The novel was published in 1920 about 1870s New York society. It’s fascinating how one look, one casual phrase could destroy a person’s entire reputation. I think that’s still true, but for the most part, we can start over somewhere else and bounce back. If someone is ruined (the Beauforts, more so Regina than Julius,…
Back when I was a wee little Gilly, my Ma got roped into a subscription for Reader’s Digest Condensed Books. This novel appeared in vol. 217 in 1995, when I was 12. I didn’t have the luxury of going to the library often as a child. It truly was a treat, because it wasn’t a…
I have decided to elevate Ray Bradbury to be the grandfather of my literary aesthetic, which is cinematic absurdist. I found an essay (an interview, really) in this book where he states “all my stories are cinematic. … I may be the most cinematic novelist in the country today. All of my short stories can…
I have been an avid devourer of books since I was a child. My hunger to read new material got so awful that I would read the phone book. Not the numbers so much, but the information that the book held. I truly believe there is only one literary work that should be considered the…
Life and death are very important themes throughout Jean Anouilh’s “Antigone.” It is made very clear from the very beginning what sort of character Antigone will be. “C’est la petite maigre qui est assise la-bas, et qui ne dit rien. Elle regarde droit devant elle. Elle pense.” Even if you were not aware of the…
A Dirty Job (paid link) was my first novel of his because I bought the ebook on sale. That novel actually ended up inspiring me one of the short stories in my thesis, Electric Angels. It taught me that even if there are rules, and your characters are the only ones who know how it…
You have cleverness, dexterity, and creativity—all of which powerfully combine when you are at risk—if you listen to your intuition. Gavin de Becker, the Gift of Fear I’ve been meaning to read this book for ages. I finally was able to get finish it with my Digital Silent Book Club and burning through it during…
Dear Mr. Sirius Black, This is it, I guess. This is farewell, goodbye, adieu. I’m ready to let you go now. I wept like a baby when I saw the image of you in my head fall behind the veil at the Department of Mysteries in Order of the Phoenix. I swear. Little tears squeaked…
Olivia Joules is a freelance journalist for the Sunday Times. She has been asked by her editor to cover a fabulous Hollywood makeup line launch party. While there, she ends up catching the eye of the sexy Pierre Feramo, who may or may not be an Al-Qaeda terrorist. What follows is her adventures around the…
Twilight is everything that I thought it would be, and more. And what I thought was that it was horrendous. The language feeds into its young adult target audience. Basically I went into reading it knowing it as trussed up LDS fanfiction, and it read like that. My opinion didn’t change when I finished it…