Category Archives: Reviews

I’ll keep this short and sweet, as plenty has been written about the new novel from National Book Award finalist Rachel Kushner. Romy isn’t quite sure where she went wrong. What is this decision? Or that one? Now serving two consecutive life sentences, Romy examines her choices, starting in her wild and neglected childhood, andContinue reading “The Mars Room // Rachel Kushner”

The Ghost Notebooks by Ben Dolnick is an eerie, compelling novel about newly engaged couple Hannah and Nick. When Hannah loses her job at the New York Historical Society, she starts looking for work outside New York City. She finds The Wright House, and small museum with a big history (one that is not sharedContinue reading “The Ghost Notebooks // Ben Dolnick”

I can’t say enough about this weird little gem of a book. An amorous sea beast, a cannibalistic captain, and alien abductees are just a few of the oddities that fill this collection. There are 11 stories  and all are vivid, humorous, and paradoxical. Andreasen has written a noteworthy debut, one absolutely worth your consideration.Continue reading “The Sea Beast Takes a Lover // Michael Andreasen”

Once upon a time, long, long ago, I was a young anthropology major fascinated by the field work of formative anthropologists (even though they didn’t always employ the best methods). I read Coming of Age in Samoa, among many other texts, and thought (briefly) I had found my calling. Ultimately archaeology lured me away, butContinue reading “Euphoria // Lily King”

Harley McKenna is a daughter, a fighter, a friend, and a victim. She’s shot a man, buried a mother, and plotted revenge, but her most defining characteristic – the one she can’t seem to escape – is being the only child of the Duke McKenna, the most notorious criminal in northern California. Duke – widower,Continue reading “Barbed Wire Heart // Tess Sharpe”

Benjamin Shreve is just a little boy when he sees his sister maimed and his stepmother killed by a very large, very vicious panther. Set in Texas during the Civil War, The Which Way Tree by Elizabeth Crook is a Texas-sized tall tale of revenge and adventure through the wilderness in pursuit of El DemonioContinue reading “The Which Way Tree // Elizabeth Crook”

After unexpectedly inheriting a homestead in remote Alaska, Ernt Allbright moves his family to the Kaneq wilderness. Suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder from his time as a POW in Vietnam, he looks at his new life as the answer to his problems. And in the beginning, it is, but his demons begin to catch upContinue reading “The Great Alone // Kristin Hannah”

Alice Marin, 21 and newly released from the institution for clinically unstable witches, returns to post-Katrina New Orleans to attend her grandfather Celestin’s funeral. Although magic seems to be waning, Alice is more powerful than ever. Perhaps it’s her connection to the malevolent entity Babau Jean, or perhaps it’s related to the Marin family secrets.Continue reading “The King of Bones and Ashes // J. D. Horn”

I remember the gunshots made a wet sort of sound, phssh phssh phssh, and each time he hit her she screamed. Do the math and the whole things probably went on for as long as ten minutes. I just stood there and watched. Yates’ novel opens with that visceral passage, leaving little mystery as toContinue reading “Grist Mill Road // Christopher J. Yates”

Long time, no post! After many, many, many technical difficulties, I am back up and running for the time being. I got so frustrated with my hosting and domain issues that I actually created another site (just a regular wordpress.com site), but I couldn’t access the back up of my current site and I didn’tContinue reading “Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance by Ruth Emmie Lang”