Published: September 27th 2011 Publisher: Walker Books Genre(s): Young Adult, Fantasy, Horror Format: Hardcover Length: 215 pages A Monster Calls is a young adult book with a deceptively simple plot – a thirteen year-old boy wakes up in the middle of the night and discovers a monster in his back yard – that reveals an … Read more
I’ve been in a book club with some friends from college for a few years now, and a couple of months back we had a discussion about whether or not certain books could be considered “girl books” or “boy books”. The discussion was inspired by The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, which my friend Aaron … Read more
Recently while thoroughly frittering away an evening online, I decided to respond to a commenter who was doing a bit of trolling with some admittedly low-hanging fruit. The thread was over at io9, which actually has what I consider the rare comments section worth reading, and it was on their post about essential SF&F reads … Read more
Published: October 2nd, 2012 Publisher: Macmillan Audio Genre(s): Fiction, Technology Format: Audiobook Length: 7 hrs and 41 mins Clay Jannon is young, techno-savvy and unemployed after being laid off by an ill-fated startup called NewBagel. As his desperation for a new job grows, he starts looking for opportunities everywhere under the sun, which is why … Read more
Discount Armageddon is the story of Verity Price, a blonde twenty-something cryptozoologist and recent transplant to New York City. She pays the bills by working as a waitress in a strip club, supports the family business by working to help the local populations of cryptids – monsters to the unenlightened – and secretly dreams of making it big on the ballroom dancing competition circuit. She hates public transportation, instead getting around by running parkour-style across the city rooftops, all while armed to the teeth with every kind of weapon she can hide under her skimpy waitress uniform. Oh, and her roommates are a colony of talking mice that venerate her every act with religious celebrations and feasts.
Published: August 28th, 2012 Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers Genre(s): Young Adult, Fantasy Format: Hardcover Length: 336 pages Note: The narrator of Every Day is essentially genderless, but for simplicity’s sake I use male pronouns throughout this review. David Levithan is an interesting standout in the young adult / fiction world. He seems more … Read more
Published: March 8, 2011 Publisher: Viking Adult Genre(s): Fantasy, Mystery, Satire Format: Hardcover Length: 384 pages If you happen to be a book nerd who likes fantasy, mystery, satire and a healthy dose of metafiction, the Thursday Next series will be right up your alley. It quickly became one of my favorite series after I … Read more
I always look forward to the yearly announcement of the Hugo Award nominations. Unlike other awards (even the Oscars), the Hugos are almost always relevant to my reading interests, and for the past few years I’ve made an effort to read as many of the books nominated for best novel ahead of time so I … Read more
It seems like the bane of any regular reader has to be all of the books they’ve started but never finished. I know some people who refuse to stop reading a book even if it’s the worst thing they’ve ever read in their life. I am not one of those readers – and I don’t … Read more
One of my friends just sent me a link to a tumblr by Matt Roeser, a graphic designer who “reads books and then designs new covers for them”, Most recently he’s re-done all of the Song of Ice and Fire books by George RR Martin, and my friend’s comment is a plaintive “do want”. I … Read more
Title story from St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves by Karen Russell, published 2007. I’ve recently been making a point of reading more short stories because I’m interested in trying my hand at writing some. As I’ve read more, I’ve discovered that there are certain genres that seem to excel in a shorter form. There’s … Read more
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