October 2015 – Looking For a Good Book

October 31, 2015

SHAKESPEARE V LOVECRAFT – D.R. O’Brien

HALLOWEEN SPECIAL A year or so there was a quickly moving fad in fiction to combine existing works of literature with some form of horror stories, whether zombies or vampires or you-name-the-horror. Of this variety, I’ve read through a couple of them and was entertained enough that it wasn’t a complete waste of time. This Continue reading

Dark Fantasy/Horror, MYTHOLOGY, Uncategorized

Book Reviews, Books, Horror/Dark Fantasy, Mythology/Legend, Reviews

October 30, 2015

UNSEEMLY SCIENCE – Rod Duncan

Unseemly Science, by Rod Duncan, is the second book in “The Fall of the Gas-Lit Empire” series and I felt that book one was one of the most original sci-fi/fantasy novels I had read in a long time (see that review here). This second venture into Duncan’s world definitely takes a darker turn, but holds on Continue reading

SF/FANTASY, Uncategorized

Book Reviews, Books, Reviews, SF/Fantasy

October 28, 2015

JAVASCRIPT FOR KIDS – Nick Morgan

For kids? This book is great for ANYone looking to learn what Javascript is, and how to write it. In the vein of the “Dummies” books and “Idiot’s Guide” books come the “for Kids” books, which approach a topic, in this case writing Javascript, as if the reader has no background in it. And in the Continue reading

CHILDREN’S, NON-FICTION, Uncategorized, YA

4 stars, Book Reviews, Books, Children’s Books, non-fiction, Reviews, Young Adult

October 27, 2015

LINCOLN’S SPYMASTER: ALLAN PINKERTON – Samantha Seiple

This teen and tween biography of Allan Pinkerton, by Samantha Seiple, is just the ticket to get students interested in reading non-fiction. Lincoln’s Spymaster is an easy, engaging read. Seiple’s writing moves along crisply, telling us what we need to know and making the work of the spy, Allan Pinkerton, sound exciting and dangerous (which Continue reading

CHILDREN’S, NON-FICTION, Uncategorized, YA

4 stars, Biography, Book Reviews, Books, Children’s Books, non-fiction, Reviews, Young Adult

October 26, 2015

EAST OF WEST, VOL 4 – graphic novel

A year and a half ago I reviewed volume one of this graphic novel series (see review here) and I commented on how gorgeous the art by Nick Dragotta was throughout the book but that I didn’t quite understand what was happening. It’s good news to report that the art is still by Dragotta and Continue reading

GRAPHIC NOVEL, Uncategorized

Book Reviews, Books, Graphic Novels, Reviews, SF/Fantasy

October 23, 2015

ALICE – Christina Henry

Christina Henry’s Alice is a darkly original look at Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland stories. In a dark, run-down (some might call it a ‘hole’) town called Old City, a ragged woman named Alice is imprisoned in a hospital (“Her body had grown older but her mind was still trapped at sixteen, still unsure of Continue reading

Dark Fantasy/Horror, OTHER, Uncategorized

Book Reviews, Books, Horror/Dark Fantasy, Literature, Reviews

October 22, 2015

LINE: AN ART STUDY – Edmund J. Sullivan

THROWBACK THURSDAY: REVIEWING A REISSUE This book got off to a very slow start for me. Initially I wondered what sort of artist with OCD might find this book enjoyable? It reads like a technical manual. But I stuck with it and found quite a few gems of wisdom within the pages. The book is Continue reading

NON-FICTION, Uncategorized

Art, Book Reviews, Books, non-fiction, Reviews

October 21, 2015

WE ARE ALL COMPLETELY FINE – Daryl Gregory

Therapist Jan Sayer pulls together a group of individuals in need of therapy, perhaps more-so than most. There is Harrison, The Monster Detective, once known as the Boy Hero of Dunnsmouth. There is Stan who survived his captivity by cannibals, though he was partially eaten. There is Martin, who never takes off his sunglasses. Barbara Continue reading

MYSTERY, Uncategorized

3 Stars, Book Reviews, Books, Mystery, Reviews, Thriller

October 20, 2015

BLACK WIDOW: FOREVER RED – Margaret Stohl

I often enjoy reading novels featuring characters from another medium. TV and movie tie-ins? Yes. Novels of comic book characters? Yes. But since comics are now typically called graphic novels, reading a novel isn’t such a far away concept. It’s just a story without the pictures. In Black Widow: Forever Red, by Margaret Stohl, Marvel Continue reading

YA

Book Reviews, Books, Entertainment, Reviews, Television, Young Adult

October 19, 2015

AIRPLANE RIDES – Jake Alexander

What has the potential to be an interesting, soul-observing study of humanity, instead becomes a self-centered, hedonistic exploration by one man. Jake Alexander (a pseudonym for a finance executive) does a lot of flying (first class … maybe business class) and of course has thus met many people – his seat mates. Jake Alexander also Continue reading

MEMOIR, NON-FICTION

Book Reviews, Books, Memoir, non-fiction, Reviews, Sex

October 16, 2015

THE ADVENTURES OF BASIL AND MOEBIUS VOLUME 2 – graphic novel

Given my feelings toward the first volume in this Basil and Moebius Adventure series I would normally have not bothered asking to read the second volume. However, I had placed the request for the second volume before I had read the first book, and so this was in my queue and I gave it a Continue reading

GRAPHIC NOVEL, Uncategorized

Book Reviews, Books, Graphic Novels, Reviews

October 15, 2015

THE MYSTERIOUS MICKEY FINN – Elliot Paul

THROWBACK THURSDAY: REVIEWING A REISSUE It must be fun to work for Dover Publications and dig up some of these older books and offer them up for sale again. Many of their reissues are absolute treasures … but treasures that I hadn’t been familiar with beforehand. This is just such a case. Originally from 1939 Continue reading

HUMOR, MYSTERY

Book Reviews, Books, Humor, Mystery, Reviews