Reading an Anne Tyler book is like snuggling into your warm bed when it’s raining and you have nowhere to be. There are no Big Bads, no scary, suspenseful moments, and no dramatic confrontations. Her books feel like a snapshot of the characters’ lives, which are mostly very ordinary. I adore them. The Accidental Tourist is the story of Macon Leary, a middle-aged man who writes travel guides for businessmen (and since it was written in 1985, they are indeed guides for businessmen, not businesspeople). His son Ethan was […]
The American Dream as an iridescent admonition.
The Pearl is a fairly simple tale, a parable, of the destruction wrought upon a family by colonialism, capitalism, and wealth. Kino is a hardworking, but impoverished, man who works as a pearl diver. When his infant son, Coyolito, is stung by a scorpion, Kino seeks help from the village doctor. They are turned away for lack of funds, and Kino and is wife, Juana, make the best of the situation with an herbal poultice. He returns to the ocean in the hopes that he’ll […]
Lost and Found
This review was originally published at Women Write About Comics. Have you ever picked up a book just because you had a good feeling about it? You’ve never heard of it, don’t recognize the author, and don’t even know what it’s about? This began as one of those books. It also happened to be one of the rare instances when an impulse buy not only met, but exceeded my expectations. When I got home from the bookstore and finally bothered to read the blurb, […]
Goblins and emperors and airships, oh my!
Maia is the fourth, much despised, half goblin son of the of the emperor of the Elflands. He has lived his whole life in exile, banished for the crime of being borne of a bride that the Emperor did not want. Uneducated, uncouth, and unpolished, Maia is ill-prepared to become Emperor when his father and three older brothers die in an airship crash. But Maia is thrust into the position and must learn how to govern, how to be always surrounded by people but forever […]
I think it might be quite emotionally exhausting to be a twin
Did you miss me, guys? I’m going to try to finally tackle the massive backlog of reviews I have (more than a quarter Cannonball at this rate), so expect much more from me in the days to come. Jude and Noah are twins and have always been very close, to the point where they seem able to communicate without words, reading each other’s minds. During the summer when they are thirteen, things are changing. Getting ready to apply to a creative arts high school, Noah […]
The perfect poolside summer smut.
Apparently “mom porn” is a totally legit “literary” genre now, and the lemon grove is a perfect example of the tedious tawdriness that is the genre. It iswell-written, but not quite enjoyable. It is sexy but not overtly so. The story is based in a serious family drama, but it never feels quite explored. Not quite sexy, not quite serious. I liked it and disliked it, the words of both love and hate being too strong. The plot is simple. Jenn is on holiday in […]