by Kurt Vonnegut I think this has to be some kind of record for me. Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five kept me so enthralled that it took me merely two days to get through, while Cat’s Cradle was easily finished in one. Yes, yes, both are short and funny, which makes the reading easy, but, beneath that, they…
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by Vladimir Nabokov Nabokov really is a cruel man. Twice now, with both Despair and Lolita, has the author successfully crafted an entirely likeable protagonist and proceeded to make him truly despicable. Of course, while this doesn’t necessarily leave me satisfied in the end, it really is a testimony to the author’s skilful pen. The…
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by E. L. James Oh, E. L. James, you tease. Given what I suspect fans of the first story would expect when sampling the second––you know, basically some degree of kinky sex around every turn––the author held back this time. Oh sure, the tale is basically about two people humping non-stop, but James stepped away…
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by J. R. R. Tolkien Elves in the forest, dwarves mining in the mountains, and Halflings living in their quiet homes under the hills; the hero stepping out of his comfort zone and travelling far and wide to overcome significant challenges. (And magic, of course.) To me, it seems odd that the tropes and races…
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by Neil Gaiman While it is embarrassing for me, a fantasy author, to admit, it’s been quite a long time since I have read anything from the genre. As such, the only comparator I have for Stardust in recent memory is Coelho’s The Alchemist. While I will hold that neither story is an exercise in…
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by John Updike The Coup was one of the novels that Hitchens infamously coerced me into reading through the magic of his prose, so, naturally, understand that I was very excited in opening this book up. The vivid picture Updike paints of a fanatic Muslim fundamentalist initially lived up to my expectations, but slowly gave…
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by Joseph Boyden With Joseph Boyden coming to town very soon (tonight, actually, at the time of writing this review), I felt I should read through one of his works in order to really get something out of his talk. As such, I reluctantly put down John Updike’s The Coup in order to start The…
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by Paulo Coelho The Alchemist was a novel that I had been greatly anticipating for some time, given the glowing reviews it received from friends of mine, so it comes with heavy disappointment to say that I didn’t love this book. I will say that parts of the story really spoke to me, but those…
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by Kurt Vonnegut Few authors can claim to have changed my life, but even fewer can make that claim on separate instances with different works. Kurt Vonnegut is one of the few, first with Breakfast of Champions––which flipped the whole notion on how you can tell a story on its head––then, again, with Slaughterhouse-Five. I absolutely loved…
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by Ray Bradbury Bradbury truly had some thoughtful insights with regards to censorship, arguing with his novel that even censorship performed with “good intentions”––using the term in the loosest sense I can possibly command––can easily sink to horrible depths. But, Fahrenheit 451 is not just a warning of the dangers of unchecked censorship; it’s also a celebration…
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