Uncategorized

  • Joyland by Stephen King

    “I had a car, but on most days in that fall of 1973 I walked to Joyland from Mrs. Shoplaw’s Beachside Accommodations in the town of Heaven’s Bay …. That fall was the most beautiful of my life. Even forty years later I can say that. And I was never so unhappy, I can say… Continue reading

  • Razorblade Tears by S. A. Cosby

    “Ike tried to remember a time when men with badges coming to his door early in the morning brought anything other than heartache and misery, but try as he might, nothing came to mind … He was fifteen years removed from Coldwater State Penitentiary … Not so much as a speeding ticket in all those… Continue reading

  • Rumble Fish by S. E. Hinton

    “I was going somewhere, I just didn’t know where.” – S.E. Hinton I always assumed that if I ever got around to reading S. E. Hinton I would begin with her classic novel, The Outsiders (1968). It’s a book I have been hearing about since high school. But last Thursday I was watching The Pitt… Continue reading

  • Everything Is Tuberculosis by John Green

    Over the years I have contemplated reading John Green’s The Fault In Our Stars. The novel published in 2012 continues to be a bestseller. However, the subject matter is grim, two dying teenagers who fall in love at a cancer support group, and so for now the book is not for me. But I did… Continue reading

  • The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah

    Last year, I tried to read The Great Alone (2017) by Kristin Hannah. But about 80 pages in “the book wasn’t booking,” as they say on TikTok. However, I know what a popular and acclaimed author Kristin Hannah is, so this year I decided to give The Four Winds (2021) a try. ​And at first,… Continue reading

  • The Pitt on HBO Max

    Normally I review books at this site but I just wanted to say a few words about the hot new medical drama The Pitt. What makes The Pitt must watch TV? The writing of course. It is being called the most accurate medical drama ever to appear on TV. Real life doctors, nurses, EMT workers… Continue reading

  • Hole In My Life by Jack Santos

    “Ironically… being locked up in prison is where I fully realized I had to change my life for the better… It is where I went from thinking about becoming a writer, to writing.”— Jack Gantos, Hole in My Life I was scrolling around for more memoirs to read and decided to ask ChatGPT for a… Continue reading

  • Pray For Silence by Linda Castillo

    Pray for Silence (2010) is the second novel in Linda Castillo’s Kate Burkholder mystery series. I read the first book Sworn to Silence a few years ago and loved it. And what really sold me, in addition to the writing and the small town Amish community setting, was the chemistry between Police Chief Kate Burkholder… Continue reading

  • My Beloved Monster: Masha, The Half-Wild Rescue Cat Who Rescued Me by Caleb Carr

    “Seventeen years; and here we are at that day. The one of us in spirit, the other in scarred, aging body with just one risky job, the last risky job, left to do: to tell the story of the shared existence that filled those years … Yes, she was a cat; but if you are… Continue reading

  • My Cousin Rachel by Daphne Du Maurier

    ““We were dreamers, both of us, and like all dreamers asleep to the waking world … We would have both survived, had we been other men” — Daphne du Maurier, My Cousin Rachel ​About two or three years ago I read Daphne du Maurier’s classic romantic suspense novel Rebecca. It didn’t grab me the way… Continue reading