Miles Roby is the manager of The Empire Grill in the heart of Empire Falls, Maine–or what’s left of it, anyway. This once-thriving industrial town is dying now that the factories have all closed. Empire Falls still has a tightly-knit, optimistic community though. There are constantly rumors about new buyers for the factories. Miles feels […]
Rise of the Evening Star by Brandon Mull: Book Review
Kendra and Seth are nearing the end of the school year when a new guy joins Kendra’s class. The other girls talk about how cute he is, but all Kendra sees is a disgusting goblin who plays cruel tricks on people. A mysterious stranger offers to help them get rid of the goblin (or kobold, […]
Second Hand Heart by Catherine Ryan Hyde: Book Review
Vida is 19 years old and dying. She’s been dying her entire life. Not in the vague way that we are all destined to die, but in a way that has led her through multiple heart surgeries in her short life. This time, it’s for real. Her doctors are talking weeks if she’s lucky. She’s […]
Inkheart by Cornelia Funke: Book Review
Meggie Folchart and her father, Mo, find themselves on the run from a mysterious man that Meggie knows only as “Capricorn.” Capricorn is chasing after them, trying to steal a book that they own, and he won’t stop at anything to get it. First off, let me say that I’m about 20 years older than […]
Dreams Made Flesh by Anne Bishop: Book Review
Dreams Made Flesh is a collection of four short stories/novellas centered around Jaenelle and her court. One of the events takes place immediately after the third in the Black Jewels series, so anyone reading this should keep that in mind. It definitely has spoilers for the previous books. My favorite story by far, was “The […]
Fire by Kristin Cashore: Book Review
Fire lives in a country known as the Dells, and she is a human monster. There’s a strain of wildness in the country that leaves some of the animals and people with impossibly seductive beauty and power. Fire is so named because of her hair. She can enter minds and control people and animals. But […]
People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks: Book Review
Hanna Heath studies and restores rare books. She is offered the chance of a lifetime when she is contacted by the United Nations to restore a rare illuminated Haggadah at the end of the Bosnian War. Hanna manages to pull out a few clues to the book’s history. As she follows up on the clues, […]
Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman: Book Review
Twelve-year-old Odd doesn’t quite fit in with the rest of his village. He crushed his leg when he was younger and that’s left him with a limp. He’d rather be carving alone in the woods than hanging out in the hall with the other villagers fighting and telling stories. His stepfather is just awful. So […]
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline: Book Review
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 […]
The Greatest Generation by Tom Brokaw: Book Review
“‘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 […]
The Odyssey by Gareth Hinds
Gareth Hinds undertakes the task of adapting The Odyssey, the tale of Odysseus’s long journey home after the Trojan War, into graphic novel format. I wish this had been around when I was wading through The Odyssey in high school (and maybe college? I can’t remember). I don’t know what translation we read, but we […]