Diving into an already well advanced series of books, where the character has already done a fair amount of living and a great deal of narrative has already flowed under the literary bridge, is akin to walking into a conversation that is well underway. Weirdly uncomfortable and more than a Continue Reading
Books
Christmas with the Berenstain Bears – Night Before Christmas, Merry Christmas and Old-Fashioned Christmas
The Berenstain Bears are the epitome of a snug and cosy, loved and valued life. Created by Stan and Jan Berenstain (their son Mike later assumed full authorship following Jan’s death in 2012), with the first book The Big Honey Hunt hitting bookshelves in 1962, reading one of the more Continue Reading
Book review: Invisible Boys by Holden Sheppard
Growing up gay, especially in a country town, comes with a multitude of odious compromises. And by compromises, we really mean outright theft of mind, body and soul, as you struggle mightily to disguise the obvious in a town where even the most subtle of things seems to eventually exist Continue Reading
Book review: Early Riser by Jasper Fforde
The very best books, the kind that make reading a extraordinary and incomparable delight, are those that offer up a sumptuous journey to places and with people you would never otherwise have the pleasure of coming into contact with. By doing so, they offer up a glorious sense of escape Continue Reading
Book review: Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson
When first you pick up the definitively titled Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson, you may tempted to wonder just how many quirky books about characters encountering some great challenge and thus sweet victory or transformation in the twilight of their lives, one book market can take. Take a Continue Reading
Book review: I Am C-3PO – The Inside Story by Anthony Daniels
Odds are that if you think of Star Wars, and particularly the trilogy that began it all (New Hope / The Empire Strikes Back / The Return of the Jedi), that your mind will first fall upon the unmissable trio of protagonists of Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), Princess Leia (Carrie Continue Reading
Book review: World Engines – Destroyer by Stephen Baxter
Humanity has always had a robust love affair with the future. Often burnt by the past and uncertain or despairing about the present, there is something inside of us that optimistically grabs a hold of the future, embracing it like some kind of gilt-edged promised land where troubles will be Continue Reading
Book review: A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers (Wayfarers #2)
There is an uncommon joy that infuses every last word in Becky Chambers brilliantly-affecting A Closed and Common Orbit. That is largely due to the nuanced and empathetic way that the author addresses the prevailing theme of the book which is all about discovering who you are and where you Continue Reading
#Halloween book review: Peculiar Ground by Lucy Hughes-Hallett
There is a sense, as you plunge into biographer Lucy Hughes-Hallett’s debut novel, Peculiar Ground, that you are in fact walking into a rare and spectacularly unique world. That world is the estate of Wychwood, which we first encounter in the mid-seventeenth century when landscape architect John Norris is, under Continue Reading
Book review: Love in Small Letters by Francesc Miralles
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if life was like the movies? Not Alien or Zodiac because no one wants that kind of trouble; no, films like Sleepless in Seattle or While You Were Sleeping where there are complications sure but life and love generally end up in the sweet spot of Continue Reading