Posts contained in the “Book Review” category:

2023 Book Fails

A bullseye with arrows missing the target

Share this…             I have always loved reading for pleasure. And for the most part, I love all the books I read. That’s because I don’t read books I don’t like. I have two—and only two—rules for reading: Outside of an English class, you don’t have to read a book just because someone says it’s good. (There …read more…


The Pale House Devil by Richard Kadrey


Share this…              This book was quite a ride! I find that I’m reading slower and slower as I get older, but this is a slim volume (115 pages), and I had set aside a few evenings for reading it. But once I started it, I couldn’t put it down, and 90 minutes later I had …read more…


The Road to Roswell by Connie Willis

Book cover for The Road to Roswell by Connie Willis

Share this…              I sometimes wonder if people understand irony. Alanis Morissette wrote a song called “Ironic” in which all of the situations she describes aren’t really ironic. They’re bad timing, bad planning, or just plain bad luck. But irony they ain’t. Francie Driscoll understands irony, though. She’s in Roswell (yes, that Roswell) to save her friend …read more…


Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire

Every Heart a Doorway bookcover

Share this…              The “kids at boarding school” trope is not one that the Harry Potter books invented, although they did revitalize it for another generation or two of young readers. As such, most of these stories involve a new resident, for whom the school serves as a type of liminal space. I’ve always enjoyed these …read more…


The Tripods Trilogy by John Christopher


Share this…             In the not too distant future, Earth has been taken over by aliens (later identified as “Masters”) who travel about in large metal tripods. To control the populace, all humans are “capped” on their fourteenth birthday: their head is shaved and a metallic cap is applied to their head. The cap suppresses curiosity and …read more…


The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks


Share this…             Throughout middle and high school my friends and I paid a lot of attention to what the others were reading. We didn’t spend much time talking about books, but we noticed what the others were reading and asked for recommendations, something that we, as boys, never asked a teacher. This was before the internet …read more…


The Accidental Genius of Weasel High by Rick Detorie


Share this…             All that Larkin Pace wants is a new camcorder, so he can become the next great filmmaker. But he’s too young for a real job, his parents won’t give him money, his older sister exists just to make him miserable, and his arch-enemy Dalton Cooke is trying to steal his girlfriend, who might just …read more…


Stuck on Earth by David Klass


Share this…             Ketchvar III’s mission is pretty simple: take over the body of an average American teenager and determine if the human race is worth saving. It helps, of course, that Ketchvar is an alien from the planet Sandoval IV and is the same size and shape as a terrestrial snail. It also helps that he …read more…


King of the Mild Frontier by Chris Crutcher


Share this…             Fans of Chris Crutcher (which in my experience includes just about anyone who has read any of his books) will welcome this insight into his life and writing. Although he often writes about sports, it’s a bit of a surprise to learn that Crutcher was not athletically gifted as a child. This was his …read more…


The Boy Who Howled by Timothy Power


Share this…             Callum isn’t like other members of his family. He can’t run through the forest on all fours, he can’t bring down deer with his jaws, and he’s not covered with fur. In fact, his dad is even thinking about eating him. It’s clear that Callum doesn’t belong with other members of his family, who …read more…