Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire Tor Books, 2016 Every Heart a Doorway is a book that spans genres. It’s part YA, part horror, part old-timey Portal fantasy, and part magical boarding school fantasy, with a dollop of LGBTQ. It’s disturbing, in ways both unintentional and obvious. It won a Nebula award, yet could …
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie Little, Brown & Co., 2017 (10th Anniversary Edition) [Challenge # 5: A book by a local author.] The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is a semi-mythic coming of age story of a Native American boy’s freshman year. Arnold Spirit Jr. lives on …
The following book review is condensed from and elaborated on from an earlier post. by Victoria Aveyard HarperTeen, 2015 Red Queen, by Victoria Aveyard, is one of those dystopias that appears to take its high concept to the max. Mare, a teenage girl on the cusp of turning 18 and being drafted into the army, …
The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory A Touchstone Book, Simon and Schuster, 2003 [Challenge # 34: A book about a person you know little about.] The Other Boleyn Girl isn’t the sort of book I usually read. But since I found a copy at one of the Little Free Libraries in my neighborhood, and …
The Mutter Museum of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia by Gretchen Worden Blast Books, 2002 It’s getting close to Halloween, and thus the time for creepy thrills. You can find them at the Mutter Museum in the city of Philadelphia. The Mutter Museum was the brainchild of physician and educator Dr. Thomas Mutter. He …
The Shadow Glass by Aly Fell Dark Horse Books, 2017 The Shadow Glass is filled with some wonderful artwork. The first page shows a view from the Tower of London overlooking a lovely harbor by the river Thames, a red and blue pennant flying, as a traveler named Thomas Hughes arrives. In night-muted colors …
Hermetech by Storm Constantine Headline Book Publishing PLC, 1991 [Challenge # 1: A book that’s been on your TBR (to be read) list for over a year.] British fantasist Storm Constantine is an acquired taste. Hermetech, published in 1991, is the one novel of hers I kept trying to start, and kept putting off. It’s …
Americus by M. K. Reed and Jonathan Hill First Second, 2011 Dragons make an appearance in this graphic novel about the dangers of censorship in that the book-in-a-book under fire features a “wytch” protagonist who is half-dragon… leading to cries of bestiality from the Christian far right! Americus is based on a controversy of some …
Exo by Fonda Lee Scholastic, 2017 Of all the YA science fiction I’ve read so far (and keep in mind it hasn’t been a lot) Fonda Lee’s Exo is the only one I’d call true SF. That is, an out-there premise is given and the author extrapolates from it, showing us the effects it has …
Where Wizards Stay Up Late by Katie Hafner and Matthew Lyon Simon and Schuster, 1996 [Challenge # 4: A book about a historical event that took place in your lifetime.] Of all the books I’ve read so far this year, Where Wizards Stay up Late, a history of the development of the Internet, was the …