One thing I have learned in the last few years of reading, that first impressions of a novel are not always accurate. Sometimes a second impression can give a novel a better chance of being read than the initial impression. This is the case for The Ballad of Black Tom...
Wisdom From Kammbia Book Review 166: The Famished Road by Ben Okri
by MHill | Jul 17, 2025 | 2025 Book Reviews, Book Reviews, Magical Realism, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
"People who use only their eyes do not SEE. People who use only their ears do not HEAR. It is more difficult to love than to die. It is not death that human beings are most afraid of, it is love." These words come from the father of the protagonist, Azaro, in Ben...
Wisdom From Kammbia Book Review 165: Magical Realism by Maggie Ann Bowers
by MHill | May 21, 2025 | 2025 Book Reviews, Book Reviews, Magical Realism, Marion's Favorite Books, Marion's Favorites, Marion's Reading Life Blog, Nonfiction, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
Over the past couple of years, I have tried to find a home as reader (and a writer for that matter). While I've enjoyed reading across genres and have broadened my reading life in immeasurable ways. Still, I've always wanted a reading home that I connected with the...
Wisdom From Kammbia Book Review 164: Killing Commendatore by Haruki Murakami
by MHill | May 14, 2025 | 2025 Book Reviews, Book Reviews, Fiction about Artists, Haruki Murakami, Magical Realism, Marion's Reading Life Blog, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
My previous review was a reread of A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami and admittedly I did not enjoy my reading experience the second time around for one of my favorite novelists and a book that introduced me to the Murakami fictional universe. However, I had been...
Wisdom From Kammbia Book Review 163: Bloodchild & Other Stories by Octavia Butler
by MHill | Feb 17, 2025 | 2025 Book Reviews, Black History Month, Book Reviews, Octavia Butler, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
It's been awhile since I read Octavia Butler and I had planned to read her short story collection, Bloodchild & Other Stories for quite some time. Well, I had an opening last week and read this excellent and important collection. Butler writes in the preface, “The...
Wisdom From Kammbia Book Review 162: Widdershins by Charles de Lint
by MHill | Feb 9, 2025 | 2025 Book Reviews, Book Reviews, Charles De Lint, Fiction about Artists, Magical Realism, Marion's Favorite Books, Marion's Favorites, Marion's Reading Life Blog, Newford, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
True love, when it is meant to be, will always unite two people, no matter how long the journey. Jilly Coppercorn and Geordie Riddell, two beloved characters from Charles de Lint’s Newford contemporary fantasy series, are the focus of this story. Their story is...
Wisdom From Kammbia Book Review 155: Master of One by Jordan Raynor
by MHill | Oct 31, 2024 | 2024 Book Reviews, Christianity & Art, Marion's Favorite Books, Marion's Favorites, Marion's Reading Life Blog, Nonfiction
An old age question gets examined in Master of One by Jordan Raynor. Is less truly better? Raynor presents his argument in the book by drawing on biblical teachings, anecdotes of various individuals who have harmonized their Christian faith and careers, and his own...
Wisdom From Kammbia Book Review 148: The Marriage of Sticks by Jonathan Carroll
by MHill | Jul 31, 2024 | 2024 Book Reviews, Jonathan Carroll, Marion's Favorite Books, Marion's Favorites, Marion's Reading Life Blog, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
"You and Hugh were not supposed to stay together. He was fated to go back to his wife and have that little boy with her. You two were supposed to have a quick, red-hot affair. You were supposed to end up writing postcards from exotic places telling him how much you...
Wisdom From Kammbia Book Review 146: The Truth of the Aleke by Moses Ose Utomi
by MHill | Jun 18, 2024 | 2024 Book Reviews, Book Reviews, Wisdom From Kammbia Column, Wisdom From Kammbia Novella Review
"History is only a story, told by those with power to justify why they have it. The truth does not bend to power's whims." These words came near the end of The Truth of the Aleke by Moses Ose Utomi. It is the follow-up novella to the excellent The Lies of the Ajungo I...
Wisdom From Kammbia Book Review 145: The Lies of The Ajungo by Moses Ose Utomi
by MHill | Jun 12, 2024 | 2024 Book Reviews, Marion's Favorite Books, Marion's Favorites, Marion's Reading Life Blog, Wisdom From Kammbia Column, Wisdom From Kammbia Novella Review
When you have been taught lies, what do you believe in? Is it preferable to lie in order to safeguard society from the truth? Both questions get answered in The Lies of the Ajungo by Moses Ose Utomi. I came across this novella from the Goodreads recommendations...