He explained to her how he was tired of the uncertainty of a musician's life, tired of being gone nearly every night of the week while she sat at home alone. And he was tired of playing other people's songs in casinos. "I mean I play five nights a week with Ronnie...
Wisdom From Kammbia Book Review 195: Novelist as a Vocation by Haruki Murakami
by MHill | May 26, 2026 | Book Reviews, Haruki Murakami, Marion's Favorite Books, Marion's Favorites, Marion's Reading Life Blog, Nonfiction, Wisdom From Kammbia Column, Writing
Have you ever picked a book from your library and started reading it? I did that a few days ago with Novelist as a Vocation by Haruki Murakami. Murakami is one of my favorite authors, and this is my eighth book of his I’ve read and reviewed on this blog. I was...
Wisdom From Kammbia Book Review 194: The Ballad of Perilous Graves by Alex Jennings
by MHill | May 18, 2026 | Book Reviews, Magical Realism, Marion's Reading Life Blog, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
Have you read a novel and you are still not sure what to make of it? I feel this way after reading The Ballad of Perilous Graves by Alex Jennings. I enjoy fantasy books that are unique and don’t have sequels, and I found out about this one recently. I’m glad it did...
Wisdom From Kammbia Book Review 193: Bless Me Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya
by MHill | Apr 29, 2026 | Book Reviews, Magical Realism, Marion's Reading Life Blog, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
In a hypothetical “most used copies” category for novels, Rudolfo Anaya’s Bless Me Ultima would stand among heavyweights like Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Jon Steinbeck’s Of Mice & Men, James Hilton’s Lost Horizon, and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great...
Wisdom From Kammbia Book Review 190: Ring Shout by P. Djeli Clark
by MHill | Mar 23, 2026 | Book Reviews, Magical Realism, Marion's Favorite Books, Marion's Favorites, Marion's Reading Life Blog, P. Djeli Clark, Wisdom From Kammbia Column, Wisdom From Kammbia Novella Review
"For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places." (Ephesians 6:12 Revised Standard Version) I...
Wisdom From Kammbia Book Review 186: Break Blow Burn & Make by E. Lily Yu
by MHill | Feb 15, 2026 | Book Reviews, Christianity, Christianity & Art, Marion's Favorite Books, Marion's Favorites, Marion's Reading Life Blog, Nonfiction, Wisdom From Kammbia Column, Writing
"In this day and age, it may seem anachronistic to aspire to eternal works, or to ask for help from God with a painting or a poem. But we do not have any chance of accomplishing the first without the second." E. Lily Yu wrote the above sentence in the last section of...
Wisdom From Kammbia Book Review 185: Exodus of the Long Sun by Gene Wolfe
by MHill | Feb 9, 2026 | Book Reviews, Gene Wolfe, Marion's Reading Life Blog, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
I’ve spent the first five weeks of 2026 engrossed in Gene Wolfe’s The Book of the Long Sun Quartet. The saga of the Long Sun began with Nightside the Long Sun, progressed through The Lake of the Long Sun and Calde of the Long Sun, and reached its culmination in Exodus...
Wisdom From Kammbia Book Review 184: Calde of the Long Sun by Gene Wolfe
by MHill | Jan 29, 2026 | Book Reviews, Gene Wolfe, Marion's Reading Life Blog, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
Is giving yourself up as a sacrifice the right thing to do in order to bring peace? What boundaries are crossed when religion turns political and politics becomes religious? Those two questions came to mind after I finished Calde of the Long Sun, the third book in the...
Wisdom From Kammbia Book Review 183: Lake of the Long Sun by Gene Wolfe
by MHill | Jan 19, 2026 | Book Reviews, Gene Wolfe, Marion's Favorite Books, Marion's Reading Life Blog, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
Have you ever read a novel and felt the story was heading one way, only to find it taking a completely different turn? This is the case with Lake of the Long Sun, the second book in Gene Wolfe’s Book of the Long Sun series. The story picks up right after the first...
Wisdom From Kammbia Book Review 182: Nightside the Long Sun by Gene Wolfe
by MHill | Jan 10, 2026 | Book Reviews, Gene Wolfe, Marion's Reading Life Blog, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
Gene Wolfe has become an author who has grown on me throughout my reading life. I’ve praised his work on my blog for years, considering him among the best American fiction writers after WWII. Even though the science-fiction and fantasy literary community lauds him,...