Ivy is a first generation Chinese immigrant who has totally internalized the American Dream of being in the top 1% regardless of the cost. It fact, Ivy is trying to be what she thinks rich, white Gideon wants in a wife by becoming White Ivy. The pacing is more atContinue Reading
A stunningly beautiful retelling of the classic Phantom of the Opera story in a graphic novel format. Most people know the plot. A horribly disfigured man helps a young women become a famous opera singer from behind the scenes. Is he a ghost? A madman? Or just in love withContinue Reading
It’s an interesting idea but I’m unclear how each passage is chosen. I thought it was going to be reading one play in order in bite-size pieces, and then on to the next play, rather than piecemeal like this format. Due to this methodology, Shakespeare for Every Day of theContinue Reading
In Come to Light, Emit’s wife, Julia, and two of her friends went missing six years ago while hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. When the skull of one of the friends is found after a storm on the PCT, Emit suspects his wife’s stalker ex-boyfriend, Guillaume. Unfortunately, Julia’s sister, Sara,Continue Reading
John Banville is much more famous for literary fiction than mysteries. It shows in Snow. The plot reads like a too-easy-to-solve Agatha Christie. A priest is murdered in a down-at-its-heels country manor house during a snowstorm with no signs of forced entry. However, the setting in 1950s Ireland with theContinue Reading
Have you ever wondered if your thoughts are “normal”? Well now you have someone to compare yourself to without worrying about your spouse calling the police! The author of Raised in Captivity appears to have captured 34 of his random thoughts and published them in a book. Could there beContinue Reading
My Review of ROAD SEVEN by Keith Rosson “It was a help wanted ad from a monster hunter.” Who doesn’t sometimes dream of dropping their real life on its head and scooting off to parts unknown? Brian, the perpetual and soon-to-be ex-Ph.D. candidate who lives with vicious headaches and writer’sContinue Reading
In the new psychological thriller, Watching You Without Me, Karen returns home to Nova Scotia to close down her deceased mother’s house. But her original plans to put her “250-pound mentally handicapped” older sister, Kelli, in a group home are upended when she meets the charismatic caregiver, Trevor. The pacingContinue Reading
The Face of Struggle is an excellent example of how art alone can tell a story. There are no words—only pictures explaining the tale. The pictures are drawn like woodcuts. They use only black, red and negative white space to show the plot. And what a timely storyline! Trump supportersContinue Reading
The Down Days is about an African epidemic of laughter that quickly turns sour when it is found to be 100% fatal. It is based on a real pandemic of mass delusions that happened in Tanzania in 1962. The Down Days seems like it is a news report from ourContinue Reading
Hollis is a gifted songwriter, who gives his songs away for peanuts to his ex-girlfriend, who is now both rich and famous. You see Hollis has a physical deformity, a hunchback, that has caused him to recede from life. But when The Poison Flood of toxic chemicals hits his smallContinue Reading
For $279 each, you can have Little Eyes in an awkwardly-shaped stuffed animal running around your house or office. They’re called Kentukis. A combination of a Furby, Alexa, and a one-way cellphone call. They can’t talk but they are sentient. In fact, they are run by a real person, calledContinue Reading
“These are the Tidelands: half tide, half land, good for nothing.” On Sealsea Island, England, in 1648, Alinor is only twenty-seven. Her husband has either run off with their small fishing boat—or died at sea. She has two children: thirteen-year-old Alys and twelve-year-old Rob. Alinor also has the “sight” likeContinue Reading
“I would live your life so much better than you If I Had Your Face.” In a culture that only values females for their youth and beauty, is it any wonder that plastic surgery has become an almost-mandatory South Korean ritual for teen girls? The story is told from theContinue Reading
Extremely short and humorous comic strips of famous book plots fill Long Story Short. Books from Beowulf to The Hunger Games are sumarized here. The summaries can be direct such as “You can love someone and still be racist.” for The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. But most are also humorous.Continue Reading
Nell has lost her post at Columbia University studying poisonous plants. One of her students had stupidly died. Hex is what happens next to Nell. Nothing much happens as far as a plot. However, the language is beautiful like a 18th century novel. To be honest, I always feel likeContinue Reading