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...
Book Review 75: The Wooden Sea by Jonathan Carroll
by MHill | Jan 2, 2016 | 2015 Book Reviews, Jonathan Carroll, Marion's Favorite Books, Marion's Favorites, Marion's Reading Life Blog, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
I've spent the last month of 2015 reading three novels by Jonathan Carroll. The Wooden Sea is the third of the Carroll novels I've read. You can look at the reviews of the other two Carroll novels: White Apples and Glass Soup here. I will admit after reading these...
Book Review 74: Glass Soup by Jonathan Carroll
by MHill | Dec 20, 2015 | 2015 Book Reviews, Jonathan Carroll, Marion's Favorite Books, Marion's Favorite Duologies, Marion's Favorites, Marion's Reading Life Blog, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
I mentioned in my previous review that I have spent the last month of year reading three novels by Jonathan Carroll. Glass Soup is the second of the Carroll novels and I will be posting a review on The Wooden Sea by the end of the year. These Carroll novels have given...
Book Review 66: Oracle Night by Paul Auster
by MHill | Jun 20, 2015 | 2015 Book Reviews, Marion's Favorite Books
Paul Auster is one of the most interesting authors we have in contemporary fiction. I have read Leviathan and the groundbreaking New York Trilogy over the years. When I saw Oracle Night at the used bookstore recently, I decided to read and review it. Oracle Night is...
Book Review 65: The Sportswriter by Richard Ford
by MHill | Jun 4, 2015 | 2015 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
The Sportswriter by Richard Ford chronicles an Easter Weekend in the life of Frank Bascombe, a failed novelist turned sportswriter. Ford's breakout third novel grapples with the themes of grief, a failed career, and unhealthy relationships. Bascombe's story is told...
Book Review 64: The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro
by MHill | May 12, 2015 | 2015 Book Reviews
One of the most surprising elements in being a book review blogger is how you can choose some books to review and how some books can choose you to review them. The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro became the latter instead of the former for me. I recently heard an...
Quotes 83
by MHill | Feb 21, 2015 | Quotes
“I’d like people to enjoy reading them. A readable novel is a gift to humanity. It provides an innocent occupation. Any novel takes people away from their troubles and the television set; it may even stir them to reflect about human life, characters, morals. So I...
Quotes 82
by MHill | Feb 21, 2015 | Quotes
“A novel without a story must work very hard in other ways to be worth reading, and indeed to be read. Some of today’s antistory novels are too deliberately arcane. I think story is essential to the survival of the novel. A novel may be “difficult” but its story can...
Book Review 59: The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber
by MHill | Feb 1, 2015 | 2015 Book Reviews, Marion's Favorite Books
Can a marriage be saved even if you are doing God's will and serving him to the best of your ability? That is the main question I took from reading The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber. It's an interesting question that the novel tries to answer. I'm glad...
Wisdom of Kammbia 3.35: The Book by a Popular Author That Surprised You
by MHill | Jul 5, 2014 | Wisdom From Kammbia Column
I have a question: What is the book by a popular or well-known author that surprised you in a good way? The Bag of Bones by Stephen King is my answer to this question. For years, I had refused to read Stephen King. I don't have a good reason why. I was a bookseller...