“We believe the one who has the power. He is the one who gets to write the story. So when you study history, you must always ask yourself, Whose story am I missing? Whose voice was suppressed so that this voice could come forth? Once you have figured that out, you must find that story … More Homegoing, by Yaa Gyasi: Book Review
If you’ve followed my Rizzoli and Isles reviews, you know that I think Tess Gerritsen is a solid thriller writer. I haven’t liked all of the Rizzoli and Isles books but she’s good enough to keep me coming back for more again and again. This was the first non-Rizzoli and Isles book of Gerritsen’s that … More Playing With Fire, by Tess Gerritsen: Book Review
“The truth is a beautiful and terrible thing, and should therefore be treated with great caution.” Kind of like how The Force Awakens calls back to the first Star Wars, Cursed Child introduces Harry Potter’s next generation with help from old heroes by revisiting all their greatest hits from the original series. And so we begin where Harry Potter … More Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Book Review
“Nothing was more terrifying than what families could do to each other.” I’ve had a problem with a certain type of novel for a few years now: I’ve found that I have this enormous struggle reading books about white dudes who can’t get their shit together. Why? Because these white guys who can’t grow up … More Sons and Daughters of Ease and Plenty, by Ramona Ausubel: Book Review
“You only live twice: Once when you are born And once when you look death in the face.” Twelve books into Ian Fleming’s James Bond series, the strain to keep things interesting is showing. This is a Bond novel that laughably pretends rock, paper, scissors can be a high stakes game like Bond’s casino showdown with … More You Only Live Twice, by Ian Fleming: Book Review
I’ve been a movie buff for a long time. For a time in my early twenties I actually studied the Oscars. Seriously, I studied them. I got to the point where if you named a year from 1950 to present I could have told you the move that won Best Picture that year and who won … More West of Eden, by Jean Stein: Book Review
The overarching problem of this desperately quirky novel is that is can be summed up thusly: “you were an insanely narcissistic creep who treated me like dirt. That’s why we broke up.” Honey, walk the other way and stop navel-gazing. This boy was never worth your time in the first place. In addition, because this … More Why We Broke Up, by Daniel Handler: Book Review
“The dead could only speak through the mouths of those left behind, and through the signs they left scattered behind them.” Every detective series has to have a memorable detective at its core. To fill this requirement, a writer can either go quirky (like Precious Ramotswe or Stephanie Plum) or gritty (like Harry Bosch, Kinsey … More The Cuckoo’s Calling, by Robert Galbraith: Book Review
“As Hegel said, tragedy was not the conflict between right and wrong but right and right, a dilemma none of us who wanted participate in history could escape.” The Sympathizer boldly promises to redefine the way you think about the Vietnam War. A lot of that simply comes down to its narrator, a Communist spy … More The Sympathizer, by Viet Thanh Nguyen: Book Review
“All must pay the debt of nature.” Annie Proulx’s work up to now has been many things, some of them seemingly contradictory: terse, blunt, sharp, distant, poignant, violent, humane, and more. With Barkskins she claims an entirely new term for her collection: sprawling. Clocking in at more than 700 pages, Barkskins begins with the stories of René … More Barkskins, by Annie Proulx: Book Review
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