Gumdrop Coal has gotten the axe. Founder of the Coal Patrol, those elves who deliver coal into bad little kids’ stockings, Gumdrop is out on his ear when Santa decides that every child deserves a real gift on Christmas. Gumdrop takes it hard. His methods might be harsh, but he believes they’re fair and they […]
Wade Watts is just your average kind of guy, living in his aunt’s trailer, trying to get through the last months of high school, playing video games, and trying to solve a multi-billion dollar puzzle. Yup. Billion with a b. See, it’s 2044 and video game designer James Halliday has just passed away without an […]
Jared is one of the more powerful members of the Blood, the vaguely aristocratic magic-wielding rulers of the lands he lives in. After a life-alteringly bad choice in his teens, Jared has become a pleasure slave for the Queens and Witches of Hayll. After nine years of bowing to sadistic whims, he does something that […]
“‘I think this is the greatest generation any society has ever produced.’ I know that this was a bold statement and a sweeping judgment, but since than I have restated it on many occasions. While I am periodically challenged on this premise, I believe I have the facts on my side.” So writes Tom Brokaw […]
**Possible spoilers for the first two in the series, Daughter of the Blood and Heir to the Shadows.** The evil queens, Dorothea and Hekatah, are trying to force a war and so gain control of Jaenelle. But they have no idea how strong she is or the lengths she is willing to go to in […]
I just couldn’t write this review without getting some big spoilers off my chest. I kept it safe for everyone though. If you’re not worried about spoilers and it looks like something is missing, just highlight and you’ll see what I wrote. You’ll get it. Just when I thought this series couldn’t get any more […]
**Very minor spoilers for Big Stone Gap** Ave Maria has been married for eight years now. She and her husband have a beautiful daughter, but they’ve also had some very difficult times. Now Ave feels that they’re growing apart. Everyday life has gotten in the way of love, and it’s time for both of them […]
Ave Maria (Please don’t call her Ava) Mulligan has lived all her life in Big Stone Gap in the mountains of Virginia. Yet she’s still seen as a “furriner” by everyone else because her mother was from Italy. Ave is sort of a “pillar of the community”; she’s the town pharmacist, she makes house calls, […]
A co-worker insisted on lending me this book. It doesn’t sound like my kind of thing, but I didn’t know how to tell her I wasn’t interested. We’ll see how this goes… Written in a format that leaves me wondering whether to classify this as fiction or non-fiction, The Richest Man in Babylon uses the […]
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is the story of two girls from very different backgrounds in 1800s China and the deep friendship they share. I picked this up after reading three Holocaust novels in a row. I needed some “fluff” and, not really knowing what it was about, I thought this might work. Instead […]
Writer and bibliophile Helene Hanff strikes up a friendship through correspondence with the staff of a used bookshop in London. I think my expectations were too high. I remember other readers telling me, “Oh, if you liked The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, you will absolutely love 84, Charing Cross Road.” Well, I […]