I first decided to read this because of the comparisons to John Green and Rainbow Rowell. I almost didn’t read it because I was a little bit afraid. I read how the story made reviewers cry and I got nervous…but I am very glad I decided to read it. It’s a really sweet story about two teenagers who meet at their school’s bell tower. They eventually form a friendship as they visit all these sites in Indiana (Which are actually mostly real sites, something I […]
A Delightfully Gloomy Norwegian Novel
…you don’t know what mothers do when they can’t stop crying…. This is a delightfully gloomy Norwegian novel about tragedy, death, and loss of one’s treasure. You know you’re off to a good start with a sentence like this: Jenny Brodal had not had a drink in nearly twenty years. She opened a bottle of Cabernet and poured herself a large glass. Jenny is 75 and her daughter Siri is throwing her a birthday party at their summer home, Mailund, on a winding, misty coast […]
I’m pretty sure I’m too old for this crap.
My YA-themed book club has been picking mostly winners lately. But every now and then, we hit a bump in the road and the book turns out to be one that we generally don’t care for (Plain Kate, Anna Dressed in Blood). I’m going to go ahead and put this in the “miss” pile, but not because it was bad, but more because it just wasn’t my thing. From what I understand, Rachel Hawkins is a terribly popular writer of various YA series (Hex Hall?), mostly […]
Strangers in Strange Lands
If you’re in the mood for a nice chunk of delicious fantasy writing, Changeling will fill you up without making your brain feel overwhelmed.
A New Year, Same Old Crazy
(Several words of warning: There are very mild spoilers for the book down toward the end, but nothing an astute reader couldn’t figure out from the description and the genre.) I figured that, as it’s a whole new year and all, that it was time to pay a third visit to Lil Littlepage-Eller, Boris, and the rest of the free-form asylum also known as Crazy, VA. So far, the Lil & Boris series has been a nice series of comfort nibbles with inhabitants I’ve always described […]
Cletus the Slack Jawed Yokel Would Rate It Two Meth Teeth out of Five
Normally, I don’t break my one cardinal rule of reading – never ever ever get something from the Barnes and Noble bargain bin. But my eyes saw the magical words “Edgar Award” and I decided Edgar Award surely could trump the stench of bad bargain books. I was so so wrong. I stopped reading and went into “shut up and take my money” mode right after Edgar Award, so I didn’t notice the few qualifiers that came with Edgar Award – namely, “from the Edgar Award […]