Synopsis: A little girl with the psychic power to start fires is on the run with her father, fleeing an NSA-type government agency wanting to capture her, experiment on her, and kill her. Review: This is not the first time I’ve read this book; that would have been freshman year in college, when I discovered King and blew through him during the boring days before I made friends. I love to reread books, and King is particularly suited for that. I think it’s because of…
Synopsis: An autobiographical collection of irreverant essays about finding Jesus in the most unlikely places, starting with super-pagan Reed College in Portland, Oregon. Review: I kept hearing about this book from various people whose opinion I respected, but I was a little skeptical. I am weary of efforts to make Christianity “cool” or “relevant” or “postmodern” or whatever, and I had a preconception that this book fell into that category.
Synopsis: In a world where magic has been forbidden, an evil rises and threatens total destruction unless one young man can step into his destiny and choose the right path. Review: I hated to do this, but I stopped reading somewhere around page 300 of the third book of this 4-part series. I came to the realization that I would rather be reading anything else but this book, and given that I have a sizable stack on my bedside table, I decided to cut my…
Synopsis: When a bookish woman is contracted to write the biography of a famous author known to lie about herself, she discovers shocking truths that lead her to reconcile with her own tragic past. Review: Steeped in the Brontes, DuMaurier, Wilkie Collins, and The Turn of the Screw, this book is at once a throwback to the 19th century and a thoroughly modern reinvention of the gothic story. Setterfield lovingly lifts generic tropes from these classic tales while weaving a story that is utterly hypnotizing…
Synopsis: Locke Lamora is the best con man in the city of Camorr in the Kingdom of the Seven Marrows, but when power struggles unseat the reigning underlord boss, his powers will be tested as he faces losing everything he’s worked for.
Synopsis: Cell phones turn the world into a post-apocalyptic nightmare, and a small band of survivors must try to figure out how to stay alive.
Synopsis: An American Girl-type doll company owner decides to buy a town, wreaking havoc in her wake.
Synopsis: 1850s California Gold Rush. God tells a good man to marry a prostitute and teach her the true meaning of unconditional love–if she’ll only stick around to learn it.
Synopsis: Claire is an unassuming secretary who’s never had an adventure. When a womanizing firm partner asks her to come with him to London, she surprises herself and everyone by saying yes – and really throws them all for a loop when she quits her job to stay.
Robin Hobb’s Farseer Trilogy and the follow up trilogy called The Tawny Man are medievalist fantasy fiction are among the best books I’ve ever read in any genre. I lost myself in these six books, missing my subway stop more than once. I would actually get excited when my alarm went off in the morning because I knew that soon, very soon, I’d be waiting for the train and could dive into the Six Duchies with abandon. The Farseer Trilogy follows the bildungsroman model, and…