Reviews

It’s interesting to me how choices I made as a child continue to shape my perceptions to this very day. Some examples include: Han Solo is cooler than Luke Skywalker, John Lennon is cooler than Paul McCartney, and cheese pizza is a waste of time. But what has astonished me lately is that some of my childhood prejudices have changed.

The Shoemaker’s Wife is a love story set in the early 1900’s, first in the Italian Alps when Enza and Ciro meet and leave a very distinct impression on each other, then later in New York City where they meet up again by chance.

Beth Revis’ fantastic Across the Universe trilogy concludes with this tightly-plotted and fast-paced book.  Shades of Earth

The author has been compared to Marjorie Rawlings and other famous Southern writers who provide insight into Southern culture.  This interesting saga delves into the culture of a backwater town in northern Florida where the residents - an inbred mix of whites, American Indians and African Americans - have secrets, loyalties and codes known only to them. 

According to a recent review in The Kansas City Star, reading Rise to Greatness is a great way to prepare for watching Steven Spielberg’s movie, Lincoln, so I read it.

The Space Between is another stand-alone novel by Brenna Yovanoff. This novel follows two protagonists—Daphne, the daughter of Lilith and Lucifer, and Truman, a human boy.

Today we hear a lot about choice. We hear that it is within our power to make choices that benefit us and to take responsibility for choices that haven’t. Good messages, but are they true. Free Will argues that choice is an illusion. Author Sam Harris has degrees in philosophy and neuroscience, and he makes a convincing argument about how our brains and bodies are already choosing prior to our taking any action.

Rachel Cohn has outdone herself with this post-apocalyptic world and most of us might consider the ramifications of cloning. Beta is set on the island of Demesne, where the air is so full of oxygen that it almost feels like paradise.

When you get to the end of a book you've loved, there’s a sadness that it’s over.  But when I finished Their Eyes Were Watching God I was glad - glad that I had read this again.

In Walker’s beautifully-written debut novel, it’s the end of the world as we know it, but instead of a sudden vampire plague or apocalyptic alien invasion, scientists discover that the Earth’s rotation is slowing.  Days and nights are getting longer, birds are dying, and whales are beaching themselves by the thousands.