I fully admit that this may seem strange to many readers of this blog, but one of my favorite things to do after reading a historical novel is to read up about the facts of the history the novelist used. Similarly, if a novel I’m reading revolves around some particular subject–anthropology, math, whatever–I tend to [...]
Today we review three novels with famous people as their subjects. The first is Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald. Teens continue to be fascinated by the Jazz Age and they read the novels of F. Scott Fitzgerald, not only in literature classes but also for fun. (So I learned in a recent discussion with [...]
Today we feature new books by two authors well-known among teen readers. With Francesca Lia Block’s return to adult fiction we have, as Jamie says in her review, a perfect example of the New Adult category. In an Interview Magazine piece, Block was asked about the themes in this book, “In The Elementals, I explore the [...]
In this week’s reviews, we delve into three takes on the everlasting American obsession with crime and criminals. We start with Rob Deborde’s Portlandtown, which injects its paranormal underpinnings (and just “what is it with all this paranormal activity occurring in the Pacific Northwest?” asks reviewer Carla Riemer) with classic tropes from Western and Crime fiction [...]
Ricki Lewis, a geneticist and journalist, offers an absorbing narrative of the history of and recent advances in gene therapy. She’s written textbooks on the topic, as well as hundreds of articles, and is a guest blogger for Scientific American. The combination of science clearly presented and the personal stories that humanize this cutting edge topic promise [...]
Christopher Golden and Mike Mignola first collaborated several years ago on Baltimore, or, The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire (Spectra, 2007). Now they are back with a second novel collaboration, one that looks likely to become a series. There is a terrific interview between Joe Hill (Heart-Shaped Box, Horns) and the two authors on [...]
I have to admit that I spent much of the first half of Amber Dermont’s debut novel wondering if I was really going to review it for this blog. Was it wishful thinking? Did I just WANT it to have teen appeal? I knew it appealed to me right away. At first, that was because [...]
The Sisters falls securely in the category of women’s fiction. When I first saw the cover and read the description, I doubted that it would have teen appeal. Still, it was vacation, I had time, I gave it a try. The Sisters begins with a bang. It grabs the reader from the first chapter. And [...]
Yangzom Brauen tells the story of three generations of women in her family, beginning with her grandmother’s young adulthood spent as a Buddhist nun in Tibet. The family fled Tibet in 1960 to escape the Chinese, ending up in India, then Switzerland and, eventually, the United States. Yangzom’s mother, Sonam Dolma Brauen, is now an [...]
Jonathan Maberry, author of popular YA novels Rot & Ruin and Dust & Decay (both Simon & Schuster, 2010 & 2011 respectively), is out with a new adult zombie novel this week. Maberry debuted Dead of Night as a special guest at ZomBcom 2011 this weekend. You may also know Maberry for his Joe Ledger novels, [...]
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