Title: Understanding Comics Author: Scott McCloud Pages: 215 (hardcover) One Sentence Summary: A non-fiction comic that explores the definitions, history, and vocabulary of comic books. One Sentence Review: Even though reading a comic on comics was a challenge, this book is a must-read for anyone interested in comics that wants to learn more about the [...]
Book Review
Hello and welcome to the first edition of the Sisterhood of the Summer Reviews, where my sister Jenny and I will be doing co-reviews of our favorite books. The first book in our summer selection is The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards. First, a quick summary of the book: The Memory Keeper’s Daughter is [...]
Over Memorial Day, I spent some time reading books have been being reviewed all over the blogosphere: The Book Thief and The Hunger Games. If you’ve never heard of these two books, you’re either living under a rock or spend too much time hitting “Mark all as read” in your Google Reader :) Because they’ve [...]
Title: I Feel Bad About My Neck and Other Thoughts on Being a Woman Author: Nora Ephron Genre/Year: Personal Essays, 2006 Two Sentence Summary: Think getting old and being a woman is kinda funny? So does Nora Ephron! One Sentence Review: A solid essay collection, but one that I’m not quite wise enough to totally [...]
Title: Audrey, Wait! Author: Robin Benway Pages: 313 (hardcover) Two Sentence Summary: When Audrey broke up with her musician boyfriend Evan, she figured it would be awkward at school, but that would be that. Instead, Evan writes a song called “Audrey, Wait!” which becomes an international bestseller, turning Audrey’s life upside down. One Sentence Review: [...]
Title: The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures Author: Anne Fadiman Pages: 341 Two Sentence Summary: Three-month-old Hmong immigrant Lia Lee suffers from debilitating epileptic seizures. Talented doctors and loving parents aren’t enough to save her, however, because of the vast cultural [...]
Title: The Professor and the Madman Author: Simon Winchester Length: 242 pages (paperback) One Sentence Summary: The most famous editor of The Oxford English Dictionary discovers that the greatest contributor to the OED is an American Civil War veteran living as an inmate in a home for the criminally insane. One Sentence Review: Winchester’s history [...]
I Was Told There’d Be Cake is the debut essay collection by twentysomething Sloane Crosley. The book covers topics as wide-ranging as Crosley’s first job to a terrifying boss to Crosley awkwardly serving as maid-of-honor for a high school friend she hadn’t spoken to in years. Although various reviewers have called Crosley “a new master [...]
Title: The Hours Author: Michael Cunningham Length: 226 pages [rating:3.5/5] One Sentence Summary: Virgina Woolf writes Mrs. Dalloway, Clarissa Vaughn plans a party, and Laura Brown tries to escape — three different women all impacted by the same novel. Two Sentence Review: This book gives you just enough story about the characters to make you [...]
Title: Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life Author: Bryan Lee O’Malley Length: 168 pages, but since it’s a comic book the whole thing took me about 30 minutes to read. Two Sentence Summary: Unemployed, 23-year-old wannabe rockstar Scott Pilgrim has a pretty easy-going life until he runs into a hot rollerblading girl in his life and [...]
