Looking For a Good Book

August 12, 2014

THE IRON TRIAL – Holly Black and Cassandra Clare

**WARNING — SPOILERS AHEAD!!** Comparison’s to Harry Potter are going to be inevitable as The Iron Trial deals with a young man going to a magician’s school to learn how to use (and control) his magic abilities. There’s also a prophecy about the return of a ‘bad’ magician and a group of students thrown together… Continue reading

CHILDREN’S, SF/FANTASY, Uncategorized, YA

Book Reviews, Books, Children’s Books, Reviews, SF/Fantasy, Young Adult
August 11, 2014

OLIVER AND THE SEAWIGS – Philip Reeve

Oliver and the Seawigs is a delightful, flight of fancy fantasy. Author Philip Reeve has captured the imagination of a young reader quite well in this story of Oliver Crisp, a ten-year-old who was born into a life of adventure. His parents are explorers of a voracious sort. They can’t NOT explore if there’s something… Continue reading

CHILDREN’S, Uncategorized, YA

Book Reviews, Books, Children’s Books, Reviews, Young Adult
August 10, 2014

THE GIBSON LES PAUL – Dave Hunter

If you know anything at all about guitars, you know that Gibson Les Paul is one of the best, most popular guitars of the world. Dave Hunter’s book, The Gibson Les Paul: The Illustrated History of the Guitar that Changed Rock is at once both a beautiful coffee-table style book, and a history book chronicling… Continue reading

ENTERTAINMENT, NON-FICTION, Uncategorized

Book Reviews, Books, Entertainment, Music, non-fiction, Reviews
August 9, 2014

DARK SHADOWS: YEAR ONE – graphic novel

While vampires might be the ‘hot’ monster right now, thanks to shows like True Blood and The Vampire Diaries, some of us are old enough to remember when vampires were ‘hot’ because of shows like Dark Shadows. Dynamite Entertainment brings us a graphic novel collection of Barnabas Collins’ induction in to and the first years of… Continue reading

Dark Fantasy/Horror, GRAPHIC NOVEL, Uncategorized

Book Reviews, Books, Graphic Novels, Reviews
August 8, 2014

GABRIEL FINLEY AND THE RAVEN’S RIDDLE – George Hagen

I was really excited to read this book … enough so that I bumped it way up on my reading schedule … but am disappointed in the outcome. This book feels like a very one-note story that grew a bit tedious. The story: Twelve-year-old Gabriel Finley’s father has been missing for a number of years… Continue reading

CHILDREN’S, SF/FANTASY, Uncategorized, YA

Book Reviews, Books, Reviews, SF/Fantasy, Young Adult
August 7, 2014

CITY OF LIGHT, CITY OF DARK – Avi

THROWBACK THURSDAY: REVIEWING A REISSUE I am not particularly familiar with Avi, though I recognize his name as a prominent author in the YA/Children’s Book field. What I don’t know is whether this is a departure from his other writings, or if this is in line with the bulk of his cannon. The story is… Continue reading

CHILDREN’S, GRAPHIC NOVEL, Uncategorized, YA

Book Reviews, Books, Children’s Books, Graphic Novels, Reviews, Young Adult
August 6, 2014

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA, VOLUME 2: SURVIVORS OF EVIL – graphic novel

This book was just dull. In the graphic novel milieu, I’ve lately read a number of titles that have been quite extraordinary. None of them have been of the major-publisher-superhero-ilk such as this and I think the difference in story-telling is night and day (with this being the lesser ‘night’). Something has happened to all… Continue reading

GRAPHIC NOVEL, Uncategorized

Book Reviews, Books, comic book superheroes, Graphic Novels, Reviews
August 5, 2014

INNOVATION THE NASA WAY – Rod Pyle

Rod Pyle’s Innovation the NASA Way is a very successful book on two levels. First, this is a very nice summary of NASA’s history, hitting the highlights (Gemini, Apollo, Voyager, Skylab, ISS, Space Shuttle, etc) — the successes — and touching briefly on the catastrophic failures. You could certainly write volumes on any one of… Continue reading

NON-FICTION, Uncategorized

Book Reviews, Books, History, history book, non-fiction, Reviews
August 4, 2014

THE FOURTEENTH GOLDFISH – Jennifer L. Holm

The Newbery Medal is the top prize in American literature for children. Having read a great number of Newbery Medal and Newbery Honor books, I can tell you that there’s a common ingredient among them all. That ingredient is ‘education.’ Every book I’ve read finds a way to teach the reader a little something in the… Continue reading

CHILDREN’S, Uncategorized, YA

Book Reviews, Books, Children’s Books, SF/Fantasy, Young Adult
August 3, 2014

quotes – 3

It’s time for a few more quotes from some of my recent readings. If you enjoy quotes (and it seems there are a number of us who do), you can check out my previous assortment as well (Quotes #1 and Quotes #2). “We are language-making creatures in the same way that spiders are… Continue reading

OTHER, Thoughts, Uncategorized

quotes
August 2, 2014

GRINDHOUSE: DOORS OPEN AT MIDNIGHT, VOL.1 – graphic novel

What did I get myself in to?! Ever since I watched the 2007 film Grindhouse (a double feature with Robert Rodriguez directing Planet Terror, and Quentin Tarantino directing Death Proof) I’ve been slightly (let me emphasize slightly) fascinated with the grindhouse category of film (low-budget, hack-em, slash-em exploitation films). I was curious to see how… Continue reading

GRAPHIC NOVEL, Uncategorized

Book Reviews, Books, Graphic Novels, Reviews
August 1, 2014

HOT PURSUIT – Roderick Thorp

Author Roderick Thorp is best known for his book Nothing Lasts Forever which was the basis for the popular movie Die Hard starring Bruce Willis. Knowing only that much, you can go in to this book assuming it will be an action/adventure thriller. And it is. The story: Coast Guard Commander Sam Merrill becomes an “All-American-Hero”… Continue reading

MYSTERY, Uncategorized

Book Reviews, Books, Mystery, Reviews, Thriller