Jonathan Carroll has become an author on my must read list that includes Charles de Lint, Guy Gavriel Kay, & Jorge Amado. Carroll's brand of contemporary fantasy and surrealism is unique to the fantasy genre. I have read and reviewed four other Carroll novels:...
Book Review 149: Dreams Underfoot by Charles de Lint
by MHill | Dec 24, 2018 | 2018 Book Reviews, Charles De Lint, Marion's Favorite Books
In nearly 150 reviews, I have not reviewed a short story collection. I do not have an explanation for this oversight other than I don't read a lot of short stories. However, I have reviewed one of my favorite writer's short story collections to end my reading year of...
Book Review 148: The Tiger and the Acrobat by Susanna Tamaro
by MHill | Dec 5, 2018 | 2018 Book Reviews, Marion's Favorite Books
I mentioned that one of my reading goals for this year was to read more translated fiction. It has been so easy for me to stay on the reading highway of contemporary American Genre and Literary Fiction that's hard to exit it for fiction outside of your borders. The...
Book Review 147: Sailing to Sarantium by Guy Gavriel Kay
by MHill | Nov 19, 2018 | 2018 Book Reviews, Guy Gavriel Kay, Marion's Favorite Books, Marion's Favorite Duologies, Marion's Favorites, Marion's Reading Life Blog, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
Guy Gavriel Kay is becoming one of my favorite authors and joining a list that includes Jorge Amado, Jonathan Carroll, and Charles de Lint Sailing to Sarantium will be the second Kay novel I have read this year and the third one in the past couple of years. Sailing to...
Book Review 146: Green Lantern Mosaic #1 by Gerard Jones and Cully Hamner
by MHill | Oct 24, 2018 | 2018 Book Reviews, Marion's Favorite Books
A reader asked what influenced my fictional world of Kammbia by email a few days ago. I thought about this question since that email and I had always believed my direct influences were Charles de Lint's novels about Newford, Canada and Jorge Amado's novels about...
Book Review 145: Perennial Seller by Ryan Holiday
by MHill | Oct 20, 2018 | 2018 Book Reviews, Marion's Favorite Books, Nonfiction, Writing
It has always fascinated me on what makes art sells over the long term. Whether Star Wars from Film, Harry Potter from Books, Michael Jackson's Thriller from Music, or Seinfeld from TV, it's been interesting to see what makes the public connect with certain artistic...
Book Review 144: House of Lost Dreams by Graham Joyce
by MHill | Oct 12, 2018 | 2018 Book Reviews
Sometimes you pick up a book or these days download it to your Kindle Paperwhite and read. House of Lost Dreams by Graham Joyce is one of those types of novels. I had heard of Graham Joyce's work over the years but did not have an inkling to read any of his work...
Book Review 143: The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
by MHill | Sep 27, 2018 | 2018 Book Reviews, Marion's Favorite Books
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...