This week’s starred review is a powerful debut novel about the war in Iraq. Check out Kevin Powers’ website for lists of the honors and praise The Yellow Birds has already received, even though it releases tomorrow. The author himself joined the army in 1997 at age 17, and he writes with firsthand knowledge about young […]
Kate Locke’s debut is an alternative history that combines paranormal, steampunk, romance and fantasy. As the author put it in an interview with USA Today, “My world is an alternate world where vampires and werewolves are a result of the Black Death, and where World Wars I and II never happened. Hitler never amounted to […]
Maria Semple honed her comic timing as a writer for Mad About You, Ellen, and Arrested Development. Where’d You Go, Bernadette is the best kind of summer read – funny and bitingly satirical, yet centered on a warm, loving mother/daughter relationship. And the plot moves quickly, thanks to a wonderful variety of narratives and voices. […]
What began with Feed and continued with Deadline, now concludes with Blackout. Oh, and there’s Countdown, a novella that goes back to the origins of the zombie plague. And another titled San Diego 2014, which takes place during Comic-Con. Seems like Grant is hardly finished with this world! There is a fun piece on the Orbit […]
Megan Abbott’s new psychological thriller is a dark look at high school cheerleading, a book referred to by its publisher as “Fight Club for girls” and by Amazon’s Best Books of August as “Glee on steroids.” Publishers Weekly did a profile of the author which includes this revealing tidbit: “When I was figuring out the plot […]
Quirky, adventure-filled, contemplative. Albert of Adelaide is a book that is hard to describe. Probably because there isn’t really another book like it. No read-alikes here. After all, our title character is a platypus. And I think that quality – that uniqueness – is enough to attract the curiosity of certain teens all by itself. […]
In 2010 Sam Kean debuted with The Disappearing Spoon: and other true tales of madness, love, and the history of the world from the periodic table of elements. He began with chemistry. In The Violinist’s Thumb he takes on DNA. His talent lies in communicating his own passion for science and making science fun — and […]
Seth Grahame-Smith first made a mash-up splash with Pride and Prejudice and Zombies in 2009, and followed it with Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Slayer the following year. The movie version of the latter is set for release next month (check out the trailer). Grahame-Smith has been busy with screenplays lately, responsible for both his own novel […]
The publisher blurb for Joe R. Lansdale’s new novel begins, “Mark Twain meets classic Stephen King.” What a beginning! Mulholland provides a ton of extras on their website, including Youtube videos of the author talking about the setting of his novel, and an article by Dan Simmons comparing Edge of Dark Water and The Adventures of […]
Pure is the first in a new dystopian trilogy that seems made for teen readers; film rights have already been sold. Julianna Baggott has written a few books for young readers, but is best known for adult literary fiction and poetry. I had a chance to hear her speak at ALA Midwinter in January. She has […]
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