That Which Unravels: The Readymade Thief

The Readymade Thief by Augustus Rose Published: August 1st, 2017 Publisher: Viking Genre(s): Adventure, Thriller, Mystery Format: Hardcover Length: 384 pages I originally picked up The Readymade Thief by Augustus Rose because the cover caught my eye, but the summary and a few blurbs from some of my favorite authors finished the sale. I started … Read more

The Fire Inside: Heroine Complex

Heroine Complex by Sarah Kuhn Published: July 5th 2016 Publisher: DAW Genre(s): Fantasy, Adventure, Superheroes Format: E-Book Length: 378 pages I love stories about people with mundane jobs who exist in the orbit of someone extraordinary – like a personal assistant to a superhero, for example. It’s a fun mental exercise to think about what … Read more

Lincoln in the Bardo: A Tumult of Hauntings

George Saunders is an amazing short story author. I’d put him up there with Kelly Link, Steven Millhauser and Jorge Luis Borges in my pantheon of personal favorites. However, until Lincoln in the Bardo, Saunders had never published a novel. This seems to be a common trait among the short story authors I love; they rarely, if ever, turn their talents to novel-length works.

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Did Not Finish: California by Edan Lepucki

I wouldn’t normally post about a book that I didn’t finish reading, but considering the fact that I received not one but two free copies of California by Edan Lepucki – one from NetGalley, and one thanks to the Ford Audiobook Club on Goodreads – I feel as though I need to at least give my impressions of the five chapters I did manage to read.

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Ancillary Justice: I Am Beside Myself and Myself

Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie Published: October 1, 2013 Publisher: Orbit Genre(s): Science Fiction, Space Opera Format: Paperback/eBook Length: 410 pages Ancillary Justice is science fiction crammed full to the brim with wild ideas. The main character, Breq, is an “ancillary soldier” cut off from her ship for almost twenty years, but she isn’t exactly … Read more

When is it time to give up on finishing a book?

People who read for fun (or read at all) each have their own individual way of dealing with a book they can’t quite manage to finish. Some folks stubbornly insist on finishing every book they start, even if it’s a grueling death march towards an unsatisfying end. It’s possible I am biased against this methodology, … Read more

An Epic of Love, String Theory and Donuts: Skippy Dies by Paul Murray

Published: January 11th, 2011 Publisher: Audible, Inc. Genre(s): Fiction, Comedy Format: Audiobook Length: 23 hrs and 41 mins As you might imagine, Skippy Dies opens with the death of the titular character, one Daniel Juster (nicknamed Skippy). Skippy dies of mysterious circumstances at a donut shop named Ed’s, then the story jumps back several months … Read more

Reincarnation on Repeat: Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

Published: April 2nd, 2013 Publisher: Hachette Audio Genre(s): Fiction, Fantasy Format: Audiobook Length: 15 hours, 34 minutes Life After Life opens with its main character, Ursula Todd, dying as an infant… and then being born again. This time, the doctor arrives in time and Ursula lives, only to die a few years later when she … Read more

The Long, Slow End of the World: Black Feathers by Joseph D’Lacey

Published: March 26th, 2013 Publisher: Angry Robot Genre(s): Fantasy, Horror, Post-Apocalypse Format: eBook Length: 496 Pages Joseph D’Lacey’s Black Feathers is an interesting anomaly in the world of apocalyptic fiction. Instead of focusing on a dystopian post-apocalypse, as is the fashion nowadays, Black Feathers consists of two interlocking plot threads: one that starts in modern-day … Read more