Until James P. Blaylock’s novel The Aylesford Skull, I hadn’t read any works that could really be classified as “steampunk.” I quite enjoyed it, especially coming off of a stint of hard research and writing. The…
Somehow I had never heard of Julie Otsuka’s novel When the Emperor Was Divine. It was, in a word, lovely. Otsuka writes prose infused with poetry. Her unnamed protagonists, who are innocent victims caught in…
I was in Trident Booksellers in Boston this January when I saw Jonathan Tropper’s book on the shelf. It was colorful, it felt good in my hands, and it was on sale. I needed a…
I was browsing the shelves of Libreria Toletta in Venice, Italy, when this book caught my eye. Truth be told, I wasn’t keen on picking up another young adult novel just then, but there it…
I love this book. I found it in my favorite local bookstore back home: the Book Loft in Solvang, California. (Best bookstore ever, btw.) In any case, something about The Family Fang made it impossible for…
One of my professors/colleagues recommended this book to me, and it was a good read. I’ve tagged it as a young adult book, mostly because the protagonist is a young adult. I’m not sure that’s…
This is the second book in Renee Gladman’s Ravicka trilogy, and (like Event Factory) I don’t really know what to make of it. Interesting, for sure. Mysterious as well. I’ll have to wait for the third book…
What do you do with a book like Event Factory? It’s odd. It’s not odd in the way some books are because of their subject matter; it’s odd because of how it’s constructed. How the…
My husband gave me Vacation for my birthday this year. He found it through the McSweeney’s website, which predisposed me to like the book. It was, without a doubt, a very unusual read. The prose was…
I picked this book up in Boston’s Trident Booksellers. I didn’t intend to get a vampire novel. Nor did I intend to get a Swedish-authored book (usually when I travel, I seek out books by…