Given to me as a birthday present, I was intrigued by the title and cover of “Baggywrinkles: A Lubber’s Guide to Life at Sea”. At the time I joked that it was a good length for me to include in my Cannonball Read this year. This past Saturday I was running out the door to sit in a waiting room and needed a new book to read. I reached for a sci-fi novel called “Nova” that’s been waiting to be read for months now only […]
The book I needed post election
For my birthday in October my daughters gave me two books, “Ghost Talkers” and “Arabella of Mars”. As I had been waiting for over a year to read “Ghost Talkers”, that was given higher reading priority. Supposedly things happen for a reason and I’m now glad that “Arabella of Mars” came second because it was the book I was reading at the ending of this U.S. election. AoM was the perfect amount of escapism that was needed to balance the stress of this election cycle. AoM […]
Spiritualism and the Great War
I have been aware of Mary Robinette Kowal for some time now. Several of my favorite authors sing her praises regularly, John Scalzi in particular springs to mind as I write this. Last year Kowal went on a book tour with Marie Brennan. Brennan writes the delightful Lady Trent Memoirs series, of which I am a fan, so it was exciting to be able to attend a signing of hers for the first time. As Kowal was coming too, it seemed time to finally pick […]
The Book of Three and Revisiting Old Friends
After finishing The Chronicles of Narnia, the first three Harry Potter books and starting “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children”, only to discover we couldn’t renew at the library due to the waiting list, my 8 year old daughter wanted new fantasy to read. I handed her “The Book of Three”, first volume in the Prydain Chronicles, by Lloyd Alexander and off she went to be completely absorbed in the story and declare she would use it for her oral book presentation. The Prydain Chronicles […]
A non-European Based Fantasy
Saladin Ahmed’s name regularly kept coming up on lists of fantasy authors to check out. Last Christmas I put “Throne of the Crescent Moon”, book one of The Crescent Moon Kingdoms series, on my wish list, in June it came with me on a family vacation. The vast majority of the fantasy I’ve read over the years has been in some way based on/inspired by feudal Europe. TotCM is written from a different perspective with roots in Middle Eastern culture and that made it […]
Arena
“Arena” is the debut novel by Holly Jennings, another subscription pick by my bookstore. “Arena” sat on my bookshelf for several months after coming home from the bookstore. The opening blurb on the inside cover reads, “EVERY WEEK, KALI LING FIGHTS TO THE DEATH ON NATIONAL TV. SHE’S DIED HUNDREDS OF TIMES. AND IT NEVER GETS EASIER…..”. After it stops shouting, you are informed how she is part of a Virtual Gaming League, competing in the premier tournament of the season. “And though their weapons and […]