There are certain things a writer can focus on in their novel to ensure that I will at least give it a shot (if I know about the book), and in all likelihood, I will really dig it. One of them is using World War II as a backdrop. I find a lot of wars interesting but this one in particular fascinates me. The atrocities committed against humanity during this time period, and the willingness of so many people to just go along with them […]
Jazz Age Magic
Teri Brown’s Born of Illusion is the first of a new series centered on Anna Van Housen, a talented illusionist with legitimate extra-sensory powers. When we meet Anna and her mother, the famous medium Marguerite Van Housen, they have finally settled into a routine in New York of the 1920s. After a lifetime of moving from town to town with traveling circuses and dodging police, the Van Housena ladies finally have permanent billing at their own theater and their own apartment. Anna and her mother […]
Weekend in Snoozeville
Robyn Sisman’s Weekend in Paris is the story of young Englishwoman Molly Clearwater and her trials and tribulations working as an assistant to a (clichéd) chauvinistic asshole of a boss. In preparation for a weekend conference in Paris, the boss Malcolm makes it clear that not only does he have lewd expectations about his and Molly’s “business” trip, but also has no respect or appreciation for her intelligence and abilities. In a fit of pique, Molly quits her job but decides to take the weekend […]
Hyperbolic Hilarity
I’m really excited to announce that for the first time in I don’t know how long, I finished my book club’s selection well before our monthly meeting. Yes, the book in question is really just a collection of blog entries that are mostly illustrations, and I read it in two hours at the beach this weekend, but whatever. Yay me! Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh is a collection of entries from her blog of the same name. Allie is a wonderfully flawed young […]