Sabriel has just graduated from her boarding school in Ancelstierre when she receives a message from her father letting her know that he’s in trouble and needs help. The problem? Her father, Abhorsen, is a talented necromancer whose job is making sure that the dead stay dead. Sabriel has some magic training, but she’s going […]
Character Connection: Matthew Cuthbert
Anne of Green Gables was my favorite book as a child. The first time I read it, I hate to say, I thought it was boring and gave up. I tried again later and fell in love. I’ve read all the books in the series (and all of L. M. Montgomery’s books) countless times since […]
Twice Upon a Marigold by Jean Ferris: Book Review
Marigold and Christian are living out their happily ever after, but they aren’t perfectly happy. Little spats and hurt feelings have started creeping in. Could Olympia’s evil be influencing their lives? And what about the rumors of a woman who washed up in a village downstream not too long after their wedding? It can’t be […]
The Gunslinger Born by Stephen King: Book Review
Peter David and company retell the story found in Book Four of The Dark Tower Series, Wizard and Glass. I didn’t realize this was basically a re-telling of Wizard and Glass, I just assumed it was some sort of “Further Adventures of the Gunslinger” kind of thing set when Roland was young. I had a […]
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. I didn’t post last week because of the holiday, so over the past two weeks I’ve Reviewed: The Alchemyst by Michael Scott, read by Denis O’Hare Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand Abundance: A Novel of Marie Antoinette by Sena Jeter […]
Dissolution by C. J. Sansom: Book Review
Vicar General Thomas Cromwell is sending his man, Matthew Shardlake, to investigate a brutal murder. As he brings Reformation to England, Cromwell is trying to subtly force monasteries to “voluntarily” dissolve, and the man he sent to the monastery in Scarnsea has been killed. Shardlake needs to find the killer–and try to convince the abbot […]
Character Connection: Aibileen Clark
Aibileen Clark, from The Help by Kathrynn Stockett, is a patient woman. She has raised white women’s children in Mississippi in the 50’s and 60’s. She has loved them when they were small and then been hurt as they grew up, learned the values of the culture around them, and shunned her. That’s the way […]
Leaving Gee’s Bend by Irene Latham: Book Review
Ludelphia Bennett is worried about her mom. After several miscarriages, Mama finally seems to be carrying a baby to term. But she is coughing a lot and looking weaker every day. When the baby comes early, Ludelphia doesn’t know what to do. She asks their neighbor, Etta Mae, for help. But Etta Mae has a […]
The Maze Runner by James Dashner: Book Review
Thomas suddenly awakes in a box as a group of other teenage boys looks down at him, calling him unfathomable names like “shank” and “greenie.” He has no idea how he got there or where he came from. All he remembers from his past is his name. He eventually learns that this group of 50-60 […]
Abundance by Sena Jeter Naslund: Book Review
What I knew about Marie Antoinette before reading this book (spoilers ahead if you don’t know anything at all about her): She was married to Louis XVI, she said “Let them eat cake,” she was queen during the French Revolution, and (possible spoiler here)————————-she was beheaded. That was it. Three out of four isn’t bad. […]
Character Connection: Mrs. Murphy
Mrs. Murphy is a tiger cat who co-habits with “Harry” Harristeen (a woman) and Tee Tucker, a Welsh corgi. They live in the tiny town of Crozet, Virginia. For such a tiny place, Crozet has an awful lot of murders. Luckily for everyone, Mrs. Murphy is on the case in this series of books written […]