This book has been reviewed by other, more eloquent, cannonballers but I really enjoyed the book so I will take a whack at it. Another YA dystopian novel, but so much more. I have had this sitting on my to be read pile for a long time. Stranger Things sent me on an 80s nostalgia trip and finally got this novel moved up to the top of the list. Set in 2044, the world has become a terrible place. People escape the horror of everyday life […]
The troubled love story of Rhubarb and Orange Slice is one that I’m glad I read.
I’m not ashamed to admit that I’ve read every single stinking Shopaholic book by Sophie Kinsella. I know that Becky’s ridiculous adventures aren’t great literature. But I find them somewhat comforting. I know Becky will make a horrible decision about something, wear fabulous clothes, do ridiculous things with her friends, make questionable parenting choices, and be rescued by her sensible husband who helps her to realize that her horrible decision was actually a great idea in the end. When I heard that Kinsella had recently […]
No man here lives a charmed life.
Okay, I’m probably operating on far too little sleep to write a coherent review, but here goes. The prose here is a luminous dream, casting it’s shadows upon the mind and lulling the reader into a warm and tranquil languidity. Coming so fast on the heels of the tenaciously awkward writing of Stephanie Meyer, the fluidity exhibited by Conrad is both refreshing in its rarity and a disheartening reminder that I can never be the writer I often dream that I am. This story has […]
Every successful society is alike in that they die the slow death of excess and comfort.
Isaac Asimov was a ludicrously prolific author from the Golden Age of science fiction. He, along with Robert Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke, has reached pantheonic levels of influence and esteem, and the Foundation series is perhaps his most cherished and well-read work. He ended up tying all his major works into a shared universe centered around this series, so it can be said that you can’t understand Asimov’s writing without first reading this book. And I thought it was okay. To be sure, there […]
Control
All My Puny Sorrows is a poignant novel about sisters, creativity, depression and suicide. Toews touches on a number of big themes in her story but questions of control– by outside forces, over one’s life, creativity and even death– are the center of the narrative. We tend to admire and support the person who resists oppressive control from outside forces such as patriarchy and religion, the person whose creative force and innovation set her apart. But what if that person also resists more conventional societal […]
My, what big teeth you have.
The inimitable H.G. Wells, from 1895-98, wrote The Time Machine, The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Invisible Man, and War of the Worlds. That’s an unbelievable concentration of brilliance that I can’t find in another writer. Someone like Stephen King has written numerous works that will (or have already) become classics of their genre, but they’re spread out over a career (for instance, 1978’s The Stand followed hot on the heels of 1977’s The Shining, but Misery came out in 1987 and The Green Mile […]