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‘To Kill a Mockingbird’

Wednesday, July 28th, 2010

MockingbirdBy: Harper Lee
Year: 1960
Genre: Fiction

Find this book on Amazon.com

Sometimes you read a book when you’re younger and it’s one of the best books ever. You spend several (okay, several several) years telling people that it is one of the best books of all time. Then you decide to read the book again. What? How could that book you loved not really be that good?

“To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee is not that book.

After so many years, this book is better than I remember. “To Kill a Mockingbird” takes place over several years in the South during the early 1930s. The story is told from the point-of-view of Scout, the daughter of the town lawyer. We follow Scout through the first day of school, summers playing with her brother Jem and neighbor Dil, town relations, a rabid dog, trying to get a view of mysterious neighbor “Boo” and, of course, racism.

The turning point in this book is just over half-way through the novel. Scout’s father, Atticus Finch (who she refers to by his first name, not “dad” or “father”), has been selected as the public defender of a young black man accused of raping a poor white woman. This is a sensational trial and Atticus defends the young man to the best of his ability. Lee is very good at making sure we see the entire story through Scout’s eyes. When Scout is asked to leave the courtroom during the trial, readers never know what happened during that time. It’s refreshing to read a first-person novel that is truly first person, not first person with the all-knowing-story-filler additions.

“To Kill a Mockingbird” is really divided into three sections: Life before the trial, life during the trial and life after the trial. Things are so much different in town before and after the trial and we witness Scout’s changing understanding of the world through this event. She is forced to grow up in ways that aren’t always explained to her.

According to my internet searching on this book, Harper Lee wrote the character of Atticus loosely based on her own father. As an adult reading this story, I realize this book is a love letter to Lee’s father. The rape trial is the center (and turning point) of the story, but it doesn’t come until well after the halfway-mark of the novel. Prior to that, Lee shares with us a series of seemingly-unrelated events in Scout’s life. I now realize those stories are not unrelated or unimportant. They are instead creating an image of Atticus Finch as an honorable and honest lawyer who happens to be a single father of two very intelligent children. We need to know what kind of person Atticus is before he is assigned the rape case and we need to know what kind of person he is as he and his children live in the aftermath of the verdict. Atticus Finch is truly a hero.

This book is part of my summer reading list (here). Fifty years after it’s publication, “To Kill a Mockingbird” is still on the challenged book list of local libraries today. Why? According to the American Library Association, this book is challenged because of language and racism. Of course it has racism … that’s what this book is about. It is a difficult book to read and not one that I will probably hand to my 10-year-old daughters. But I hope my ninth-grade-son reads it (sooner rather than later). We should be made uncomfortable by aspects of this country’s history. And we should be asked to consider how much different things really are now.

Since getting my library card, I’ve been very stingy on how I spend my money on books. This is one that I will be purchasing and one that I will not be waiting so many years between readings.

My rating: 5 out of 5 stars (Excuse me, but why are you still reading this and not getting this book right now?)

Posted in 5 Stars, Fiction, Review | No Responses »

‘The Earth, My Butt and Other Big Round Things’

Friday, June 25th, 2010

The earthBy: Carolyn Mackler
Year: 2003
Genre: Teen

Find this book on Amazon.com

Virginia has successful, athletic parents. She has successful, athletic siblings (an older sister and an older brother). They’re all successful. They are all educated. It’s not uncommon for the family to speak only in French around the dinner table. By contrast, Virginia is 15, overweight and while she is a great student, Virginia can’t speak French to save her life. Add to that a best friend who has moved away for the year, a mother who is embarrassed about her weigh and a girl in the school who would rather be dead than weigh as much as Virginia, and you have a young woman who binge eats and self-mutilate.

This was the first book I read on my summer reading list. This was one of the top “challenged” books in libraries for 2009 because it’s sexually explicit and for language (among other reasons). Of all the things that happen in this book, language and sexually explicit story lines are not the first I would have ever answered to the question, “Why shouldn’t kids read this book?”.

