Tag Archives: Book reviews

Book Review: The Wind Through the Keyhole by Stephen King – Blogcritics Books

Posted on May 8, 2012 | Leave a comment

From my review of The Wind Through the Keyhole:

Although it says right on the cover that The Wind Through the Keyhole is a Dark Tower novel, it is really only set in the Dark Tower universe, rather than an integral part of the series. Of course, Dark Tower fans will want to read it and spend a little more time with their favorite characters (very little, as it turns out). But even if you haven’t read any of the books in the series, you will have no trouble following the events in The Wind Through the Keyhole. Its flavor is more reminiscent of King’s young adult fantasy The Eyes of the Dragon than any of his horror novels.

Read the rest at Book Review: The Wind Through the Keyhole by Stephen King – Blogcritics Books.

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Review of The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta

Posted on January 26, 2012 | Leave a comment

On a perfectly ordinary day in October, with no warning, millions of people around the world simply disappear. They come from all backgrounds, ethnicities, ages, religions. They are parents, spouses, children, friends. They are gone, with no explanation, and the question is: How do the people who are left behind — the “leftovers” — deal with it?

This is the premise of Tom Perrotta’s new novel. The setting is a small suburban New England town. The principal characters are people many of us would recognize, ordinary people. By getting into their heads, Perrotta explores each person’s reaction to this apparently random, unexplainable event, while following the course of their lives afterward.

Read the rest of my Book Review of The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta at Blogcritics Books.

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Review of 11/22/63 by Stephen King on Blogcritics

Posted on December 7, 2011 | 1 Comment

Stephen King’s latest novel, 11/22/63, is not what you might expect from the master of horror. For one thing, it’s not horror. It’s a time travel yarn, a love story, a meticulously researched piece of historical fiction, and a gripping suspense novel. But it’s definitely not horror. It is, instead, something new and different for King, and for those of us who are longtime fans, it’s a welcome change. King is still doing in this book what he has always done best: he thrusts ordinary people into extraordinary situations and then sees what happens. Which makes for a great story.

Read the rest of my review: 11/22/63 by Stephen King – Blogcritics Books.

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Book Review of Soft Apocalypse by Will McIntosh

Posted on September 12, 2011 | 1 Comment

Soft Apocalypse is a scary, suspenseful page turner. It depicts an America in collapse, mired in economic depression and plagued by environmental calamities, where both the middle class and effective government seem to be absent. The narrator, Jasper, and his “tribe,” are underemployed kids with master’s degrees struggling to survive in this “new normal.” The scenario sounds all too familiar. But in trying to depict the effects of these calamities, Soft Apocalypse strays into the realm of the unbelievable.

Read my full Book Review: Soft Apocalypse by Will McIntosh on Blogcritics Books.

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Book Review: Stephen King: A Literary Companion by Rocky Wood – Blogcritics Books

Posted on September 8, 2011 | 1 Comment

Few authors have achieved Stephen King’s level of fame and popularity. His books are guaranteed bestsellers, despite many of them being literal door stoppers, weighing in at 800 or more pages. He has a legion of fans that King affectionately calls his “constant readers.” I freely admit to being one of them. I have read everything King has ever written and am always first in line for his newest book. Stephen King: A Literary Companion by Rocky Wood seemed like the perfect companion for a fan like me.

Read my Book Review of Stephen King: A Literary Companion by Rocky Wood at Blogcritics Books.

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Here’s a great new money-making opportunity: get paid for posting fake reviews! Since good reviews are so necessary to sell products at Amazon.com and elsewhere online, they have become a form of currency. I have become increasingly suspicious of Amazon … Continue reading →

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Posted on August 24, 2011

Book Review: Pao by Kerry Young on Blogcritics Books

Posted on August 15, 2011 | Leave a comment

I have published a review of the new novel Pao by debut author Kerry Young. Please visit Blogcritics to read it: Book Review: Pao by Kerry Young – Blogcritics Books.

In brief: Pao depicts life in a time and place that’s unusual for historical fiction: Jamaica, from pre-independence to the present day. The narrator’s perspective is also unique. Yang Pao immigrated to Jamaica from revolutionary China as a boy of fourteen. He gradually built himself up into a benign gangster based in Chinatown, providing protection to Chinese merchants, running brothels and a gambling enterprise, and distributing stolen goods.

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Review of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

Posted on August 12, 2011 | 1 Comment
Drawn portrait of Philip K Dick

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I am discovering the weird and wonderful world of Philip K. Dick. Here is my review of the book that spawned Blade Runner: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? on Books Worth Reading.

In brief: What’s most interesting about this novel is its take on the importance of empathy, especially in contrasting the human characters with the non-empathic androids they’re trying to kill. The experience of empathy has become a religious pursuit for most humans, as they use machines to empathically connect with one another and a spiritual leader named Mercer, and as they empathically connect with the animals in their care.This concept of empathy set against such a bleak vision of the future is particularly effective when contrasted with our current disregard for the planet and its rich variety of life while we still have it. We learn to value life only when it’s gone, but even so, we still feel compelled to destroy, to the point where we have to invent something — the androids — that we can feel okay about killing. When Deckard begins feeling empathy for them, he no longer knows who he is.

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Frankenstein: The First Science Fiction Novel? « Books Worth Reading

Posted on August 7, 2011 | Leave a comment
Steel engraving (993 x 71mm) for frontispiece ...

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This is an older essay on my books blog, but I still quite like it, and the classics never go out of style. Please read and let me know what you think of: Frankenstein: The First Science Fiction Novel? on Books Worth Reading.

In brief: The classic theme, and warning, explored in Frankenstein is that man should not play god. The dawn of the Industrial Age brought with it fear of what man and machines could accomplish, and the unforeseen consequences they could have. There is also a theme of the monster as isolated, without an identity, adrift in a world where he can make no connections and life has no meaning for him. Again, this poses a warning of the dehumanization that technology can bring. These themes resonate throughout the science fiction genre even today.

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Book Review: Sara Foster’s Southern Kitchen

Posted on August 3, 2011 | Leave a comment

Please check out my Book Review of Sara Foster’s Southern Kitchen by Sara Foster with Tema Larter, posted on Blogcritics Books. If you like Southern food, I think you will like this cookbook!

In brief: When you open Sara Foster’s Southern Kitchen, you will want to start cooking right away, just to transform the gorgeous photos on the page into food on your plate. As with Foster’s other cookbooks, Southern Kitchen focuses on crowd-pleasing food made with fresh, seasonal ingredients. This time, she’s returned to her roots and offered classic Southern dishes with a modern sensibility. This is the food of church picnics and summer barbecues, the food Grandma used to make, but more healthful and definitely easy to cook.

Read more: http://blogcritics.org/books/article/book-review-sara-fosters-southern-kitchen1/#ixzz1V7enQocC

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