Credit: https://www.adzuna.co.uk/blog/2015/11/23/the-day-jobs-that-inspired-famous-authors/
Book Review | Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky
2015-11-25 · by ·
For a guy who literally looks like the Dos Equis man, Mark Kurlansky has managed to find some of the least interesting subject matter I could imagine and turn them into full histories. Whether it’s salt (this one), cod (1988), oysters (2005), or the Basques (1991)…well, okay. A history of the Basques sounds like it has […]
Book Review | Hubris: The Tragedy of War in the Twentieth Century by Alistair Horne
2015-11-22 · by ·
Fascinating and with the touch of a master storyteller’s hand, if there’s one history I will recommend this Christmas season, it will be Alistair Horne’s Hubris: the Tragedy of War in the Twentieth Century. Interesting and accessible, Horne’s approach is a narrative that doesn’t merely tell a story, but also examines hubris in the tides […]
Book Review | The Thing in the Office by Phil Elmore
2015-10-24 · by ·
With Halloween right around the corner, it’s time to pick a few stories to get you in the mood for a spooky holiday. If I had my druthers, Phil Elmore’s The Thing in the Office would be the short story collection choice of the season. Elmore’s writing is clear, concise, and careful, reminiscent of the […]
Book Review | Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl (Charlie Bucket #1)
2015-10-19 · by ·
I started reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to the kids just a few nights ago. In only a couple of readings the setting moved from cabbage and cold to chocolate bars and edible buttercup plants, and we were floating along, delightfully, through rivers of chocolate and Oompa Loompa songs. Our guide was the indefatigable Willy Wonka, […]
Book Review | A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula Le Guin (Earthsea #1)
2015-10-18 · by ·
I can’t remember how many years it’s been since I read anything by Ursula K. Le Guin, nor do I recall what it was that I read. So when Le Guin appeared in an article recently, it was a good excuse to reacquaint myself with one of her classics, A Wizard of Earthsea. Sparrowhawk is […]
Book Review | Authority by Jeff VanderMeer (The Southern Reach Trilogy #2)
2015-10-13 · by ·
Jeff VanderMeer makes my head explode. Instead of returning to the scene of the crime from Annihilation, a Twilight Zone-like place called Area X, VanderMeer puts us with Control (his code name), the son of a family of spies who is being given a second chance to save his career in espionage by running The […]
Book Review | Crecheling by D.J. Butler (The Buza System #1)
2015-10-12 · by ·
With Crecheling, D.J. Butler defies YA genre stereotypes to create a dystopian future that is vibrant and dangerous, where characters act like real people, and where death and pain are real and unavoidable, even for his heroes. The result is a story that is gripping, characters that are sympathetic, and a plot that grows under […]
Book Review | The Generals: American Military Command from World War II to Today by Thomas E. Ricks
2015-09-07 · by ·
If there’s one book that I find myself recommending more than most lately, it’s Thomas Ricks’ survey and analysis of US generals from World War II to the present. With an eye to examining why history has been so kind to the men who led the US Army during that war, but less so to […]
Book Review | American Exceptionalism: An Experiment in History by Charles Murray
2015-09-06 · by ·
American Exceptionalism: An Experiment in History weighs in at a little under fifty, four-by-six pages (not including notes and citations). It’s pretty light weight, especially as it goes for books on politics or history. And yet, Charles Murray does not disappoint. He packs in a lot of interesting ideas in a short amount of time. […]