The story is told in first person. Readers are taken along as Virginia deals with with a mother who is so ashamed of her own overweight childhood that she acts and speaks to her overweight daughter in ways that are devistating to a 15-year-old psyche. She has a father who says those words every overweight girl has heard (and which has killed every one of them a little each time it’s said), “You would be so pretty if you lost a little weight.” Her sister has moved out (and across the world) and her brother is the Big Man On Campus in a nearby college. While they had been close, Virginia’s brother doesn’t have time for her any more. Eventually everything comes crashing down as Virginia’s brother makes a choice that shakes the whole family and leaves his own future uncertain. Her parents treat this as a little bump in the road, though, and not the tragic event it really is. This doesn’t leave any room for Virginia to process everything and heal. She doesn’t have any friends at school. She doesn’t have any friends at home. She kind of has a boyfriend, but she keeps him at arm’s length because Virginia is sure he wants nothing to do with an overweight girl. Slowly, we see Virginia take control of her life the only way she can: Through not eating (if she was thin, Virginia believes, she would be loved by her family and liked by her friends) and self-injury (like burning her hand on a candle and pinching the fat on her body until she is black and blue from head-to-toe).

So, if you asked me why shouldn’t kids read this book, my answer would be a resounding, “They should read this book if they’re over 13.” Shielding teens from books like this doesn’t stop kids from feeling the way Virginia feels in this book. Keeping this book off the shelves in the library isn’t going to stop kids from wondering about kissing a boy. It isn’t going to stop girls from eating disorders. It isn’t going to stop kids from feeling alone in their own families. Parents of teenage girls probably should also read this book. If school has taught me nothing else, it has taught me that the teen years are not like they were when I was a kid. This book may be fiction, but really, it’s not.

Obviously I would recommend this book, not just to teens, but their parents as well. Aside from the topic, this is also a well-written narrative. Mackler writes to a teen audience, but she doesn’t talk down to them. The topic is serious, but this could be a great jumping-off point for conversations with your teen. I hope you find a reason to read this “challenged” book!

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Posted in 4 Stars, Fiction, Review, Teen | No Responses »

‘Going Bovine’

Saturday, March 13th, 2010

By: Libba Bray
Year: 2009
Genre: Teen

Find this book at Amazon.com

Cameron is a 16-year-old slacker. His family—including a twin sister— is screwed up and don’t know Cameron spends a lot of his time high. Then he starts to have seizures and hallucinate. At first, he is sent to a variety of therapists, then a drug counselor until they finally realize Cameron’s problems are physical. He has Creutzfeldt-Jacob, better known as “mad cow disease.” And it’s uncurable. ”Going Bovine” follows Cameron as he goes on a journey to find a cure to the disease. A cure promised by an angel with pink wings and a wrist band for Cameron from Disneyworld which counts down the time he has to find a cure to the disease. His travels include alternate dimensions, snow globes, a Norse god trapped in the body of a yard gnome and a youth cult.

It’s pretty obvious early on what is really going on in the story, but I won’t give it away. The buzz on this book led me to have high expectations. I was disappointed. The writing is fine but it’s not great (and I found an editing inconsistency which just drives me crazy!). The story has it’s moments, but in general it’s too long and often times silly (not in a good way). Bray just drags the story on when she should be ending it and throws in crazy things that don’t make sense.

In this novel, Bray, who is an obvious woman, writes first-person as a 16-year-old boy. I normally don’t mind when an author of one gender writes as the opposite gender (I think Neil Gaiman did a wonderful job writing as a girl in “Coraline“). For some reason—and I can’t put my finger on what it was specifically—it really bothered me in this book. Maybe I felt like Bray wasn’t authentic writing as a teen-aged boy. Maybe I just disliked the book and was trying to find something to justify my dislike. But it just seemed…off. And ending? Yeah, I just said, “Huh” out loud and closed the book.

