I like sex. Well, duh! More relevant to my blog, I enjoy erotic scenes in books. That is not to say that I enjoy erotic books. I enjoy erotic passages, the operative word being passages. I have learned to be wary of erotic novels, those novels where sex and sexual relationships define the main… Continue reading 5 Novels to Read to Avoid Seeing Mr. Grey
Imperium by Robert Harris
Power brings a man many luxuries, Robert Harris’ Tiro writes, but a clean pair of hands is seldom among them. Tiro, who invented shorthand, was the slave-secretary to the Roman senator Cicero, and in Harris’ novel Imperium, he is the narrator. In this novel, the first of a series about Cicero, Tiro, an aging freeman,… Continue reading Imperium by Robert Harris
Siren by John Everson
In the study of fiction, we talk about “the willing suspension of disbelief.” It, along with imagination, is what the reader brings to the novel. It helps produce the trance we enter as we read, allows us to SEE the story rather than just READ it. Unfortunately, around the 75% mark, Everson took Siren in… Continue reading Siren by John Everson