Category: Book Reviews
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Breathers by S.G. Browne – A Book Review
With all due respect to Mr. Browne, I simply couldn’t finish this book. After the first fifty pages, I knew it was a lost cause, but out of professional courtesy, I tried to press on. I trudged through half of it and simply had to call it quits. Breathers, a story about zombies trying find…
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Fables: War and Pieces – A Graphic Novel Review
In this presupposed crucial volume of Fables, Bill Willingham and company finally bring about the “final” battle between the Adversary and his Empire … but first, we have to muddle through a clichéd and by-the-book tale featuring the unlikely super-spy, Cinderella, and even her two-issue story was preceded by an issue focusing upon Boy Blue…
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The Easter Parade by Richard Yates – A Book Review
In The Easter Parade, Richard Yates delivers a well-crafted and well-written novel with the bluntness and mercy of a rusty scalpel. Yates allows us to follow the life of Emily Grimes all the way from childhood into her fifties. Her mother is a reckless, distracted woman who divorced Emily’s father when Emily was just a…
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Y: The Last Man: Whys and Wherefores by Brian K. Vaughan – A Graphic Novel Review
This final installment to the Y: The Last Man series left me both unsatisfied and disappointed. Y: The Last Man started out as a fantastic series. It was a high concept with excellent characterization and an epic, fascinating plot. But, as the series wore on, it lost steam. I assumed this was the lull before…
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Peter and the Wolf by Chris Raschka – A Book Review
This children’s book is based upon the original work of Sergei Prokofiev. In it, Raschka creates three-dimensional images placed upon a miniature stage to illustrate the events of the story. If you are unfamiliar with Prokofiev’s original version, I don’t see you enjoying this book.
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You Remind Me of Me by Dan Chaon – A Book Review
You Remind Me of Me is a novel that slowly worms its way into the very fabric of your being. Chaon’s characters are so flawed and utterly human that the reader can’t help but accept them as part of everyday reality. Chaon also plays with chronology and perspective to the point that the book almost…
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Tales From Outer Suburbia by Shaun Tan – A Book Review
Comprised of fifteen short stories, this beautifully illustrated, ninety-six page book is aimed at an audience of twelve and older. Young people will love the magical realism of Tan’s charming stories, as well as the diverse and mesmerizing artwork. Older teenagers and adults will appreciate the above aspects also, but they will also treasure the…
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Iodine by Haven Kimmel – A Book Review
This book, appropriately enough, really has me split down the middle. One hand, I hated it. It encompassed all of the hipster “too-cool-for-everyone” characteristics in the protagonist, Trace, that drive me bonkers. All those songs and musicians that everyone who “dares” to be different listens to? Yep, there in here. The “I so don’t care…
