A Sound and a Fury, Signifying Something
For regular sci-fi readers, and for readers able to “clinically distance” themselves from disordered elements in novels, this novel would be one of the best of many choices in its genre.
The Bad and the Ugly of YA Lit
“The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” has a little bit of the good of contemporary young adult fiction, but way more of the bad and the flat out ugly.
Close Encounters of the Medieval Kind
“Eifelheim” is a very fine science fiction novel, and should be on the reading list of everyone interested in the interaction of medieval and modern philosophy, science, and even politics.
A Love That Might Have Been Real
The greatest feature of “The Girl from Venice” may be that it casts light on the chasm between marvelous technique and real literature. Without the objectively transcendent, there is no literature.
Ready Player One
The pros, in my opinion, far outweigh the cons. The book affirms the value of online social interaction as a step in the right direction if you’re living in a dystopia, but that reality is still best.
Snowblind
The book manages to be fairly reflective and literary, while still remaining a page-turning mystery.
Not Worth a Look
I would seriously caution any parents to read through the book first before allowing their son or daughter to do so. Within are scenes involving graphic descriptions of sex.
A Story Worth Reading- Maybe
The War That Saved My Life, by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley, is a highly acclaimed historical fiction boasting awards from an extensive list of periodicals and, most impressively, was named a Newberry Honoree after its publication in 2015. Parents need to give this book’s themes some careful consideration, however, before passing it on to their children. Ada Smith was born into terrible hardship in 1930s London. The story picks up when Ada is ten years old and forbidden by her mother from leaving the family’s dingy one-room apartment. This, and the…
Ever wonder what milk and toast tastes like?
“Here’s what I think: the only reason I’m not ordinary is that no one else sees me that way” (3). R.J. Palacio’s hero August Pullman begins the first-person (though cycling through six characters) narrative of the New York Times bestseller Wonder with a solipsist’s complaint, and punctuates the end of this first chapter by assuring us that we could not possibly imagine how bad his face looks. Auggie has a combination of problems, together with a “mysterious syndrome that makes his condition a medical wonder” (as Palacio puts it in an FAQ on her official…