A place of wildly diverse book reviews sprinkled with frequent swears, opinions, and general nerdery
Fangirl
by Rainbow Rowell
Once in a while, I encounter a book that seems to have been written just for me. Fangirl is one of those books. It had been on my radar for quite some time and I’d just not gotten around to reading it. One of my colleagues is moving house and very kindly gave me her extra copy, and I am very glad she did! Continue reading “Fangirl”
Now I want to read Harry Potter again. Nicholas Flamel, indeed! Continue reading “Shadow of the Alchemist”
Holy cow. I thought Demons Parchment was my favorite Crispin Guest book. Nope, not anymore. Blood Lance ousted it for first place. Continue reading “Blood Lance”
My system of categorizing and scoring books cannot be explained in fewer than 350 words, and a book review isn’t really the place to do it anyway. Generally, a book only get gets 5 stars from me if it makes me howl with laughter, or sob, or is in some way life changing. Most mysteries do not fit these criteria. Continue reading “The Demon’s Parchment”
What can I say? Who doesn’t love learning about astronauts, even if it’s in a behind the scenes kind of way? It’s awesome to think that the processor in my phone is more powerful than the computer that landed men on the moon. Learning about the trials and tribulations the first men in space faced is fascinating. It’s too bad this book doesn’t discuss anything of the sort. Continue reading “The Astronaut Wives Club”
I adore Neil Gaiman. I love his vivid imagery, the subtlety of the stories, the unique way he has of seeing the world. He himself is awesome as well, and is someone I would love to have a beer with. Here is a wonderful interview of Neil on the Diane Rehm show. She is painful to listen to, but thankfully he is not. I loved his discussion about being read to, how adults never get stories read to them anymore and it’s tragic. I agree entirely with his comments that it is odd to put trigger warnings on literature, especially literature for adults.
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2015-02-19/neil_gaiman_trigger_warning
Continue reading “Trigger Warning”
When I can’t decide what book to read next, I just go down the alphabet of titles I have. I was on the letter O, and don’t actually have many choices for that one. The Oracle Glass was the next up, so I chose it. I honestly do not remember how I ended up owning this book. It is set in France and not in a time period I typically care at all about. It is magical realism/gothic, which is probably how it got on my TBR list, and an excess of gift money is probably the reason it ended up in my personal library. But I am not too sorry that it did. Continue reading “The Oracle Glass”
“Now the circus is open. Now you may enter.”
I am not entirely sure what I think about this book. It was not quite what I expected, though I am not sure what I expected in the first place. The plot was intricate and complex and well executed, though it was a little slow for my taste. The writing, however, was some of the most lush, vivid, gorgeous that I have ever encountered. That alone was enough to keep me reading. Continue reading “The Night Circus”
A King’s Ransom (Plantagenets #5)
By Sharon Kay Penman
One of the things I love so much about Sharon’s books is that they aren’t over in a day. I feel cheated when I read a good book and get through it in 24 hours. No worry of that with hers, as this one came in around 700 pages. Love that! Continue reading “A King’s Ransom”
This novel was a fantastic account of the last of the Saxon English kings. Edward the Confessor was the last Saxon king to have a complete reign, and Harold Godwinson was the last Saxon king on the throne, however brief his reign was. Continue reading “I Am the Chosen King”
Her Grace's Library 