Book Reviews

A collection of 71 posts

Book Reviews

My Reading Life: The Abortion Books, Part 5 (Personal "Anti-Abortion" Stories)

Having “crossed over” from one side of the abortion debate to the other during my life, I continue to find stories of political, personal, or moral “conversion” compelling. I also wanted to be fair to both sides, to read from both sides, and to do my best to keep my

100

My Reading Life: Bleaker House by Nell Stevens

Ah, the lure of “If Only …” to writers. If only I could quit my job, then I could really focus on my writing. If only I was independently wealthy. If only my kids were older. If only I had my own writing space. If only I could get an MFA.

Book Reviews

My Reading Life: The Abortion Books, Part 4 (Personal "Pro-Choice" Stories)

I need to start this post with a disclaimer. I read five personal stories from women who were in some way connected to the abortion debate. To keep this post from being even longer, I divided the personal stories into two posts: those written by women who believe abortion should

Book Reviews

The New Year's Resolution Post

It may be a little late for the “New Year’s Resolutions” post, but “better late than never” is my motto since becoming a parent (only after becoming a parent did I understand that it would seem “reasonable” to put certain tasks off for YEARS at a time). This year’

Book Reviews

My Reading Life: The Abortion Books, Part 3 (Novels)

I only read a couple novels on the topic of abortion, and both were from the young adult genre. I know there are probably hundreds of novels out there that deal with this topic, but this was never meant to be an exhaustive project — just a way to prioritize books

Blogging

Meander North Today

Earlier this fall, I had the honor of being one of the final pre-publication readers of my friend Marie Zhuikov’s new book, Meander North, which is on sale now! Although Marie is a member of my writer’s group, this was my first time reading Meander North. The book

book lists

My Reading Life: The Abortion Books, Part 1

During my recent book purge, I found certain books jumping out at me. First, This Common Secret: My Journey as an Abortion Doctor by Susan Wickland, and then, its counterpart: Redeemed by Grace: A Catholic Woman’s Journey to Planned Parenthood and Back by Ramona Trevino. I need to read

authors

Author Biography Book Review: Star Child by Ibi Zoboi

Star Child: A Biographical Constellation of Octavia Estelle Butler by Ibi Zoboi My rating: 4 of 5 stars A very readable and compelling biography of Octavia Butler told in prose and poetry. Written for middle-grade readers, it focuses on the author’s childhood and the historical forces that shaped her

291

Year of Expanded Reading Wrap-Up ... Sort Of

So, 2020 was supposed to be my “Year of Expanded Reading,” a year to focus on reading non-white and/or non-American authors. I came across the challenge to do this year-long project when my first son was under a year old. I remember thinking, “My life feels too chaotic to

291

Interview With Author Melissa Hart

If you love books (and if you don’t, I’m not really sure what you’re doing here), you might want to check out the Luna’s Reading Corner interview I did for New Moon Girls with author Melissa Hart. Melissa wrote Better with Books: 500 Diverse Books to

Book Reviews

The Line Between: Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia

Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia My rating: 5 of 5 stars What I loved about this book was the way that it portrayed the creative process. Zappia GETS IT when it comes to the desire to escape into an imaginary world, when it comes to that world feeling

Book Reviews

Fairy Tale Book Review: Once Upon a Dream by Liz Braswell

Once Upon a Dream by Liz Braswell My rating: 3 of 5 stars This book was similar in quality to “A Whole New World,” but because I don’t have the same abiding affection for Sleeping Beauty, it did not get the same (perhaps unwarranted) rating inflation. It reminds me

Book Reviews

Fairy Tale Book Review: Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire

Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is one of the best Maguire books I’ve read, right up there with the first couple Oz retellings (I only read the first two but heard the later ones weren’t as good.) Similar

Book Reviews

Fairy Tale Book Review: Kissing the Witch by Emma Donoghue

Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins by Emma Donoghue My rating: 4 of 5 stars So I guess I knew who Emma Donoghue was before she was “cool” (i.e., pre-ROOM), since this book has been on my shelf FOREVER … but I didn’t actually read it till

Book Reviews

Abandoned Writing Book: The Author Training Manual by Nina Amir

The Author Training Manual: Develop Marketable Ideas, Craft Books That Sell, Become the Author Publishers Want, and Self-Publish Effectively by Nina Amir My rating: 2 of 5 stars Officially creating a DNF shelf and adding this one to it. After a two-year hiatus from this book, I have finally accepted

abuse

The Underside of Imagination in Panther

Yesterday I finished reading Panther by Brecht Evens. It’s an artsy graphic novel that can be read in about an hour — a deceptively short amount of time, considering how impossible it is to shake once you’ve read it. In my exploration of the book, I’m going to

Arabian Nights

Retelling Book Review: The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh

The Wrath & the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh My rating: 3 of 5 stars This is a first novel, and it feels like one. The prose is overwritten and tends toward the purple, and it resorts to using the same descriptions far too often. Like, we don’t need to

Book Reviews

Writing Book Review: Wild Mind by Natalie Goldberg

Wild Mind: Living the Writer’s Life by Natalie Goldberg My rating: 4 of 5 stars Around the Year Reading Challenge Item #21: A book from the Goodreads recommendations page The philosophy behind this book is pretty much the same as that powering Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer

Book Reviews

Retelling Book Review: Longbourn by Jo Baker

Longbourn by Jo Baker My rating: 4 of 5 stars I think the people who dislike this book because they don’t like the way Elizabeth or other Bennets act in it really need to venture out of their protective bubble. There’s a reason the characters in Longbourn are

Book Reviews

Retelling Book Review: Jem & the Holograms #1- Showtime

Jem and The Holograms #1 by Kelly Thompson My rating: 5 of 5 stars Book Riot Read Harder Challenge Item: A non-superhero comic that debuted in the last 3 years I am not afraid to admit that nostalgia may have inflated my rating. However, it’s not as if I’

Book Reviews

Why Do We Feel the Need to Redeem Rumpelstiltskin?

Over the weekend, I finished reading Rump: The True Story of Rumpelstiltskin by Liesl Shurtliff. It is a middle-grade retelling told from Rumpelstiltskin’s point of view, when he is just 12 years old. This book came out when I was working on later drafts of my own Rumpelstiltskin retelling,

Book Reviews

Retelling Book Review: A Wild Swan and Other Stories by Michael Cunningham

A Wild Swan: And Other Tales by Michael Cunningham My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is a collection of stories beautifully retold in Cunningham’s masterful prose. Stories that are haunting in their original form (i.e., “The Monkey’s Paw”) are even more haunting with Cunningham’s treatment,

Book Reviews

Retelling Book Review: Straw Into Gold by Gary Schmidt

Straw Into Gold by Gary D. Schmidt My rating: 3 of 5 stars After years of avoiding Rumpelstiltskin retellings while I worked on my own, it’s been fun to read different interpretations of one of my top three favorite fairy tales. This book takes for its premise that the

Book Reviews

Retelling Book Review: Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier

Guess what I did over the weekend? I started ACTUALLY WRITING on one of my novels again. It felt so good, and I’m so happy to be working on a long-term fiction project again. Cobbling together lots of smaller projects during my writing time makes me feel a little

Book Reviews

Retelling Book Review: Call Me Ixchel - Mayan Goddess of the Moon by Jamie Havemeyer

Call Me Ixchel: Mayan Goddess of the Moon by Janie Havemeyer My rating: 3 of 5 stars This book ended up being better than I expected it to be. At first, the book’s tone was really off-putting, trying too hard to be conversational and “modern” in a way that