I preface this review by saying two things: 1) I am friends with Mark Hosack and 2) This review is based on an advanced reading copy — not what you can buy right here. (On special, even!) But back to the advanced reader copy thing…this review is based on that. For all I know, in […]
The Book Pile: A Good American
I’ve been following Alex George’s blog for awhile, now. I always appreciate the quiet manner in which Alex talks about writing. Okay, perhaps “quiet” isn’t the right word: Alex is just a humble guy who truly appreciates those who stop by or pick up his writing. In a time when the tone of some authors […]
The Book Pile: Habibi
I’ll just go ahead and say it: I think Craig Thompson’s Habibi is one of the best — if not the best — examples of graphic novels as a medium. It blurs the lines of time and place, it uses traditional comic book panels and many design elements to carry the story, and it ends […]
The Book Pile: The Sense of an Ending
Yesterday, I read The Sense of an Ending (affiliate link), by Julian Barnes. At 163 pages, it’s short enough that I’m tempted to read it again, to see if my feelings about it change. The Quick Version The book is about a group of school mates who go on to college and then onto their […]
Chuck Wendig’s Irregular Creatures Review
I don’t read many crime novels, sci-fi stories, horror shorts, or fantasy epics. It’s not that I have anything against genre fiction (in fact, I think everybody who writes should start out with genre fiction because it’s a great way to learn structure) — it’s just usually not my kind of thing. So it says […]
The Book Pile: What I Talk About When I Talk About Running
I believe Haruki Murakami when he says in his book, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running(affiliate link): “Most of what I know about writing I’ve learned through running everyday.” The parallels of running any kind of distance and writing are very similar. There’s a sense of monotony, a feeling of “when the […]
The Book Pile: The Man Who Loved Books Too Much
I’ve been meaning to write a review about Allison Hoover Bartlett’s The Man Who Loved Books Too Much for awhile, now. The book was given to me as a Christmas gift; it was one of my favorite gifts received last December. The Man Who Loved Books Too Much is the true story of John Gilkey, […]
The Gift of Books
Yesterday, I wrote about giving the gift of reading. In yesterday’s blog entry, I wrote about how my mom is one of the people who made me love reading. We had a very rare white Christmas in north Texas. (I haven’t seen a white Christmas in 25 years, when I used to live north of […]
The Book Pile: Border Songs
I loved Jim Lynch’s, The Highest Tide. Since the publication of the book, I’ve kept my eye open for Lynch’s next book. Apparently, my eyes have been closed this summer, because his latest book, Border Songs, has been out for a few months. Some reviewers have said that it’s the same plot as The Highest […]