Personal blog: All opinions are only my own, unless you want to borrow them. (he/him)
I’ve been rather silent on this blog lately. That happens sometimes. In this case, I’ve been worn out from working on projects around my house. Totally worth it, though, because I now have (among other things) a whole floor-to-ceiling wall of built-in bookshelves!
I’m also excited to announce that I’m now reviewing for Booklist Online. My primary focus for them will be adult SF with an occasional nonfiction title thrown in. So… not all that different from the kind of books I review here.
This review was first published by Booklist on February 15, 2016.
A passionate romance. A brutal murder. A conspiracy that threatens war on a galactic scale. Bonesteel’s debut sets the stakes impressively high. Commander Elena Shaw is shocked when her lover is accused of murdering one of her crew, and things only get more strange when the murder is tied to a past tragedy. The first half of the novel is a murder-mystery romance. But in the second half, the story blossoms into something much bigger, and the book really comes into its own as a work of far-future military science fiction. The mystery is compelling, and the action is nicely paced and exciting, with well-rendered and believable characters. Bonesteel’s writing is nicely nuanced and allows room for humor. Marketing for the novel compares it to Lois McMaster Bujold, which is apt. The first half might make it a good fit for mainstream mystery or romance fans who want to try sf for the first time. The strong female protagonist lends it intrinsic appeal. There are some scenes of graphic sex and violence, so be warned. Overall, this is a highly entertaining tale and a promising start to a new series.
A friend of mine posted this article on Twitter a couple days ago (via the New York Public Library):
What Makes Great Detective Fiction, According to T. S. Eliot
by Paul Grimstad (posted by The New Yorker, February 2, 2016)
I love knowing that no less a luminary than T. S. Eliot was a passionate advocate of early detective fiction. But more illuminating is this glimpse into historic perceptions of genre fiction:
Namely, critics have always dismissed genre fiction as low-brow and formulaic, as intrinsically non-literary, and therefore less worthy.
Eternity’s Wheel provides an appropriate and satisfying conclusion to the InterWorld saga. This arguably the most powerful book in the series.
When the story opens, Joey Harker is back home on his Earth, injured and cut off from his InterWorld teammates. He doesn’t know if he managed to stop FrostNight, Acacia Jones is MIA, and Base Town is trapped and fleeing HEX. Joey goes to Mr. Dimas (his old social studies teacher) for help and advice, and then he embarks on a quest to seek out and recruit more Walkers to train a new army to fight Binary and HEX.
This is an excellent premise for the final volume of the series. At heart, these books are about Joey growing up and accepting his full adult responsibilities. Left on his own like this, he buckles down and does what he thinks is needed. He makes himself a leader.
Continue reading “Book Review: Eternity’s Wheel by Michael & Mallory Reaves”
The Silver Dream, story by Neil Gaiman & Michael Reaves, written by Michael & Mallory Reaves (Book #2 of the InterWorld series) is both better and not as good as its predecessor.
The story in this one is better. My main complaint about the first book in the series is that it read more like the outline of a TV show concept (which is what it is) than a fully fleshed out novel. The Silver Dream works as a cohesive, contained novel. As such, it’s more compelling.
Joey Harker has been with InterWorld for two years now. His team has gained experience in the field. When new and powerful Walkers are discovered in both the HEX and Binary sections of the Altiverse, InterWorld agents (including Joey) retrieve them and bring them back to Base Town. Along the way, Joey meets Acacia (“Don’t call me Casey”) Jones, a mysterious young woman who turns out to be far more important than she lets on. That’s when things start to go wrong … and FrostNight begins.
Continue reading “Book Review: The Silver Dream by Michael & Mallory Reaves”
HarperCollins, 2007
I wish I knew how much of InterWorld comes from Mr. Gaiman and how much is from the coauthor, Michael Reaves. I hope this is mostly Mr. Reaves book because, otherwise, I have to accept that Mr. Gaiman finally wrote something that disappointed me.
I’m not saying InterWorld is a bad book. It’s not. It’s smart and funny and fast-paced. It’s entertaining, with a delightful cast of characters.
Continue reading “Book Review: InterWorld by Neil Gaiman & Michael Reaves”
Alice by Christina Henry is… interesting. Compelling. Artful. There’s a poetry to the writing, the dialog is spare and evocative. The author’s vision of a violent Victorian world, shaped by sharp caste divisions and twisted by strange magic, is deeply rendered and believable.
We meet Alice in an insane asylum, suffering from post-traumatic stress after a violent encounter ten years prior which she can’t fully remember. She’s from the wealthy part of town but her family has abandoned her. Her only friend is the man in the adjacent cell, who, if anything, is even more insane than Alice and also suffering from memory loss. He knows about a monster trapped in the basement.
There’s a fire, they escape, and thus begins a quest through the darkest parts of the City’s underworld, which returns their memories and brings Alice into her own as a Magician in a world where magic has been banned.
In my continuing quest to find my way into and through the world of Readers’ Advisory…
Sometimes people will ask me how to get started on a particular author. They haven’t read anything by this author, but they know I have and they want to give ’em a try. They ask me which of the author’s books is my favorite, or which they should read first.
My initial impulse is to tell them which book is my personal favorite by the author. But I also know that what appeals to me might not be what appeals to them, and so my favorite might not be theirs. Learning which is my personal favorite might tell them something about me, but it might not be their best entrée into the author’s body of work.
Continue reading “When People Ask Me about My Favorite Authors”
In his book, Part of Our Lives: A People’s History of the American Public Library, Dr. Wayne Wiegand groups library services into three major categories:
These categories clarify a nagging issue I have with the language we use to talk about the importance of internet access in libraries. The following quote from a recent article by Larra Clark is a good example:
Continue reading “Internet Access as Public, Social & Cultural Space”
All of the data that follows was collected by me using a combination of Google Sheets and Google Calendar. Once again, I elected not to track pages read—too much discrepancy between formats to generate meaningful comparisons.
A complete list of all the books I read in 2015 is at the bottom of this post.
I read 66 books in 2015. Fiction titles outnumbered nonfiction by 2-to-1:
John the Librarian 