Book Reviews – Page 15

The Last Summer (of You & Me) – by Ann Brashares

The Last Summer (of You & Me) is a beautiful, heartbreaking, story of two sisters, secrets, love, and death. Brashares is the author of the popular The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants teen series, and this is her first work geared for adults.

Most of the story takes place on Long Island’s Fire Island, where Riley and her sister Alice grew up. The beach, in all its different faces and moods, is described so well it is almost if you are sitting there yourself.

Book Reviews, fiction 0

To Kill a Mockingbird – by Harper Lee

To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, is a book that has been banned from schools and libraries. I think that is a fairly recent occurrence. I recall being assigned to read this book as part of my English class work when I was in high school. The concepts presented in this book are as relevant today as they were when it was originally published (in 1960).

Book Reviews, non fiction 0

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings – by Maya Angelou

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou, is a book that has been banned from schools and/or libraries. This is unfortunate, because the book is a story that brings a message of hope. No matter how bad life gets, there is always hope that things will get better. I believe that this is something everyone needs to hear, especially young people.

The book is a memoir. These events actually happened to Maya Angelou. Her story starts when she is about three years old, and on a train with her brother on their way to their grandmother’s house. That is where they will grow up.

Book Reviews, fiction 1

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

The Catcher in the Rye is one of the books that people are often forced to read when they are in a high school English class. This experience may, or may not, have colored people’s opinions of the book.

This is the type of book that has what I think of as an “expiration date”. Read this book when you are between the ages of 13 and 17 (and still a student living at home with parents) and you will find Holden Caufield to be interesting, funny, and possibly even a deep thinker.

Book Reviews, horror 0

Lisey’s Story – by Stephen King

Lisey’s Story is one weird fairy tale, from start to finish.

Lisey (which the reader learns right away rhymes with Ce Ce), is a widow. Her husband, Scott, was a super popular writer of scary and strange fiction books. He had many of fans, and many of them were…. mentally unstable.

Book Reviews, horror 0

Heart Shaped Box – by Joe Hill

Ready for a ghost story? Not the cheesy kind that you make up to amuse your scout troop around a campfire. No, Heart Shaped Box is scary! It will keep you up nights, wondering about the ghost in the story.

Jude is a famous (but aging) rock star. He has a personal assistant to take care of things for him. He has a troubled girlfriend, who is about half his age. He has an big interest in strange and creepy things, which he has made a collection of.

Book Reviews, non fiction 0

My Pet Virus – by Shawn Decker

The full title of this book is My Pet Virus: The True Story Of A Rebel Without A Cure. I enjoyed this book so much! Who knew a book about contracting HIV could be hilarious?

Decker uses his somewhat twisted sense of humor (my favorite kind) to tell his story. He was born a “thinblood”, which is his word for “person with hemophilia”, and contracted HIV from tainted blood products when he was a child (in the 1980’s, before blood was checked for HIV).

Book Reviews, fiction 0

A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian – by Marina Lewycka

A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian has a rather confusing title. At first glance, you might think this book is some sort of agricultural textbook that you would need an English-Ukrainian dictionary to help you decipher.

At least, that’s what I thought. Instead, I was happy to find a book about a family (written in English) that was funny, and heartbreaking, and compelling.

Book Reviews, fiction 0

Abundance – by Sena Jeter Naslund

Sena Jeter Naslund has written a captivating novel of historical fiction about the life of Marie Antoinette. Anyone who is familiar with history will know the main events that occurred, and, of course, what happened to this Queen of France at the end of her life. Even knowing that, however, it is still well worth it to read through the 520-something pages of this book because it is so well written.

Book Reviews, fiction 0

Anonymous Lawyer – by Jeremy Blachman

The character named Anonymous Lawyer is really a lawyer. He is a law partner in some prestigious law firm, hoping and scheming to one day be promoted as Chairman. One day, with the help of Anonymous Niece, he decides to write a blog. Just for fun. He figures he will delete it when he loses interest, which he expects to happen soon.