I’ve just finished the second Harry Potter book (on tape) – Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and I give JK Rowling two thumbs up. Is JK Rowling the most talented writer of today? No. Are these great works of literature? By no means. The plot lines themselves are simple and formulaic. But overall the works are incredibly creative, and I believe are set to become classics of young adult literature. Why? you ask – I’ll tell you.
First, at the core of these books are timeless themes of good …

Dirty Little Angels is a short debut novel by Chris Tusa. When the book was pitched to me, it was in the realm of “if you liked The Glass Castle, you might like this…” It has also been compared to To Kill a Mockingbird. For the record, I loved The Glass Castle and TKM. I did not love this one.
Set in New Orleans, the story revolves around Hailey – a sixteen-year-old girl caught in a crumbling family: a lazy, drunk, cheating father; an overly religious mother depressed after a recent …

I feel like I’ve been seeing a lot of dystopion literature on the blogs that I read these days, and while I’m not one for science fiction, small doses are OK. Farenheit 451 and The Giver were two of my favorite books to teach when I was still in the classroom, and so I’ve been intrigued by the reviews I’ve been reading of Ninni Holmqvist’s debut novel, The Unit.
In Holmqvist’s European society, people are either “needed” or “dispensable.” If you don’t have children and aren’t in a high-demand profession, you’re …

Rosecommon Mental Hospital is the present day setting for Sebastian Barry’s novel The Secret Scripture. Alternating between two narrators – a 100+ year old woman / patient and her 65 year old physician – Barry goes back in Irish history to the days of Catholics vs. Protestants to weave his tale.

Roseanne has been institutionalized as long as anyone can remember, and with Rosecommon falling in on itself and just weeks from demolition, Dr. Grene must decide where to place Roseanne. All too familiar with the history of mental institutions and …

Most of you know that in real life I work in healthcare. Specifically, I’m responsible for keeping about 1400 physicians across 4 hospitals “in the loop” with what’s going on in our system. I also try to stay pretty informed on what is going on outside our system, and so I read a dozen or so physician or hospital blogs from across the country.
There is a lot that is being written about healthcare reform. I think I’m so numb to it that at this point, I’ll only read it if …

I thought I had a hacker last weekend.
Turns out, I didn’t. But, Annie did ask for a go as a guest blogger, and so I obliged.
********************Go, Dog, Go!? How about “Sleep, Dog, Sleep.” Much more appealing.
The end. Woof.

I have a confession to make.

For all my ‘well-read-ness,’ I haven’t read the first word of any (and I don’t even know how many there are) of the Harry Potter series. I know, shoot me dead.

First, my defense. I don’t ‘do’ science fiction, fantasy or any of the witch genres. I don’t typically like it in literature; I don’t watch it on big screen or small screen. I did read the Narnia series and The Hobbit when I was young, and I did really like those then, but part …

The first time I read about this book, I put it on my TBR pile. The second time I read about it, I ordered it from Amazon.
The Blue Notebook is by James Levine, M.D., a physician at the Mayo clinic. He wrote it after visiting Mumbai, India for medical research where he interviewed children from a part of town where child prostitutes work known as the Street of Cages. He saw a young girl writing in a blue notebook, and from that poignant scene, a story was born.
This is not …

Guest Review by: Bunny of bunnygoround.blogspot.comEverything Changes by Jonathan Tropper
Early this year, I reviewed another Tropper book—The Book of Joe —on this site. It was my first read by the author and I really liked it. So much so that I was prompted to pick up another book by him, and I will admit that my expectations were high coming off The Book of Joe. Everything Changes was almost as good as The Book of Joe; however, at only a few chapters in, I thought the title could be “The …

I’m always amazed when I come across folks who say, “Oh, I LOVE that book – I’ve read it five times!” And this happens way more than you (and I) would imagine.

My initial (and internal) response is, “Why?”

Long-time readers here (if there is such a thing for a blog that hasn’t celebrated it’s first anniversary) know my laments about my TBR pile. Most of my reader friends have the same sort of griefs, and yet some of them choose to pick up a tried & true and reread it.

Now …