4 stars – Page 49 – Looking For a Good Book

March 26, 2018

UNCOMMON TYPE – Tom Hanks

I tend to be wary of books, particularly fiction, by people who have achieved fame in some other form. I am particularly wary of books by actors – I’ve read too many that seems to have been sold on the actor’s name and not the quality of the work. And I really didn’t want this… Continue reading

SHORT FICTION, Uncategorized

4 stars, Book Reviews, Books, Literature, Reviews, Short Stories

March 16, 2018

ET TU, BRUTE? – Jason Novak

Well … this is … unusual. Artist Jason Novak takes a look at the history of the Roman Emperors and chronicles their deaths in a series of rapid-pace short cartoons. Novak’s cartoon style reminds me of the 1950’s stylized cartoons. Take a look at the cover as depicted above … that’s straight from the book… Continue reading

GRAPHIC NOVEL, HUMOR, Uncategorized

4 stars, Art, Book Reviews, Books, Graphic Novels, History, Reviews

March 12, 2018

FINDING BIX – Brendan Wolfe

I first became aware of Bix Beiderbecke when I heard him on a tune played on Public Radio and I immediately went out to purchase a few CDs that featured his horn. I enjoy listening to a Beiderbecke song, but part of that comes from the fact that I’ve been a fan of jazz music… Continue reading

ENTERTAINMENT, MEMOIR, NON-FICTION, Uncategorized

4 stars, Biography, Book Reviews, Books, Entertainment, History, Memoir, Music, non-fiction, Reviews

March 9, 2018

DEFYING MARS – Cidney Swanson

I read a lot of books and I get them from a variety of sources. In addition to ARCs and my visits to the library (I’m a library board director) I scour the on-line book community for free and sale-priced books. It was in this way that I first came across author Cidney Swanson and… Continue reading

SF/FANTASY, Uncategorized, YA

4 stars, Book Reviews, Books, Reviews, SF/Fantasy, Young Adult

February 20, 2018

ENDURANCE – Scott Kelly

I am of the age that I can clearly remember watching the first landing on the moon and the first time mankind walked on the moon. And I remember the Apollo-Soyuz Project and seeing the artist’s conception of the two spacecraft docking, miles above the Earth (and what a strange-looking bug that Soyuz craft was… Continue reading

MEMOIR, NON-FICTION, Uncategorized

4 stars, Biography, Book Reviews, Books, Memoir, non-fiction, Reviews

February 19, 2018

ELSEWHERE VOL. 1 – graphic novel

Other than reading a few graphic novels for my book review blog, I am not connected to the comic book/graphic novel community. I don’t read up on what authors and artists are working on and I definitely don’t hear any advance praise or advance criticism. What that means is that when I request an Advance… Continue reading

GRAPHIC NOVEL

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

February 14, 2018

A PERFECT MANHATTAN MURDER – Tracy Kiely

Nic and Nigel Martini are enjoying the Manhattan night life at the opening night party for a Broadway play. The play was written by their good friend, Harper, and they are enjoying her accomplishments as much as they enjoy the people watching at the party. Harper’s husband, Dan, is a theatre critic and not a… Continue reading

MYSTERY, Uncategorized

4 stars, Book Reviews, Books, Mystery, Reviews

February 5, 2018

THE TURN – Kim Harrison

I’ve read and reviewed a few of Kim Harrison’s books for this blog and they’ve been met with only mild appreciation. But that has changed with The Turn. This prequel novel sets the stage for The Hollows series and as such, introduces the characters (for thosewho are not tremendously familiar with them) and reminds those who… Continue reading

SF/FANTASY, Uncategorized

4 stars, Book Reviews, Books, Reviews, SF/Fantasy

January 29, 2018

DEAD COLD BREW – Cleo Coyle

I had gotten on the band wagon for a different mystery series that revolved around coffee and I thought it only fair to check out this series, which has clearly been around for a lot longer as this book, Dead Cold Brew, is the sixteenth in the series. Clare Cosi is the owner of a… Continue reading

MYSTERY, Uncategorized

4 stars, Book Reviews, Books, Mystery, Reviews

January 24, 2018

THE WITCHER ADULT COLORING BOOK

So how do you review a coloring book? I’ve been kind of fascinated by the coloring book phenomenon going on in the publishing world. It would appear that an awful lot of people who grew up having spent some time coloring with crayons in coloring books have missed that relaxing exercise. Coloring books for adults… Continue reading

ENTERTAINMENT, GRAPHIC NOVEL, OTHER, SF/FANTASY, Uncategorized

4 stars, Art, Book Reviews, Books, Entertainment, Graphic Novels, SF/Fantasy

January 18, 2018

ARCHIE ARCHIVES: THE DOUBLE DATE – graphic novel

THROWBACK THURSDAY: REVIEWING A REISSUE My earliest memory of reading Archie comics was in the 1960’s when I would go to visit my grandparents. They didn’t have much to entertain a child except for five old comic books, three of them Archie‘s (the other two were Disney characters). It was those same comics every time… Continue reading

GRAPHIC NOVEL

4 stars, Book Reviews, Books, Graphic Novels, Reviews

January 15, 2018

I HAVE NO MOUTH AND I MUST SCREAM – Harlan Ellison

I first read this book in 1976 and became an immediate fan of Harlan Ellison’s work. Shortly after reading the book I attended my first convention, met Mr. Ellison, and had him sign that book. Since that time I think I’ve read every collection the irascible writer has published. But I recently decided to go… Continue reading

Dark Fantasy/Horror, SF/FANTASY, SHORT FICTION, Uncategorized

4 stars, Book Reviews, Books, Horror/Dark Fantasy, Reviews, SF/Fantasy, Short Stories