Wow! Sometimes as a reader you get to read a book that make you say the aforementioned expression after you close the book. The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah is such a novel for me. The story of two French sisters, Vianne and Isabelle Mauriac, and their harrowing...
Book Review 142: The Girl on Paper by Guillaume Musso
by MHill | Sep 12, 2018 | 2018 Book Reviews, Marion's Favorite Books
I will admit that I'm a reader for story more than anything else. Beautiful wordplay and language is nice and interesting. I can appreciate technical craftsmanship. It doesn't mean I won't read challenging or difficult novels. But it must have a story at its core...
Book Review 141: The 6:41 to Paris by Jean-Phillippe Blondel
by MHill | Aug 31, 2018 | 2018 Book Reviews, Marion's Favorite Books
One of my reading goals for 2018 and beyond is to read more translated fiction. Reading is one of those activities that can take you to another place, another culture, or another perspective with little risk to the reader. The only risk is a few dollars (if you buy it...
Book Review 140: The Little Country by Charles de Lint
by MHill | Aug 26, 2018 | 2018 Book Reviews, Charles De Lint, Marion's All-Time Favorite Novels, Marion's Favorite Books, Rereading Series
Back in the early to mid-1990's, Charles de Lint was one of two novelists I read regularly. The other novelist was Dean Koontz. I had not been a big reader at that point in my life and I can attribute the love of reading in my adult life to both of these authors. ...
Book Review 139: The Artist’s Journey by Steven Pressfield
by MHill | Aug 23, 2018 | 2018 Book Reviews, Marion's Favorite Books
"Your artist's journey is unique to you. You alone are on your path. Your job is only to follow it and be true to it. Who knows what heights it may eventually bear you to? You are an artist. Your journey--however humble, however fraught, however beset with thorns and...
Book Review 138: Once Upon A Thriller (Nancy Drew Diaries #4) by Carolyn Keene
by MHill | Jul 28, 2018 | 2018 Book Reviews, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
A joy of reading is getting to share a book with your kids. In this case, it is my soon-to-be nine-year-old daughter, Norah. I have read with my daughter since she was a baby, but I had not reviewed one of the many books we have read together over the years...until...
Book Review 137: Lord Valentine’s Castle by Robert Silverberg
by MHill | Jul 15, 2018 | 2018 Book Reviews
With the most popular fantasy series discussed, I have always heard about The Lord of the Rings, Chronicles of Narnia, Harry Potter, A Song of Ice and Fire, Wheel of Time series and so on. However, I have never heard the Majipoor Cycle by Robert Silverberg being...
Book Review 136: The White Raven by Carrie D. Miller
by MHill | Jun 22, 2018 | 2018 Book Reviews, Marion's Favorite Books
I never thought I would like reading a book about witches. Well, that's the power of reading. You can end up liking something unexpected. The White Raven by Carrie D. Miller is the story of Aven Dovenelle....
Book Review 135: The Man in The Maze by Robert Silverberg
by MHill | Jun 14, 2018 | 2018 Book Reviews, Marion's Favorite Books
"Science Fiction, more than any other form of literature, is a progress, and it comes with a sell-by date. Some old SF can become unreadable. Some reputations erode with time. What we respond to, once the sell-by date is past, is art and, perhaps, is also truth."...
Book Review 134: Meji Book Two by Milton Davis
by MHill | Jun 6, 2018 | 2018 Book Reviews
Last year, I read the first book of a duology about twin brothers, Ndoro and Obaseki. They were separated at birth and that book delved into their past revealing what made each brother special amongst the people of Sesu, an African-inspired kingdom on the continent of...