It wasn’t the worst book I’ve ever read. It wasn’t the worse written book I’ve ever read. But I just don’t believe it was worth the hype heaped on it.

My rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Posted in 3 Stars, Fiction, Review, Teen | No Responses »

‘The Devil’s Arithmetic’

Monday, February 15th, 2010

By: Jane Yolen
Year: 1988
Genre: Teen

Find this book at Amazon.com

One day, I was looking at my daughter’s spelling list. The words were difficult so I asked my sweet little fourth grader about the list. It turns out, the words were from the book she is reading in school; a book called “The Devil’s Arithmetic.” With a name like that, I had to find out more.

Hannah (the main character, not my daughter), is a 12-year-old girl who is unwillingly going to her grandparent’s house for the Passover seder meal. It’s not cool and she doesn’t like these rituals that don’t really mean anything to her. She doesn’t like remembering things she doesn’t know. Hannah especially doesn’t like spending time with her grandfather. You see, when she was little, she used a pen to write numbers on her arm like the numbers her grandfather has on his. She thought it was something he’d like. Instead, he got angry and started yelling at her in Yiddish. No one has ever explained to Hannah what these numbers were for and why he was angry.

At the seder meal, Hannah is selected to open the door for the prophet Elijah. When she opens the door, Hannah expects to see the apartment across the hall. Instead, she finds herself transported to Poland during World War II. As a member of the Jewish community, Hannah is on her way to a wedding in another village when the villagers encounter the Nazis. All of the villagers are taken, via a terrible four-day train trip, to a concentration camp where Hannah eventually learns what the numbers mean and what her grandfather lived through.

Even though this book is for younger readers than I am, I couldn’t put it down. I read this book in one day last week and STILL find myself thinking about it. Yolen tells a moving story for younger readers (reviews I’ve read had all ages from late-elementary through high school having to read this book for school assignments) but I’m pretty sure adult readers would be moved as well. Yolen doesn’t pull any punches. The camps are not rainbows and butterflies. Children die. They are shamed and beaten. The fear is palpable and Hannah must try to survive. An especially difficult task since she paid attention in school and knows what is going to happen in the camps and to the Jewish prisoners.

This is a moving story and it is well written. Of course there are a lot of movies and literature—both fiction and non-fiction—around experiences from the Holocaust. This book doesn’t share a new story about Jewish experiences in concentration camps. But it is so well written and so well written for children and teens, that you can’t help but feel the horror and fear as Hannah experiences it. To me, that is the mark of an exceptional book. This book is a must-read  and I’m trying to convince my other daughter to read this as well (We’ll see, so far she is waffling).

My rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Posted in 5 Stars, Fiction, Rating, Review, Teen | No Responses »

‘The Carnivore’

Sunday, January 3rd, 2010

By: Mark Sinnett
Year: 2009
Genre: Fiction

Amazon.com summary:

When Hurricane Hazel tore through Toronto on October 15, 1954, it left its mark on both the city and its inhabitants. In the aftermath, a young cop named Ray Townes emerges as a hero—numerous accounts detail the way he battled the raging Humber River to save those trapped in their homes—and his story is featured prominently in the newspapers, thrusting him into the spotlight as a local celebrity. Meanwhile, his wife Mary is wrestling with doubts about her husband’s heroism. While performing her own miracles the night of the storm as a nurse at a mud-filled, overcrowded emergency room, Mary met a woman—disoriented and near death—with a disturbingly peculiar recollection of events. While Mary tries to shake her suspicions about Ray as they rebuild their life in the shell-shocked city, she can’t help but wonder about her husband and that fateful night. When a reporter comes knocking 50 years later to revisit that horrendous night, the truth begins to surface and threatens to destroy them.

In spreading my (reading) wings with my library card lately, I’ve realized there are a ton of quirky and different ways to tell a story. After reading Mark Sinnett’s  ”The Carnivore” I realize there are very few fantastic storytellers. Sinnett is one of them.

