A Writer's Vanity

Tag: book review

  • Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer, creativity at its peak

    Jeff VanderMeer could have stopped writing a year ago before he finished his Southern Reach trilogy and I would still have called him one of the most interesting and original authors of our time. He’s an amazing world builder, and he’s my go to guy when I teach workshops and tell students to “be like…

  • Book Review: Bleeding Edge by Thomas Pynchon

    Thomas Pynchon and I have an odd relationship. I’ve read most of his books over the years. To this day, I can’t admit to liking any of them. Yet, when Pynchon releases a new volume of words, I inevitable go out and buy it and place it on the top of my reading queue. As…

  • BOOK REVIEW: CAIN’S BLOOD by Geoffrey Girard

    I’m giving this one a 5/5 rating. While not a perfect book, it is one of the most engaging reads of the year and contains some nice moral ambiguities and a realistic, flawed protagonist. MINOR SPOILERS Castillo is an ex-Special Ops member who spent time in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Iran. He’s seen and done some…

  • Book Review: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

    The Hunger Games is an entertaining, vacuous piece of literature that is smart enough to touch on cultural hot topics to make it memorable. Katniss Everdeen, our sixteen-year-old heroine, lives in District 12 in the country of Panem. Every year, the Capital drafts two teenagers from each of the twelve districts to participate in a…

  • Bossypants by Tina Fey

    I must confess that I am pro-Tina Fey. In fact, I find her to be funny, smart, and quite pretty. Yeah, I said you were pretty, Tina Fey. I know that pisses you off. You coming after me, ya New York City hard ass? I heard your rants and your lectures in Bossypants about your…

  • Flood by Stephen Baxter

    The clock is ticking down to the End Times, people. Gather up your family, your pets, a stash of food and water, because when the reckoning comes, you need to be ready. What shape will the reckoning take? There are many options: nano-virus, swine flu, global warming, zombie outbreak, alien invasion, Cthulu, and others. Stephen…

  • Aloha from Hell by Richard Kadrey

    Blasphemy. It’s all the rage. I blame the Republicans, and specifically, those types running for office. The double election of George W. Bush has them all thinking that thumping the Bible will get them elected. Meh, whatever. Richard Kadrey’s Aloha from Hell is full of blasphemy and good old fashioned violence. But all the violence…