Book Review: Bird Box by Josh Malerman (coming out May, 2014)

Characters: **** (4 stars) Character Development: **** (4 stars) Plot: ***** (5 stars) Writing: **** (4 stars) Overall: **** (4 stars) (It is hereby stated that I read the advanced reader’s copy of Bird Box and a few details might change before publication.) When I wrote my preview of Bird Box after meeting Josh Malerman at the

Book Review: The Accursed by Joyce Carol Oates

    Characters: **** (4 stars) Character Development: **** (4 stars) Plot: *** (3 stars) Writing: **** (4 stars) Overall: *** 1/2 (3 1/2 stars)   This is the sort of big, clever, historical, dry book I really like. But, as a fairly obvious warning: it’s big, clever, historical, and dry. It won’t be the

Four New Books from HarperCollins: The Bookshelf Pirate Has Dinner With Authors

People keep making the mistake of letting me out into public. A pirate on cold medicine in a restaurant full of book people: this situation had the potential to end in broken glass, spoiled endings, and elaborate apologies. But, for reasons which continue to befuddle yet flatter me, my coworkers and other literary grown-ups keep

Book Review: The Last American Man by Elizabeth Gilbert

Dear readers, it’s a really big deal that I’ll admit to enjoying this book. I don’t usually like nonfiction. I find biographies awkward and survival stories a bit of a drag. Until a few days ago, I was quite adamant that I disliked Elizabeth Gilbert, because I think that Eat, Pray, Love is one of

Book Review: Lockwood & Co: The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud

Star Ratings: Characters: **** (4 stars) Character Development: *** (3 stars) Plot: ***** (5 stars) Writing: **** (4 stars) Overall: **** (4 stars) Lockwood & Co: The Screaming Staircase is supposedly for middle grade readers and young adults, and I know my most morbid friends and I would have absolutely adored it at that age,