I picked up this book because—surprise, surprise—the cover design drew my attention. The liner note (which didn’t match the above at all) sounded interesting (about secrets from  the hurricane coming out 50 years later and Ray and Mary’s roles in that secret). Well, sometimes, we shouldn’t judge a book by the liner notes. In this case, the liner summary was totally wrong about the book (though the above is closer). The truth doesn’t surface 50 years later, it surfaces soon after the hurricane and begins to destroy their relationship immediately after. The reporter’s attention simply bares old wounds to new scrutiny.

This is a beautifully written story. Sinnett writes so well and tells a story so moving, that the reader cannot help but be swept along. It is told in alternating turns by Mary and Ray as they are waiting for Ray to die. Both tell stories that weave from past to present and back again. And Sinnett does so as only a master storyteller could. As I was reading, I almost felt like Mary and Ray were telling the story directly to me over coffee. Normally I get tired reading long paragraphs of exposition, but I was surprised that I showed no hints of boredom or skimmed long, descriptives as I normally do. Aside from the beautiful writing, this is also a compelling story. Mary and Ray share their choices and secrets as well as the pain they are now living with as a result.

I can’t say enough how beautifully written this book is and how compelling the story was. I was just enthralled by the writing and have realized how easily we now settle for quirk and difference at the expense of beautiful writing which is a little sad. I recommend this book as a reminder of what a compelling storyteller is like, but also because it is a really good story.

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Posted in 4 Stars, Fiction | No Responses »

‘The Firstborn’

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009

By: Conlan Brown
Year: 2009
Genre: Fiction

Amazon.com summary:

The Firstborn, those gifted with Foresight, Hindsight, and Insight at the time of Christ s death are divided between themselves. And when an Islamic holy man is murdered outside of his mosque it becomes apparent that one of the Firstborn was to blame. Now, with the threat of a terrorist attack on an unspeakable target the Firstborn are spiraling out of control. Leaders are dying, members are being kidnapped, and unity is being forced. Three heroes, differently gifted and divided must work together to thwart those who would go too far.

Their breakneck race against time plunges them into a world of danger and through a gauntlet across the United States. From the River-walk of San Antonio, where Devin Bathurst, John Temple, and Hannah Rice must protect one another from assassination, to the gritty streets of Washington DC, a paramilitary compound in West Virginia, and ultimately back to our nation’s Capital, the Firstborn must unite to prevent an impending atrocity from becoming reality.

I love religious fiction. Either blatant (found in the religious section) or not-so-blatant (found in the fiction section). It’s not always great (usually it’s not) and since being in seminary, I’ve found that it’s not always theologically sound (but more enjoyable because I know it’s not). How could I resist a religious thriller in the new-release section? I couldn’t, that’s how. And all-in-all, it’s not bad, it’s just nothing special.

The story starts with Hannah’s kidnapping. Never find out why she was kidnapped or by whom (though maybe we did and I just forgot or missed it). It’s merely a chance to have Hannah meet Devin. See, they each come from a different family (I still don’t have the names straight, so we will call them… nothing because it doesn’t matter for my review) and the different families have been raised to hate each other, but Devin saves Hannah and so a bridge has been started. And that bridge matters because they are thrown together in a very dramatic manner—along with a missionary from the third family—and must save the entire Western world. If they can’t save America, NO one can.

Hmmm. Did that sound a little snarky? Oh, sorry. But so many authors think their main characters have to save the country or the world to make the story compelling…It’s getting kind of silly. This story turned into an “us-versus-them” story. We have to stop the terrorists before they bomb a school which somehow will start a world war or make a point or something. And the guy who has the gift of “insight” reads into the minds of the terrorists. While the author tries to give them some humanity to make the reader feel sorry for the terrorist, it’s really just a tool to make the Firstborn real heroes (though I kept asking myself why they didn’t just call the cops. There was a lot of “my gun is bigger than your gun” when a call to the police/FBI/CIA or even the PTA would have solved the problem pretty simply. There is a big firefight at the end that could have been stopped with one phone call).

