4 Stars. I honestly expected to find more hard facts in the book than I did. But Dr. Hall addresses that. Even when she found records of revolts led by women, they rarely contained more than a first name. So she decided to make “measured use of historical imagination” and fill in the gaps. That’s fair enough, especially since […]
3 Stars. I enjoyed the second volume of this series but it didn’t quite grab me the same way the first one did. It’s been years since I read the first one so maybe the time lapse and/or my shifting tastes are to blame. I feel the creepy old photos are incorporated a bit more seamlessly than they were in the first book; however, […]
2 Stars. I imagine that this book is a fantastic choice for a book club or assigned reading but I, as a solo reader, just found it confusing. The plot jumped around with little resolution, characters appeared and disappeared, and I couldn’t find an entry point to understanding it. To be fair, it’s written in an […]
5 Stars. In my zeal to read a new book by Sarah Addison Allen, I found that I had inhaled this book in two sittings. Oops. No savoring the prose here. But a friend had sent me an ARC so I feel the need to write a more reasoned review and I wanted another chance to take my time with the book anyway. So I’ve read this twice within […]
3.5 Stars. I don’t read a lot of poetry and don’t really feel that I have the tools to review it. All I can say is that I know what I like when I read it. I’m not someone who is going to devote a lot of time to dissecting a poem and wrenching every ounce of meaning from it. I had enough of that in school. I can’t even remember […]
3 Stars. I’m still so upset that the last book ended the way it did. I tried to put that behind me, as Jacky herself does, but I’m a world-class grudge-holder. I was mostly able to enjoy this book for itself but I’m still rating it 3 stars instead of the 4 I would probably have given it if that nonsense from book 11 hadn’t […]
4 Stars. I slightly preferred the first book to this one, only because this one dwelled so much on politics. I’m not a strategist so reading the machinations of the Mughal court was a bit less interesting to me than the events of Mehrunnisa’s earlier life. I also have very little patience for characters who make repetitive mistakes in […]
4 Stars. This was another fun installment in the Small Spaces series, with just the right amount of creepy for middle grade readers. I like that Brian is a little more in the spotlight in this book. Ollie tends to be the group’s natural leader but her attentions are elsewhere throughout most of the novel. Brian really steps up [….]
4 Stars. I’m not the most knowledgeable person when it comes to pop culture. I’ve always preferred to have my nose in a book, instead of going to school dances, watching TV, or reading pop magazines. But I’ve made my share of mix tapes (and later, mix CDs). So this title caught my eye. Rob is about a decade older than I am but […]
3.5 Stars. Even As We Breathe caught my eye because it’s set in my part of the world (Asheville, NC) and it’s written by a Cherokee woman. I wanted to add some diversity to my Southern Lit challenge so I picked it up. This was a beautifully-written coming-of-age story. Cowney (rhymes with county) is struggling to find his place in the […]
4 Stars. I don’t even know how I first came across this title but I added it to a list of possible books to read for a classics challenge I’m participating in. I had to read Beowulf and The Epic of Gilgamesh in high school so I wanted to read some epics from other cultures. Somehow I found The Ramayana. Then I realized that this version […]