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DON QUIXOTE – Cervantes

In a small village in La Mancha, Spain, the noble Alonso Quijano has become completely consumed by the stories he’s read of knights and their valiant chivalry and so he imagines himself one of these knight, renames himself Don Quixote, and with his loyal servant Sancho Panza, sets off on a series of (mis)adventures, battling imaginary… Continue reading
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SUMMER OF LOVE AND EVIL – Michael Kinnamon

It is 1967 and drugs, Vietnam, and family farms giving way to corporate farming are the topics of conversation in many Iowa communities. Charles Weaver is graduating from his small, Iowa farming town high school as the valedictorian. He has great plans for his last summer in town before going off to Des Moines to… Continue reading
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SHE WHO BECAME THE SUN – Shelley Parker-Chan

Oh, wow. This is phenomenal. It is 1345 China and the Mongol’s rule with an iron fist. Out in the Central Plains of China, peasants toil away and only dream of the possibilities of greatness – something found in prophesies but not real life. Until, that is, the eighth-born son of the Zhu family, Zhu… Continue reading
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TOGETHER WE WILL GO – J. Michael Straczynski

Things haven’t gone well for Mark Antonelli, a failed young writer with a grim future. So he puts together a plan…. Mark buys a beat-up old tour bus and hires an ex-vet to be the driver, and he plans to drive/ride across the country. He places ads in newspapers along the route and will pick up… Continue reading
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PRIESTESS OF MORPHINE – Marie Madeleine

Whoa … where did this come from?! ‘Discovering’ a book like this is one of the joys of reading to review. Marie Madeleine was not likely to be on my radar, but I found her work to be significant. Baroness Gertrud Freifrau von Puttkamer (born Gertrud Günther) was a German writer of lesbian-themed erotica. She… Continue reading
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THE UNWINDING AND OTHER DREAMINGS – Jackie Morris

What kind of book is this? The drawings and narrative feel like a poetic children’s book. But the creator suggests it’s more of a meditative book … something to put on the night stand and read a couple of pages before bed after a long day? Whatever it is, it’s pretty to look at. These… Continue reading
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THE AENEID – Virgil

Somehow I managed to get through high school and college without ever having read The Aeneid. I’m happy to have finally corrected that. Inspired by Homer’s slightly better-known, more familiar works, Virgil’s The Aeneid takes the hero, Aeneas, a survivor of the fall of Troy, and tells his story of war and defeat, his loves and passion, and… Continue reading
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ALL’S WELL – Mona Awad

Well, this didn’t work for me at all. A one-time theatre professional, Miranda Fitch, is now a college professor and she’s close to losing this job. She is addicted to pain-killers for her chronic back pain. She loathes herself, her students, her life. She has selected Shakespeare’s All’s Well That Ends Well – one of his ‘problem’ plays… Continue reading
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Looking For the Best Book of 2021

At the end of each year I take a look back on the books that I’ve read and try to determine the best books I’ve read in each category and the best book I read during the year. This is a best of those I’ve read and reviewed in 2021, not necessarily the best books published in… Continue reading
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THE SUN ALSO RISES – Ernest Hemingway

“The Lost Generation.” Following World War I a group of friends try to find some meaning in their lives as they hang out and party and drink in Europe. I read and reviewed this book a little over five years ago, and I’ll use a lot of that review here because my thoughts about this… Continue reading
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ODIN – Diana L. Paxson

I feel as though there has been a real resurgence of interest in Norse mythology in the past five years or so, and at the top of that Norse gods pyramid is the all-father, Odin. My own interest in Norse mythology has been high for many years and I’m always interested in learning more which… Continue reading
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THE DOVER ANTHOLOGY OF AMERICAN LITERATURE, VOLUME I – Bob Blaisdell, editor

I never thought I’d read a book like this once I graduated from college, but here I am, delving into the past and reading an assortment of classic, American works. For a bibliophile such as myself, I find that there are more classic works of literature that I want to read, but because of all… Continue reading

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