I’ll start this review by saying I am a massive fan of Ian Rankin, especially his John Rebus series of books. So basically, he could write up Rebus’ shopping list, and I’d probably give it a 5 Star review. Just so you know. There have been at least 20 books about John Rebus and his adventures in the Edinburgh police department. And this was the first one that wasn’t really about John Rebus that much. Yes, he was in it, and yes, he played a […]
The More Things Change & The Weird Wild West
The last two-book review I wrote was compare and contrast, because the material in each book related to the other book. This time, not so much: one is non-fiction, and one is fiction, and without performing some mental calisthenics at a level I’m not willing to do right now I don’t think I could write a unified review.
Who Published This Book Half-Finished?
Coming off the heels of the stupendous Dread Nation, I was pumped for this YA novel. The setup: children travel through magical portals to alternate worlds, only to become distraught upon their return to their tedious old lives. (Postmodern Wonderland or Narnia!) Though this book won all the awards—Hugo, Alex, Locus Nebula—it utterly failed to enchant me. I suppose my heart is a closed door. Or maybe an inky void. Nancy (the sixth most interesting character, maybe) lands at Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children […]
Five stars of adorable madness
In 2018 I went on a bucket-list trip to Antarctica and saw penguins. Always a fan of the adorable little birds (I mean, come on, that waddle!), I’ve become sort of obsessed. This new-found penguin mania resulted in a Sphenisciformes-themed Christmas, including a hard copy of the delightful 1938 children’s tale, Mr. Popper’s Penguins. I say delightful, but I might have easily said batshit crazy. I want whatever the Atwater couple was smoking when they wrote this. For context, Mr. Atwater died before publishing Mr. […]