Category Archives: Book Reviews

Book Review:  All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

I have just finished reading this amazing novel, and I am unsure of how to approach it as a reviewer. In truth, I am in awe of it. I approach it as I might approach a priceless painting or sculpture … Continue reading

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Reviews and Reflections on Books, Literature, and Writing: Volume Three Is Now Available!

My latest collection of book reviews, Reviews and Reflections on Books, Literature, and Writing: Volume Three, is now available in paperback and as an ebook at various online outlets. Links to these are below. From the author’s introduction: A popular … Continue reading

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Book Review:  Cinema Speculation by Quentin Tarantino: Part Two

When I wrote part one of this review of Cinema Speculation, my grandson Charlie was nine and a half months old. Today is his first birthday. That’s how long it has taken me to obtain a copy of the book … Continue reading

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Book Review:  Cinema Speculation by Quentin Tarantino: Part One

I have recently returned from a two-week trip to Los Angeles. (This first part of the review was written in February.) However, this was not a holiday venture during which I spent my time wining and dining and touring places … Continue reading

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Book Review:  Uncanny Valley: A Memoir by Anna Wiener

When she was in her mid-twenties, Anna Wiener left her career in New York publishing to move to San Francisco and work in the tech industry. She worked first at one startup and then another, getting a firsthand glimpse at … Continue reading

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Book Review:  Cold People by Tom Rob Smith

I want to clarify at the start that Cold People is a lot of fun to read, albeit in the same way that Marvel Comics are fun. There is very little verisimilitude; you have to dial up your “willing suspension … Continue reading

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Book Review:  Rough Draft: A Memoir by Katy Tur

I picked this book up under the assumption that it was written by a magazine or newspaper reporter; I had never heard of Katy Tur because I don’t usually watch broadcast news. She is, in fact, a television journalist who … Continue reading

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Book Review:  The Terraformers by Annalee Newitz

This entertaining exercise in world building is set almost fifty-seven thousand years in the future. It is not so much a novel as a linked series of stories, each with its own main characters and objectives, although some of the … Continue reading

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Book Review:  A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II by Sonia Purnell

Step aside, James Bond, with your wild, fantastical, gadget-laden, good-guy-always-wins superhero stories of unrealistic espionage. This is the tale of a true spy, a real hero named Virginia Hall. What makes it even more amazing is that before the war … Continue reading

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Book Review:  The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu

The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu is a science fiction novel first written in Chinese and then translated into English by the award-winning writer Ken Liu. The Three-Body Problem has also won its share of awards, including the Chinese Galaxy … Continue reading

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