For those who have said, "It's only a story." Here's one of the best defenses against that phrase: “It’s only a story.” I’ve heard that sentence a lot of over the years. It seems that stories and those who tell them are considered to be second or even third class...
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 88: Independence Day by Richard Ford
by MHill | Jul 23, 2016 | 2016 Book Reviews, Book Reviews, Frank Bascombe Series, Marion's Favorite Books, Marion's Favorites, Marion's Reading Life Blog, Richard Ford, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
Does living through your "existence period" mean you are truly an independent human being? Richard Ford attempted to answer that question in Independence Day, the second novel in the critically acclaimed Frank Bascombe series. Last year, I reviewed The Sportswriter,...
Book Review 87: Breeder by K.B. Hoyle
by MHill | Jul 17, 2016 | 2016 Book Reviews, Marion's Favorite Books
How would you feel when everything that you have been taught could be a lie? That question starts to get answered in Breeder, Book 1 of the Breeder Cycle, by K.B. Hoyle. Seventeen lives a perfect life as a breeder in the Sanctuary that is ruled by the New World...
Book Review 86: What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami
by MHill | Jul 3, 2016 | 2016 Book Reviews, Haruki Murakami, Marion's Favorite Books
Sometimes, there is a book that sits on your bookshelf for awhile that you have not read for one reason or another. When you walk over to your bookshelf to grab something to read, that book just sits waiting for its turn to be placed in your hands and the pages...
Book Review 80: Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
by MHill | Mar 5, 2016 | 2016 Book Reviews, Marion's Favorite Books
In the eighty reviews I have posted to this website, I have read and reviewed only one book that has garnered major pop culture attention, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. For some unknown reason, I have not gravitated towards those kind of books. However, I received...
Book Review 78: Search and Recovery by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
by MHill | Feb 13, 2016 | 2016 Book Reviews, Marion's Favorite Books, Retrieval Artist Series
This latest installment in the Retrieval Artist Series by Kristine Kathryn Rusch focuses on different characters outside of the main protagonists, Retrieval Artist Miles Flint and the Moon's Chief Security Officer, Noelle DeRicci. In her author's note, Rusch writes...
Book Review 76: Dance Dance Dance by Haruki Murakami
by MHill | Jan 23, 2016 | 2016 Book Reviews, Haruki Murakami
I finally heard of Haruki Muramaki when his latest novel, Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years Pilgrimage, was released in the summer 2014. It was on the Books of the Nightstand podcast where several independent bookstores across the country were having Murakami...
Wisdom of Kammbia 4.1: How Running Has Become A Part Of My Life
by MHill | Nov 1, 2015 | Wisdom From Kammbia Column
I have always followed the beat to my own drummer. Running has helped me embrace that drum beat. I started to run seriously for the first time over the summer. My wife is a member of a running club and has been running with them for quite awhile. Her participation...