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 David J. Hand After making my way through The Improbability Principle, I came to a startling revelation: I really have to stop running out and buying books with positive reviews in MacLean’s. I suppose this very concisely shows my opinion on the book, but allow me to explain myself. The Improbability Principle has a…
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by Elie Wiesel “We were the masters of nature, the masters of the world. We had transcended everything––death, fatigue, our natural needs. We were stronger than cold and hunger, stronger than the guns and the desire to die, doomed and rootless, nothing but numbers, we were the only men on earth.” I tend to stray…
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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 Christopher Hitchens It is with great pride that I can finally announce my completion of Arguably. Given the extreme length of the excursion into such a lofty book, this review will be slightly longer than my usual ones to grant the author the respect he deserves, God bless his beautiful soul. I think 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 Jean-Dominique Bauby I will admit to the unique method of construction of The Diving-Bell and the Butterfly––being dictated by an almost-fully-paralyzed author after his stroke using only a series of winks––being one of my initial attractions to the book. As extraordinary as this is of its own merit, the story itself is well-written and…
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