Review: Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

Jul

31

2015

Station Eleven is a book set in a post-apocalyptic world where civilization has collapsed, fossil fuel has gone stale, and electricity and any form of modern travel is gone. The book opens with the death of aging and troubled Hollywood star Arthur Leander, who suffered from a heart attack when playing King Lear in the Elgin Theater, Toronto. From him, we pan out to a host of characters that's connected to him in some way, from his ex-wife to the would-be paramedic who tries to save his life when he collapsed on the stage.

Review: The Countess Conspiracy by Courtney Milan

Jul

19

2015

The Countess Conspiracy is the third book in the Brothers Sinister series by Courtney Milan and it's really, really damn good y'all.  Like, "so-good-that-it-actually-transported-me-to-Feels-City" kind of good. Yes.

Review: Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage by Alice Munro

Jul

17

2015

Alice Munro's stories are not thrillers or detective fiction, but they always have this sense of everyday mystery that keeps you turning the pages and wondering, what do we have in store this time?

Review: Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion

Jul

12

2015

Slouching Towards Bethlehem is a collection of essays by Joan Didion, and I have never felt so much for a non-fiction collection. Slouching is basically perfect; it's the kind of book that stays with you even long after you read it.

Review: The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides

Jul

11

2015

I've got a lot of things to say about The Virgin Suicides. I've spent quite a long time after finishing this book thinking about what to rate it. Technically, it's a great book - Mr Eugenides certainly knows how to write. And yes, this book got me thinking and feeling - disgust mostly, but disgust is still an emotion. But I can't, in good conscience, give this book a five star rating nor can I give this book four star. It just doesn't feel right to me. For all my opinion and feelings, I don't enjoy reading this book at all, and not because of its bleak theme. I've read bleak books before and quite - enjoy it, for a lack of better word. But I don't enjoy reading this book. I think, it's supposed to make me feel that way. to make me feel uncomfortable; nevertheless I can't rate it five stars despite all the critical acclaim and the technically good prose. Here's why.

Review: Uprooted by Naomi Novik

Jul

10

2015

Uprooted is a standalone novel by Naomi Novik, author of the Temeraire series. Ms. Novik has a certain style of writing that I really like, even when she writes in first person POV, which I usually hate. The premise of Uprooted is very straightforward, almost cliche: a plucky young girl gets picked by the gruff wizard to stay with him in his tower over her beautiful friend who everybody expects to be picked. There, in the tower, she discover that she has magical talent and learns to control it in order to combat the mysterious and malevolent entity of the Wood. Even from the first page I can tell where this is going. But what's great about Ms. Novik is her ability to turn the trope on its head.

Review: A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner

Jul

06

2015

This is the latest book in Megan Whalen Turner's the Queen's Thief series, but not, I am told, the last book of the series. After following Eugenides's adventure in the first three books, A Conspiracy of Kings is mainly told from the point of view of Sophos, Gen's friends and the heir to Sounis, who is missing (literally) in Queen and King. Sophos' uncle who was Sounis is dead, and now Sophos has to claim his title to the kingship of Sounis, but that won't be easy, since Sounis is overrun by rebels and has to deal with fighting from Attolia.