Don’t expect deep reading, though the author thinks he is much smarter than we are (The author bio states that Brown enjoys “developing high-octane, thought-provoking fiction that turns pages and excites the senses”. Yeah, not so much). This was a fun read, but I didn’t feel great ideas forming in my head or the desire to bring about world peace. Need something to pass the time while you’re sitting at home avoiding the malls on Black Friday? This would be a good way to pass the time.

My rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Posted in 3 Stars, Fiction, Review | No Responses »

‘Bones’

Saturday, November 14th, 2009

By: Jonathan Kellerman
Year: 2008
Genre: Mystery

Amazon.com summary:

Two intriguing preliminary chapters suck readers right in to Kellerman’s latest Alex Delaware thriller, even though Delaware is disappointingly less active than usual in the story—doing hardly more than relating the circumstances surrounding the crime that he and his cop buddy, Lieutenant Milo Sturgis, are determined to solve. The mutilated corpse of a young music teacher, who turns out to be less than prim and proper, is dumped in a protected wetland. Nearby, buried in the marsh, are several more bodies, all of prostitutes whose right hands have been hacked off. Clues lead Sturgis and Delaware to the palatial digs of the music teacher’s young student, who is nowhere to be found. The only one home is the family’s gofer, who apparently has a juvenile record. Sturgis’ antennae really start twitching, though, when the young man disappears. Surely that’s the act of a guilty man. If the whole isn’t quite as suspenseful as initial chapters promise, Kellerman’s intriguing, often oddball characters (including a rookie detective) deliver the goods in this briskly paced procedural. Not among the long-running series’ best entries, but fans will be sufficiently entertained. —Stephanie Zvirin

Slippers, a special blanket, that sweatshirt that you won’t wear out of the house but won’t throw away. That’s what Kellerman’s books are like for me. They are comfortable and familiar. I’ve been reading his novels for years and I’m pretty sure I’ve read every Alex Delaware novel. The characters are known, the mysteries interesting, the writing good enough. These are quick reads and the stories move along nicely. This is no exception.

Kellerman doesn’t break any new ground with his books. This is a typical cop mystery. It has been interesting through the books to see how Alex Delaware has gone from a young, eager psychologist with a thriving practice who is always ready to stick his neck out to an older, cynical and somewhat pretentious psychologist who seems to do work—but never activley—who is more interested in agitating the assumed criminal instead of presuming innocence despite some 30-odd previous adventures which have shown it’s never the first, second or third finger point, well, unless it is.

While this was a good book, it’s not a great book. There was nothing earth-shattering about it. The main characters seemed to phone in their performances—there were no emotional highs or lows for the main character and there was a secondary “love” story added almost as an afterthought (Kellerman introduced two new characters in this book who have ended up in a book of their own. I’m sure the “love” story was a set up for that book). I didn’t feel the tension that I have felt reading some of the older stories. Maybe it’s time to shake things up or for Alex to retire. Kellerman has written other non-Delaware stories, maybe it’s time to focus on those.

That said, this was a perfectly fine book to read. I enjoyed it. I read it quickly. The plot was interesting if a little “out there.” It was familiar and comfortable. Probably not words an author wants to hear about their books, but not always a bad thing, either. I recommend this book if you’re looking for a good, standard mystery that’s quick to read. If you’re looking for something great, read one of Kellerman’s earlier works instead.

My rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Posted in 3 Stars, Fiction, Mystery, Review | No Responses »

‘The Soldiers of Halla’

Thursday, October 1st, 2009

By: D.J. MacHale
Year: 2009
Genre: Teen

Amazon.com summary:

It has all been leading to this. Every victory. Every loss. All the thrills and sadness; the hope and despair. Bobby Pendragon’s heart-pounding journey through time and space has brought him to this epic moment. He and his fellow Travelers must join forces for one last desperate battle against Saint Dane. At stake is not only the tenth and final territory, but all that ever was or will be. Everywhere. This is the war for Halla. Every question is answered. Every truth is revealed. The final battle has begun.

Sounds dramatic, doesn’t it. But for those of us who have read the first nine books, this is dramatic. Bobby Pendragon and the other teens in his life aren’t just saving their town, their country or even their world. They are tasked with saving all of creation. Bobby is a “Traveller” and each world has its own Traveller to watch and protect the world. Bobby and these other Travellers must stop a malevolent being known as Saint Dane from destroying these “territories” and creating his own world to rule over. Each of the previous books dealt with the war on each world. “War” isn’t quite right, because really it was Bobby and his friends having to stop a “turning point” in each civilization which basically showed if the people picked the good or the bad of their destiny.

I’ve always loved these books and couldn’t wait for the final book. How was it going to end? What was the answer to questions that Bobby has been asking all along (no, I’m not going to tell you what questions…you have to read the books yourself). I wasn’t disappointed in the sense that all of the questions were answered. I was disappointed in the last minute game-changer MacHale added (I won’t tell you what it is, but will say: Solera).

MacHale indeed wraps up the saga. He does so in a pretty satisfying way, at least answering all of the questions he has asked in the first nine books in a mostly acceptable manner (unlike other long series from some  authors I have read **cough cough** Stephen King’s The Dark Tower **cough cough**). I will admit that some of MacHale’s answers had me scratching my head and going, “huh?” But he did wrap the story up and at least give an ending to all of the characters.

One problem I’ve always had with MacHale’s book has been his lengthy exposition. This is doubly so in “The Solders of Halla.” Bobby just blabbers on and on describing what he’s feeling and what’s going on around him. I’ve always preferred strong dialogue or a compelling narrative in my novels. I usually skim over long, descriptive paragraphs (what the room looks like, what color the walls are, how everyone is dressed) and that seems to be the way MacHale writes. In previous books that is broken up by stories of other characters from their points of view. I often found these additional stories were more compelling. This book is totally in Bobby’s narration and becomes bogged down in his own exposition. It took me longer to read than expected.

I would recommend this series as a whole much more than I would recommend this one book. And don’t read this one book without reading all of the others. MacHale doesn’t recap the previous books and things won’t make sense if you read this first. But do read the series, especially if you have a teen reader in your house.

My rating: 3 out of 5 stars

(But 4 out of 5 stars for the entire series)

Posted in 3 Stars, Favorite Author, Fiction, Review, Teen | No Responses »

‘World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War’

Sunday, September 27th, 2009

By: Max Brooks
Year: 2006
Genre: Fiction

Amazon.com summary:

“The Crisis” nearly wiped out humanity. Brooks (son of Mel Brooks and author of The Zombie Survival Guide, 2003) has taken it upon himself to document the “first hand” experiences and testimonies of those lucky to survive 10 years after the fictitious zombie war. Like a horror fan’s version of Studs Terkel’s The Good War (1984), the “historical account” format gives Brooks room to explore the zombie plague from numerous different views and characters. In a deadpan voice, Brooks exhaustively details zombie incidents from isolated attacks to full-scale military combat: “what if the enemy can’t be shocked and awed? Not just won’t, but biologically can’t!” With the exception of a weak BAT-21 story in the second act, the “interviews” and personal accounts capture the universal fear of the collapse of society–a living nightmare in which anyone can become a mindless, insatiable predator at a moment’s notice. Alas, Brad Pitt’s production company has purchased the film rights to the book–while it does have a chronological element, it’s more similar to a collection of short stories: it would make for an excellent 24-style TV series or an animated serial. Regardless, horror fans won’t be disappointed: like George Romero’s Dead trilogy, World War Z is another milestone in the zombie mythos. Carlos Orellana

This book was recommended to me by a friend (Thanks Dave!). I try not to think about these things too much so I just added it to my list. Wow. Am I glad I did.

