As we’ve discussed before, I do not like scary things. I do not like horror movies, zombies, vampires, werewolves, or monsters. I do not like haunted houses. I do not like fish, unless the fish in question is being served to me, preferably with some wasabi and pickled ginger. How, then, I ended up reading…
I am convinced that oatmeal raisin cookies have magical healing powers. No matter what ill befalls me, a nice cup of tea and a plateful of freshly baked oatmeal raisin cookies can be counted on to set things right, including headaches, fevers, and parenting-induced hypertension. While the medical community has yet to weigh in on…
Seventeen years. SEVENTEEN YEARS. That's how long I've been waiting for The Book of Dust, Book One: La Belle Sauvage, the newest book by Philip Pullman. La Belle Sauvage is set in the same world as Pullman's acclaimed fantasy trilogy, His Dark Materials. That series followed the adventures of Lyra Belaqua, a brave, impulsive girl from an alternate-world version of Oxford, England and her daemon Pantalaimon, a shapeshifting animal connected…
Detective Steven Paul is barely keeping it together. His marriage has crumbled, his superiors are questioning his fitness for duty, and his childhood nightmare – a grim prison, a horrific stench, and a cryptic symbol – continues to haunt him, both asleep and awake. So when scandal-chasing blogger Emily Lindsey is found catatonic and covered…
Assuming you did not spend the summer under a rock, you probably heard that the Wonder Woman movie did quite well at the box office. (And by “quite well,” I mean, “was biggest-grossing movie ever helmed by a solo female director,” according to Forbes.) You’d be forgiven, then, for thinking Leigh Bardugo’s WONDER WOMAN: WARBRINGER…
"From thirteen original colonies, as every schoolkid knows, the USA has become a nation of fifty proud states." But as Doug Mack goes on to explain in his latest book, there's more to the story. We don't, strictly speaking, have colonies anymore. Instead, we have territories. And commonwealths. And insular areas. (And the District of…
Sometimes, you just want to read a big book. Maybe you're going into a weekend-long sports tournament; maybe it's too hot and humid to step outside. Maybe you're facing a mountain of laundry with nothing to keep you occupied during the spin cycle, or you're flying cross-country. Maybe you just want to be transported. (This,…
I know we’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but sometimes it can’t be helped. Sometimes you see a book, and its cover says, “I am the perfect summer romance! Read me when you need something long on breezy charm, short on doom and gloom, with a healthy dose of swoony-ness.” Too…
First, a confession: Neil Gaiman could write an air conditioner repair manual and I would cheerfully read it. So the odds I would enjoy his latest release, NORSE MYTHOLOGY, were pretty good. Even so, I was surprised by how delightful this collection is. With a television adaptation of Gaiman’s AMERICAN GODS coming to Starz at the…
