Tag: Book Review
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Leviathan by Paul Auster – A Book Review
I’ve said it many times before, but if you’re not reading Paul Auster, you’re really missing out. He’s remarkably talented and his originality continues to impress me. Leviathan literally means the biggest of its kind, and was also a sea monster from the Old Testament. Knowing such things illuminates Auster’s reasoning behind titling his book…
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Ex Machina: The First Hundred Days – A Graphic Novel Review
Pronounced mah-kin-ah, this little ditty I picked up only because I saw it had recently earned an Eisner Award, which in the world of comic books, is a very big deal. The story is about a former hero turned politician. Not the stuff of captivating reads, in my opinion. On top of that, the writer,…
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Dr. No by Ian Fleming – A Book Review
Even though Dr. No was dreadfully intolerant by today’s standards, had next to no real plot, and neglected to include any substantial characterization, I couldn’t put it down. James Bond is confident, capable, cocky, rather sexist, and perhaps even racist in Dr. No, but the prose is written at such a fast pace, Fleming concocted…
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Maps and Legends by Michael Chabon – A Book Review
Maps and Legends was both a real pleasure and incredibly insightful in a multitude of ways. This nonfiction book by Michael Chabon, author of Wonderboys and the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, offers a variety of essays that will assuredly please all readers. That’s not to say that all readers will…
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The Crossing by Cormac McCarthy – A Book Review
Volume II of The Border Trilogy, The Crossing is McCarthy’s follow-up to All the Pretty Horses. The United States-Mexican border is the only recurring character from the previous volume, but the settings and themes are quite similar. However, The Crossing is unlike its predecessor in the fact that while All the Pretty Horses followed a…
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Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis – A Book Review
I largely credit my love of reading with The Chronicles of Narnia. My fourth grade teacher read the entire series to our class and I loved every minute of it. With the contemporary release of theatrical versions of the first two installments, I’ve enjoyed rereading the books for the first time in twenty years. Prince…
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Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt – A Book Review
For some reason, and I don’t know why, I had it in my head that Angela’s Ashes was about Frank McCourt and his brothers returning to Ireland as adults and fumbling about as they tried to decide how to dispose of their cremated mother’s ashes. It’s not. Angela’s Ashes is actually a memoir essentially detailing…
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Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman – A Book Review
Living under the shadow of Sandman and American Gods, Gaiman has difficulty impressing me with other works because those two are so utterly superb. Anansi Boys is an unfortunate example of just such a case. It tells the story of Fat Charlie, the son of the trickster god Anansi. Early on in the story his…
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The Sandman: The Kindly Ones by Neil Gaiman – A Book Review
The Kindly Ones encompasses the direct consequences of the earlier volume, Brief Lives. In Brief Lives, Lord Morpheus (Dream) changes, for better or for worse. The actions that lead to such change must have ramifications, and The Kindly Ones details such repercussions. In The Kindly Ones, Lyta Hall, a character who has made sporadic appearances…
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The Sandman: Brief Lives – A Book Review
I thought Season of Mists was my favorite The Sandman volume until I read Brief Lives. Brief Lives absolutely has it all-drama, action, comedy, romance, and philosophical ponderings. It focuses upon Morpheus rather directly-unlike other volumes where sometimes he exists within the stories only peripherally-as he helps his sister Delirium track down their brother known…
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