In this very, very dark telling of Peter Pan, Peter is abused and unwelcome everywhere he wanders until he stumbles onto the island of Avalon. There, he finally carves out a home for himself, although not without a certain amount of danger. As conditions on the island deteriorate, Peter recruits children from the world of Continue Reading…
Scarlet by Marissa Meyer: Book Review
4 Stars. I didn’t like this quite as much as Cinder but I definitely still enjoyed it. By introducing Scarlet, Marissa Meyer managed to avoid my common complaint that the second book in a series is just filler. Had she stayed exclusively with Cinder’s story, I’d probably be complaining. By shifting the focus, she fills in a lot […]
One Child by Torey Hayden: Book Review
Torey Hayden is what I can only call a special ed teacher. At some less-politically-correct point in her career, she agreed to teach the “garbage class” (her words, not mine) that consisted of the abused, unteachable, unreachable kids. The class of eight students, a teacher’s aide who lacked even a high school diploma, a high Continue Reading…
The Sleeping Beauty by Mercedes Lackey: Book Review
In the Five Hundred Kingdoms, a force called the Tradition tries to fit likely young men and women down the well-trod paths of fairy tale characters. Now it’s trying to work its magic on Princess Rosamund but Godmother Lily is doing her best to thwart it. The Queen has just died and Lily sees the Continue Reading…
The Small Hand by Susan Hill: Book Review
Adam Snow gets lost in the countryside on a drive back to London one evening and finds himself at a derelict house. He gets out of the car to look around and feels a small hand slip into his. There’s no one else there. He takes the memory of the hand with him and remembers Continue Reading…
Doctor Sleep by Stephen King: Book Review
Life hasn’t been easy for Dan Torrance since the events of The Shining. Now that he’s an adult, his shining has faded a little but it’s still too much for him to handle. Following in his father’s footsteps, he’s turned to alcohol to escape from his problems. He eventually hits his bottom and tries to Continue Reading…
Mountainfit by Meera Lee Sethi: Book Review
Author Meera Lee Sethi travels to Sweden one summer to volunteer at a bird observatory. Her time in the mists and mountains of Sweden led her to write a collection of contemplative essays that are collected here. What beautiful language! I was in deep like from the beginning and in love by the closing sentences Continue Reading…
The Fallen by T. Jefferson Parker: Book Review
Homicide Detective Robbie Brownlaw was promoted a few years ago after a crazed arsonist threw him out of a sixth-floor window. He obviously survived to tell the tale, but he was left with a form of synesthesia–he sees people’s words as colored shapes. He’s learned to use this ability as a primitive lie detector. He’s Continue Reading…
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway: Book Review
A group of friends travel to Pamplona, Spain for the annual running of the bulls and subsequent bullfights and fiesta. I didn’t like it. Not one bit. We read this for my book club because one of our members remembered loving it when she read it in an English class and had been wanting to Continue Reading…
Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison: Book Review
Georgia Nicolson is fourteen and full of typical fourteen-year-old girl drama. Through her hilarious diary entries, we learn about her disastrous attempt at plucking her eyebrows, her fantasies about a guy she calls the Sex God (even though she doesn’t seem very clear about what sex actually involves), her fights with friends, and her triumphs Continue Reading…
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck: Book Review
Tom Joad, just released from prison, heads back to his parents’ farm only to find that they have been evicted from their land and are on their way to California in search of a fresh start. Thousands of families are in a similar situation and there are many ruthless people along the way who take Continue Reading…