The Amulet of Samarkand is a magical fantasy that takes place in an alternate world history. It begins when 12-year-old Nathaniel summons a demon. Don’t let Bartimaeus hear you call him that – he’s a djinni and a good one at that. Many stories that move around a lot almost […]
Book of the Week
A few of you knew this was coming. You think I’m obsessed with this book and the movie. It’s in my favorites. I’m not obsessed, unless I’m obsessed with Harry Potter, The Fountainhead and The Body of Christopher Creed. The Perks of Being a Wallflower falls cleanly into the category […]
Book of the Week: The Perks of Being a Wallflower ...
Yes, I turn to an accepted classic. I believe in it. If you talk about Peter Pan, I either love or hate it. In my eyes, Barrie’s writing lacks the magic of his story. However. His story! It’s everything you could love about a situation that’s bad. Think about it, […]
Book of the Week: Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie
The Duchy of Grand Fenwick lies somewhere in the Alps. It’s so tiny that you can’t spot it on a map and pretty much nobody knows it even exists. Oh, it’s also kind of behind the times, still relying on bows and arrows in the Twentieth Century. One export provides […]
Book of the Week: The Mouse that Roared by Leonard ...
For a summer or two around age twelve – I don’t remember which – I got into a big dragon slayer kick. I’m not sure the reason behind it, but if the book entailed dragon slaying or dragon hunting, I devoured said book like a ravenous wolf (that is to […]
Book of the Week: The Eyes of the Dragon by ...
Perhaps no novel strikes my fancy so much as a well-written story of a character headed towards mental collapse (aka melt-down or nervous breakdown). I don’t know – maybe I’m awed by human vulnerability. The Body of Christopher Creed is one such book, and a super-great one at that. I […]
Book of the Week: The Body of Christopher Creed by ...
A Separate Peace is not a book whose title ever struck my fancy. It sounds like a war book in the fashion of All Quiet on the Western Front, and for this reason I swore to myself I would never waste my time on it (I like All Quiet in […]
Book of the Week: A Separate Peace by John Knowles
I tried The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August* on a whim, and Wow! did I get lucky. The premise: a little girl visits a dying man to tell him the world is ending and he has to prevent it. I almost didn’t get past this point because I figured […]