Reviews

Staff Review

Meet the Author: Gregg Luke

By Gregg Luke
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by Helen H.
Oct 4, 2016

Gregg Luke's work as pharmacist prepares him well for writing medical thrillers. As he researches new drugs, "what if? reigns supreme." 99% of the science in his novels is real and he strives to make it "easy to understand to a lay audience yet have it remain complex enough to fascinate and add credence to plausibility."

Luke will present sessions on suspense writing, prose writing, and offer a 3 Page Critique session at our 2016 Writers Conference.

Staff Review

Jupiter Ascending (DVD)

By The Wachowskis

Rated by Library Staff (not verified)
Oct 2, 2016

This movie is crazysauce, that’s all I can say. Crazysauce poured over an amazing sci-fi spectacular with a generous dose of cheese and a side of over-the-top drama, and those with a healthy sense of the ridiculous will eat it up with glee. If you are not a fan of campy fun, it may not be your cuppa.

Staff Review

Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman

By Lindy West
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by Helen H.
Sep 30, 2016

Lindy West’s Shrill is cataloged in the humor section of the library and three of its five subject headings use the word “humor.” So it’s no surprise that while reading chapter 1 I scared my own dog. He looked at me sideways while West describes the role models who looked like her young self: Lady Kluck, Baloo dressed as a sexy fortune teller, and Miss Piggy to name a few.

Staff Review

Bringing up Bébé: One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting

By Pamela Druckerman
Star Rating
★★★★

Rated by Chris K.
Sep 28, 2016

Ah, if only I'd read this last summer or fall, sometime before my five-month-old was born, because I'm quite drawn to many of the ideas. Some I'd already claimed as my own, some were vague notions that have now been articulated and solidified for me, and some still feel rather surprising and foreign. I'm not one to unquestioningly adopt any model--parenting, leadership, eating, or what you will--without tweaking it and making it my own, but I believe considering and practicing these ideas will make me a more effective parent.

Staff Review

Axe Cop, Volume 1

By Malachai Nicolle
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by Chris K.
Sep 27, 2016

This concept is absolutely genius and the execution is one of the funniest things I’ve ever read.

A few years ago, Ethan Nicolle was playing with his five-year-old brother Malachai and decided it would be fun to take Malachai’s imagined play and illustrate it as a superhero comic. It all started when Malachai took a toy police officer and added a firefighter’s axe. They grabbed another figure and the nearest weapon-like implement at hand—a recorder, which led to Axe Cop’s first partner, Flute Cop—and went to chop off the heads of dinosaurs and other sundry bad guys.

Staff Review

What I've Stolen, What I've Earned

By Sherman Alexie
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by Hannah Jane W.
Sep 24, 2016

What I’ve Stolen, What I’ve Earned is the most original, electric, and soul-altering book of poems I’ve read in more than a year. It reads like a nonlinear memoir that skips around Alexie’s life, with common threads charging the poems like drumbeats.  The largest theme - growing up on an Indian reservation surrounded by a cast of remarkable characters with haunting stories – shows up in nearly every poem.