Wild Seed by Octavia Butler (Patternist #1) — Book Review
Octavia Butler creates a fantastical story in Wild Seed, the first book of her Patternist series. The main characters are two immortals, living in Africa and America during the years leading up to the Civil War. Doro is a body-snatching, shape shifter who believes he...Book Review: Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler (Earthseed #2)
Parable of the Talents cements Octavia Butler as one of my favorite speculative fiction authors. The second and final in the Earthseed books, Talents offers a disturbing view of the near future. At the end of Book #1, Parable of the Sower, Lauren Olamina, her husband...Book Review: The Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler (Earthseed #1)
I have a love / hate relationship with The Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler. I love the book and hate how much I think her speculative fiction feels like our 21st century reality. Butler creates a world, set in our near future 2025, where anarchy reigns. I also...Upgrade by Blake Crouch (Book Review)
Upgrade is Blake Crouch’s latest thriller and it focuses on using genetics for good or evil. Main character Logan Ramsay experiences both in the course of the story. As the son of a famous geneticist, he was a tangential part of an apocalyptic genetic failure. As a...Scorpica (The Five Queendoms, #1) by G.R. Macallister (Book Review)
Scorpica is everything I want in epic fantasy—world-building that still makes characters the focus of the story. G.R. Macallister creates entrancing characters in places I’ll never forget. She’s billed this as book one of a new series—The Five Queendoms—and I’m...Emily St. John Mandel — Station Eleven (Book Review)
Emily St. John Mandel wrote Station Eleven in the early 2010s and published it in 2014. So this is technically a backlist choice. However, with the pandemic-related storyline and the recent HBO adaptation, Station Eleven is more relevant than ever. I’ll review both...Margaret Walker, Classic Southern Historical Fiction and Jubilee (Book Review)
Reviewing Jubilee by Margaret Walker, a classic piece of historical fiction, is a daunting thing. Walker crafts a story, “inspired by the memories of her maternal grandmother, Elvira Ware Dozier.” (see source below) The main character is Vyry, a woman born on a...Book Review: Lakewood by Megan Giddings
In Lakewood, the debut novel from Megan Giddings, Lena Johnson is just trying to hold it all together for her family. And that family recently lost its most senior member, her grandmother. That leaves Lena with her ailing mom to care for, as their mountain of debt...Book Review: The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon
(The Bone Season #1)
Samantha Shannon creates an alternate London in the not-too-distant future in her debut fantasy novel, The Bone Season. In this London, the ruling organization is called Scion, in fact London itself is referred to as SciLo. And there are many types of clairvoyant...
Book Review: Dune by Frank Herbert
Frank Herbert’s Dune is a classic epic fantasy that my darling husband calls one of his favorites. Never mind that he was a teenager when he read it. So when I saw a clean copy on the shelf of a used bookstore, I grabbed it up. I like epic fantasy, so why not? Then I...Racial and Social Justice Reading: 2017-2021
During 2017 I made a specific effort to broaden my reading experience, with emphasis on balancing my white, middle-class education and upbringing. I’ve tried to choose classics written by African Americans, historical works, as well as books that discuss the...Reading Challenges 2017 – Part Two
Another 2017 reading challenge is done! The folks at Book Riot came up with the Read Harder challenge, and I have to say it’s expanded my horizons considerably. 2016 was the first time I’ve completed it, and now my 2017 challenge is also in the books (pun...Best Reading of 2018
I’ve decided that 2018 was my “Year of the Woman.” Themes of feminism and other various related women’s issues threaded their way through many of my choices. Plus, I read a plethora of amazing work from women authors. I love when the unintentional becomes...Bookshop.Org Affiliate
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