Sometimes the best books are not the ones you get the most amazing reading experience from. But, the ones that touch you at the right time or season in your life. Trader by Charles de Lint fits that description. "I'll tell you about art. Do the best job you possibly...
Book Review 98: The Ocean At The End Of The Lane by Neil Gaiman
by MHill | Dec 13, 2016 | 2016 Book Reviews
I finally read a Neil Gaiman novel! It has taken me awhile to read Gaiman as a novelist, even though I read the groundbreaking and wonderful Sandman comic book series back in the 1990s. Gaiman is an author I have been meaning to read over the years and the time came...
Book Review 97: Ysabel by Guy Gavriel Kay
by MHill | Dec 1, 2016 | 2016 Book Reviews, Guy Gavriel Kay, Marion's Favorite Books, Marion's Favorites, Marion's Reading Life Blog, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
Ned Marriner, the fifteen-year old protagonist in Guy Gavriel Kay's tenth novel, Ysabel uncovers a startling discovery in an Aix-en-Provence cathedral. He is in the Southern France city with his father, a famed photographer who is shooting photos around the city for...
Book Review 96: A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami
by MHill | Oct 30, 2016 | 2016 Book Reviews, Haruki Murakami, Marion's Favorite Books, Marion's Favorites, Marion's Reading Life Blog, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
I read my first Murakami novel, Dance Dance Dance, earlier this year. I learned from that book why Murakami has become an international favorite for many literary fiction readers. I decided I wanted to read another Murakami novel before the year ended. I chose A...
Book Review 95: The Successful Author Mindset by Joanna Penn
by MHill | Oct 26, 2016 | 2016 Book Reviews, Marion's Favorite Books, Nonfiction, Writing, Writing and Publishing Resources
Digital Publishing has spawned the rise of the indie author movement over the past several years. As a result, there is a lot of books these days about how to become a successful indie author and how to make a living with your writing. However, there are only a few...
Book Review 94: Deep Work by Cal Newport
by MHill | Oct 24, 2016 | 2016 Book Reviews, Marion's Favorite Books, Nonfiction
"Great creative minds think like artists but work like accountants." (David Brooks) "When you work, work hard. When you're done, be done." Those two quotes from Deep Work by Cal Newport summarizes my feelings toward this excellent book. Newport introduces deep work as...
Book Review 93: Essentialism by Greg McKeown
by MHill | Oct 16, 2016 | 2016 Book Reviews, Marion's Favorite Books, Nonfiction
--The life of an Essentialist is a life lived without regret. If you have correctly identified what really matters, if you invest your time and energy in it, then it is difficult to regret the choices you make. You become proud of the life you have chosen to live....
Book Review 92: Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler
by MHill | Oct 2, 2016 | 2016 Book Reviews, Marion's Favorite Books, Marion's Favorite Duologies, Octavia Butler
There has not been a novel that caused such discomfort, challenge my assumptions, or made me defensive while reading like Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler. It is the sequel to Parable of the Sower and continues Lauren Olamina's quest to create a new religion,...
Book Review 91: Masterminds by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
by MHill | Aug 30, 2016 | 2016 Book Reviews, Marion's Favorite Books, Retrieval Artist Series
Masterminds is the eighth and final book of the Anniversary Day Saga in the Retrieval Artist Series by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. All the threads of the previous seven books in the saga finally comes together as we find out who is the mastermind behind the Anniversary...
Book Review 90: Starbase Human by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
by MHill | Aug 21, 2016 | 2016 Book Reviews, Marion's Favorite Books, Retrieval Artist Series
Can an old and dilapidated starbase be the key to solving the Moon's Anniversary Day Bombings and it's survival? Starbase Human, the seventh book in the Anniversary Day Saga of the Retrieval Artist Series, by Kristine Kathryn Rusch attempted to answer that question....