Book Review

Susan Orlean has always been one of those writers that I knew I wanted to read. I’d scour used bookstores for The Orchid Thief and scan The New Yorker to see if she had a profile, but I never seemed to find anything. And then, even after I found a copy of The Orchid Thief, [...]

You know, I have to admit that I have no idea how to review a short story collection like Dangerous Laughter by Steven Millhauser.  I liked it a lot, so it’s tempting to go and tell you about every story in the book, but I think I that would get tedious if you haven’t read [...]

Lipstick Jihad is journalist Azadeh Moaveni’s memoir about growing up “Iranian in America and American in Iran.”  As a child, Moaveni moved with her mother to southern California, then after college returned to Tehran to work as a journalist.   While there, Moaveni discovers a country going through a sort of adolescent struggle to find [...]

It’s hard for me to imagine imagine Rob, the main character of High Fidelity as anyone other than John Cusack because of his awesome performance in the movie version. When I picked up the book version of High Fidelity by Nick Hornby, I know I was going to want to see the movie again to [...]

I’ve always believed in the symbolism of small moments, that we can find meaning in our lives through the conflicts and triumphs that we have every day. Saturday by Ian McEwan, more than just about any other book I’ve read, captures this idea beautifully using a single day in the life of Dr. Henry Perowne. [...]

After a long hiatus, I’m happy to bring you reviews of Wolves and Sons of Empire, the eighth and ninth books in the Fables series by Bill Willingham.  As I’ve written before, it’s hard for me to review Fables because the whole thing is a series — if you liked the earlier ones, you’ll probably [...]

Two weeks ago a friend and I were browsing the selection at Magers & Quinn, a well-known used bookstore in the Twin Cities, when I found It’s All Greek To Me by John Mole hidden away in the travel essays section.  I’ve always had a thing for Greece, so I picked the book up to [...]

When I was little, I used to be able to sit down and read straight through a book in a single afternoon.  As I’ve gotten older this has happened less and less often.  I’m too busy with school and work and friends or too distracted by tv and movies to plow through a book that [...]

Everyone and their brother has already reviewed or read Twilight by Stephanie Meyer, so I’m not going to post a long review myself.  Instead, I want to write a little bit about listening to the book on audio book, something I’ve never done before. Over Christmas, I had a discussion with my sister and cousin [...]