Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb is a novel I have seen for years at bookstores. I always thought it was a typical epic fantasy novel for some time and never picked it up. Until now. What changed? I was looking on Instagram a few weeks ago and came across Robin...
Wisdom From Kammbia Book Review 6: The Story Grid by Shawn Coyne
by MHill | Mar 20, 2019 | 2019 Book Reviews, Marion's Favorite Books, Wisdom From Kammbia Column, Writing, Writing and Publishing Resources
There are a lot of writing craft books out there for writers. I'm sure many of them are useful for fledging writers to get better at their craft of writing fiction. However, I realize that a certain writing craft book comes into a writer's life at the right time....
Wisdom From Kammbia Book Review 5: Little Leaders-Bold Women in Black History by Vashti Harrison
by MHill | Feb 18, 2019 | 2019 Book Reviews, Marion's Favorite Books, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
My 9 year old daughter, Norah, wanted to read this one. Again. Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History by Vashti Harrison celebrates the contributions of African-American women in American Society. Forty women were featured in the beautifully illustrated book...
Wisdom From Kammbia Book Review 3: Ruth and the Green Book by Calvin Alexander Ramsey
by MHill | Feb 3, 2019 | 2019 Book Reviews, Marion's Favorite Books, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
February is Black History Month in the United States and I have always wanting to learn something about our history as Americans that I did not know previously. Well, I found out last month on the Rick Steves’ travel podcast about a travel guide published during the...
Wisdom From Kammbia Book Review 2: Let Me Be Frank With You by Richard Ford
by MHill | Jan 25, 2019 | 2019 Book Reviews, Frank Bascombe Series, Marion's Favorite Books, Richard Ford, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
I'm a reading completist. I did not realize completist was a word until I typed this review. I felt it's appropriate for my latest Wisdom From Kammbia review. In 2015, I read and wrote a review for The Sportswriter by Richard Ford, the first Frank Bascombe novel. I...
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...