A little over a decade ago, I went on a Dean Koontz reading binge. I read at least ten or eleven of his novels and I couldn't get enough of them at that time. However, my reading tastes has changed quite a bit over the years and I really didn't have a desire to go...
Book Review 37: Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
by MHill | Apr 20, 2013 | 2013 Book Reviews, Book Reviews, Marion's Favorite Books
"For me writing has always felt like praying." "Adulthood is a wonderful thing, and brief. You must be sure to enjoy it while it lasts." Those touching, powerful quotes are from Minister John Ames, the protagonist of Gilead by Marilynne Robinson. Gilead tells his...
Book Review 34: The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
by MHill | Jan 14, 2013 | 2012 Book Reviews, Book Reviews, Marion's Favorite Books
Have you ever read a book that you knew instantly you should have read years ago? I knew it after reading the first chapter of The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell. I was working at a mom-and-pop bookstore in Santa Fe, NM in 1996 when this novel was published. I...
Book Review 26: Athol Dickson’s The Opposite of Art
by MHill | Aug 11, 2012 | 2012 Book Reviews, Athol Dickson, Book Reviews, Marion's Favorite Books
Athol Dickson is becoming one of my favorite novelists. Last year, I did a review for his Lost Mission novel and I throughly enjoyed it. Now, I'm doing a review for his latest novel, The Opposite of Art. Also, he is the first novelist I've done a second review for on...
Book Review 25: Havoc In Islandia by Mark Saxton (Islandia Quartet Book #4)
by MHill | Jul 30, 2012 | 2012 Book Reviews, Book Reviews, Islandia Quartet, Marion's Favorite Books
The past two reviews, The Islar (a sequel) and The Two Kingdoms (a prequel) to the underground utopian classic, Islandia, has shown a depth and clarity of a fictional world unlike anything I've ever read before. Havoc in Islandia, a second prequel to Islandia, I...
Book Review 22: Stephen King’s Bag of Bones
by MHill | Jul 5, 2012 | 2012 Book Reviews, Book Reviews, Marion's Favorite Books
What happens when you fulfill one of your bucket list items? Do you feel a sense of achievement? Satisfied? Surprised? Disappointed? Well, I can write that after reading Bag of Bones, I felt all of those feelings except disappointed. As you know, Stephen King was...
Book Review 21: Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451
by MHill | Jun 13, 2012 | 2012 Book Reviews, Book Reviews, Marion's Favorite Books
When I heard that Ray Bradbury had passed about eight days ago, I realized that I had never read any of his books. Wow, that surprised me. Well, in honor of his passing, I decided to read his most popular and enduring work, Fahrenheit 451. "Do you know why books such...
Book Review 19: The Christian Imagination edited by Leland Ryken
by MHill | Mar 6, 2012 | 2012 Book Reviews, Book Reviews, Christianity & Art, Marion's Favorite Books, Marion's Favorites, Marion's Reading Life Blog, Nonfiction, Wisdom From Kammbia Column, Writing
I wrote a review for Imagine by Steve Turner and said that book along with the Bible and a couple of others that every Christian who loves the arts and literature should have in their library. Well, I'm adding The Christian Imagination edited by Leland Ryken to that...
Book Review 16: Home Is The Sailor by Jorge Amado
by MHill | Dec 27, 2011 | 2011 Book Reviews, Book Reviews, Marion's Favorite Books
"Will my readers now, with their learning and their experience, tell me what is the truth, the whole truth? Does truth lie in the everyday events, the daily incidents, in the pettiness and vulgarity most people's lives are compounded of, or does the truth have its...
Book Review 14: David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
by MHill | Oct 26, 2011 | 2011 Book Reviews, Book Reviews, Marion's Favorite Books
I was asked recently what's my favorite novel. I must admit I didn't have to think long or hard about it. I told this person it was David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. Oddly enough, I had to read Dickens in Middle School and absolutely hated it. But as an adult, I...