Book Review: Anthem by Ayn Rand

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Anthem by Ayn Rand is one of my favorite novellas. The first time I read it, I had no idea what it was about. I do this more than most people, I suppose. Sometimes I’ll download a classic from Kindle simply because I’ve heard of it, but never read it. Or because I’ve heard of the long-dead author, but never read any of their work, so I’ll pick a short one to start out with. Anthem was one of the short ones I’d chosen. And I’ll never regret it. I’ll love this book until the day I die.

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Book Review: The Road by Jack London

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It took me quite a while into the book to realize that this was autobiographical! I was blown away! Jack London, one of the greatest American authors to come out of the early twentieth century, used to be a bum! A hobo! A tramp that rode the rails, telling lies to beg for his dinner! Jack London used to be known as Sailor Jack, and he was a “blowed-in-the-glass profesh.” Why did I never learn about this in school?!? How is it that I’m 35 and just now hearing about this? It’s so cool!

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Book Review: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

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The book starts out with sixteen-year-old Jacob losing his grandfather in a mysterious attack. He saw some kind of monster kill Abe, but no one believes him. Jacob starts to see a shrink and begins to accept that he just had a stress reaction. His therapist encourages him to visit the island where his grandfather lived while hiding from Nazis. Jacob convinces his father to go to the small island south of Wales for a few weeks.

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Book Review: The Martian by Andy Weir

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I loved The Martian by Andy Weir. I thought it was thrilling, funny, and it kept me on the edge of my seat. I read it on Kindle so that I could read a few pages whenever I got a chance. I actually read it in about two days. I’ve read a lot of other reviews for this book and most of them reminded me of how many trolls there are out there. So many people want everything to be accurate, feasible, and set firmly in the realm of reality, while not being too technical. Where’s the fun in that?!?

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Book Review: Jennifer Government by Max Barry

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The premise lies in the not-too-distant future, where the USA has mostly taken over the world, but not by government—they’ve done it with corporations. The “government” has very little power, and executives run the world. Every man and woman takes the name of their employer as their last name. Every child takes the last name of their school, which are all run by corporations. Unemployed persons have no last name.

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Book Review: A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay

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The synopsis of Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay intrigued me, so it was my next choice from my stack of physical books. A young teen begins to show signs of schizophrenia, but is she actually possessed? A TV show called The Possession is made about her and her family. Madness ensues.

The book is not written in a conventional narration throughout. It is split up into three ways. Modern day, told in present tense and first person. Then there is the blog format, my most disliked in the book. The most abundant is a past tense, first person narration of the eight year old sister of the possessed girl. All are necessary for the book to be as great as it is.

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Book Review: You Are One of Them by Elliott Holt

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The cover was what caught my eye. 

A brown, hardcover book with a pristine, matte dust jacket that showed a woman on the subway. It looked like a photo that had been through a fire, with most of her face burned out of the image. Within the blackened hole, lay the book’s title—YOU ARE ONE OF THEM a novel by Elliott Holt. It was a beautiful cover that really grabbed my attention. The description grabbed me even more. It’s about two girls, Sarah and Jenny, who grew up during the end of the Cold War. They write letters to the leader of Russia asking for peace, and Jenny becomes famous for it before she dies under mysterious circumstances. Ten years later, Sarah travels to Russia in search of answers to the question as to whether Jenny is really even dead or not.

Sold and sold! I buy a copy for myself, as well as one for my nephew. As a child of the 80’s, I’m eager to read some historical fiction that isn’t set centuries ago, but within my own lifetime.

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Book Review: The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne

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 I loved this book so much right up until almost the very end. There will be some serious spoilers later, but for now, I’ll merely give an overview. A group of men crash their balloon near a deserted island in the South Pacific during the Civil War. They manage to make their way through the rough surf to a small islet off the coast of a larger island that has been formed by a volcano. At low tide, they cross the strip of sea between the two and begin to explore the larger island. They eventually find their engineer, who was lost in the ocean during their crash. It would seem that he’s been saved by some mysterious benefactor who put him in a cave to recover.

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