Because I just added it to my list without doing research first, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Was this a comedy (after all, he did write “The Zombie Survival Guide”)? A horror (after all, this is a book about zombies)?  It was neither. This book was a documentary of what life was like at the beginning, during and after a devastating illness swept across the entire globe. It was about how governments responded, how people survived and what life was like “today.” It just so happens this pandemic caused dead bodies to reanimate and try to kill living people.

This book was really well done. It was presented as a series of interviews taken about 10 years after the great zombie war. The people interviewed were from around the world and included leaders, doctors, “regular” people and military personnel. We see what happens in the different governments as they deal with this pandemic and the way people ignore what is happening and treat it as “just another illness” that is nothing to worry about (you know, like what is currently happening with H1N1. I’m just saying…). It’s actually a little scary. (I’ll admit it, I’m a little bit of a conspiracy theorist and every now and then as I was reading this, I found myself thinking, “Hey, I could see this happening! We could be over run by a zombie pandemic and this is how it would play out!!”).

When I mentioned in an earlier post that I was reading this book, I used the term haunting. And I stand by it. Brooks keeps the interviews honest. Not everyone he interviews made good choices. Not everything that happens shows people in their best, heroic light. But this story asks the reader, “Okay, say this illness could happen. What would you do to survive?”

This was not a short read. It took me longer than I expected, but it was worth it. This is a great book. While there are parts that are disturbing to read (let’s be honest, they are still zombies who eat living people and basically rot before they give up. Heck, their heads keep chomping away when separated from the body), those disturbing parts do not dominate the story and really do add to the plot. I highly recommend this book. And like the reviewer above says, if Brad Pitt does make this into a movie, he’ll probably ruin it. What makes this story work is what would make it fail in movie format.

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Posted in 4 Stars, Fiction, Review | No Responses »

‘Life in Purgatory’

Friday, September 18th, 2009

By: Paul Lathrop
Year: 2009
Genre: Fiction

Hey, look, that author has the same last name as me. That must be an amazing coincidence! Okay. It’s not, really. He’s my husband.

Some of you may know that my husband has been keeping a blog for a long time in one form or another. You can visit his blog here. Sometimes I write, but usually not because he’s more interesting than I am. If you haven’t taken some time, feel free to read it. You’ll get a glimpse into his life and our life together. You’ll see his wicked sense of humor which isn’t always obvious to strangers.

While I’ve tagged Paul as one of my favorite authors in this entry, I really do love reading what he writes despite the fact that he’s my husband. Paul has a clear voice and sharp sense of humor.

Paul isn’t some yokel who’s wants to use the interweb to share his political rantings. No sir. He is a yokel who is actually published. Check it out: Paul has a book in the reference section of the Hennepin County Library system! And he tells me it’s in the National Library of Ireland, too. International author! And yes, we had started dating when he wrote this and one dedication was to me.

Yesterday he introduced the world to a new blog, Stories. According to the introduction:

Here’s the promise to you, my readers: Every Friday or Saturday, you’ll find a new entry here. Probably for a while, it will be a new chapter to the long-form story I’ve begun brewing up. But there are short story ideas I’ve got sketched out for you too.

He has already begun his first story, “Life in Purgatory.” There seems to be a clear theological bent which is probably my own fault (a writer inhouse? Of course I’m going to make him edit my theology papers!). I’m excited to read more and see where the story goes. I hope you guys will take a gander over there as well. The first chapter of  ”Life in Purgatory” can be found here. I hope you enjoy! And make sure to comment to Paul. He loves to know what people think of his stuff (both blogs!).

My rating: Are you crazy? Not gonna go there!

Posted in Favorite Author, Fiction, Review | No Responses »

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