The first chapter of Nick Hornby’s novel, “A Long Way Down” introduces the 4 main characters, Martin, Maureen, Jess and JJ. Each main character tells the story in a rotating first person, and each section clearly identifies who is speaking. The story starts with Martin explaining why he is on top of a fifteen-story building, on New Years Eve, “Can I explain why I wanted to jump off the top of a tower block?” ...
Caution: Puns Ahead! That should be on the cover of this book–if you hate puns, you won’t find this book as amusing as I did. Because the bad guy calls himself the Gingerbread Man, one might think this was a light book. It certainly was a quick read, but the subject is disturbing, as the Gingerbread Man is a serial killer. Like many mysteries, the suspense isn’t who the murderer is, but how he is caught. And, with a main character named Jack Daniels, you know this could become a very interesting series. I’m sold! ...
This book is a collection of letters from a female writer in New York City to a bookstore in London. She writes for good, inexpensive copies of books which they ship to her in New York. Eventually, she and the man who answers for the bookstore become friends. The love of books is throughout the collected letters. Helene tries to help her London friends by sending them treats during the rations in London after World War II. She longs to go to London, but doesn’t ever seem to have the funds to go. ...
Daphne Phelps inherited a house in Sicily called Casa Cuseni. At the time, Daphne had no knowledge of Italian, no money, and was war-weary. At 34, she moved to the small Sicilian town of Taormina expecting to sell the house. After 50 years and guests like Tennesee Williams, Bertrand Russel, Henry Faulkner and Roald Dahl, Daphne Phelps has a wonderful story to tell. This is a charming and entertaining memoir, full of fun and earthy stories told in a no-nonsense style. ...
A terrific read! Very entertaining, unusual and fresh with a sly humor and good story. A detective story of sorts. In Eric Garcia’s world, Dinosaurs are walking among us. A while back, the Dino population of the world took notice of the annoying apes evolving and made the decision to hide their identity. Now living among the apes are various breeds of dinosaur hiding in very elaborate costumes…including our protagonist Vincent Rubio. ...
Reviewer: Sally ‘Life Happens!!’ We’ve all seen the bumper stickers. Some use different words, but the meaning is the same. It’s the cynic’s answer to ‘Why?’ It’s also the optimist’s answer to the same question. I like to finish the statement this way: ‘Life Happens!! Get over it!!!’ ‘Why…is this happening to me?’ It is one of the age old questions. Many authors have offered their version of the answers. Viewpoints are varied, of course. We blame others, we blame God, and sometimes we even blame ourselves. One thing is for sure. There are no easy answers. ...
Alice Steinbach manages to do the things we all want to do: She travels to different places to learn new things. She goes to cooking school in France, tours Jane Austin’s England, and learns a bit about being a geisha in Japan. She does many other things as well. I loved reading this book; even when Alice learns something I have no interest in, she makes it interesting. The locations, the learning, and the lessons were wonderful to read about. ...
Reviewer: Bardsandsages Breaking the boundaries between literary and genre fiction, Gregory Bernard Banks’ Phoenix Tales: Stories of Death and Life is a stunning collection of short stories that confronts the meaning of life and death with beautiful bravery. Part science fiction, part philosophy, with a little horror thrown in, this collection should be on everyone’s reading list. Each tale is a wonder in and of itself, and combined into a collection, creates a dramatic and insightful tool with which to uncover our own thoughts and fears on the subject matter. ...
Amazon emailed me a couple of days ago to let me know I might like the new Laurell Hamilton book “Blood Noir”. I don’t have the message anymore, but I remember it going something like “You liked Anita Blake in the past, you might like this one. Why not pre-order?” In reality, it said something like “As someone who purchased from the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series…”. Yeah - I did like Anita Blake in the past. The first few books in the series were excellent. Then we went through the courting phase where each book had the worst imaginable, most horrific bad guy that only flittered around the edges of the story till the last few pages, when Anita would stroll in and end the story in some ridiculous fashion, like killing an Aztec god with a pen. Also, the formulaic descriptions start to get annoying. Every character is described over and over by eye color and what they are wearing. ...
Well - it’s time for some changes at ClubReading. The current site has served us well for a long time, but it is feeling it’s age. As you can see, the new site start page is a blog. This will give us a chance to share and dialog with the community, while still having a place for a conversation. The new books part of the site is written using the Zend Framework. I have to admit, the new books part of the site is not complete. There are still some very rough edges, but it will meet the basic needs: ...