Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
While I appreciate a dystopian universe as much as the next Hunger Games aficionado, I’ve been bothered by the recent trend of violence in young adult fiction.
An Anatomy of Addiction: Sigmund Freud, William Halsted, and the Miracle Drug Cocaine
While there are plenty of nonfiction books that explore the history of drug addiction, and many specifically on cocaine, Markel explores the addictive drug through the lives of two of its most famous victims: Sigmund Freud and William Halsted.
A Good and Happy Child
There’s a lot to be said for books that play on the fears of having a child: who hasn’t wondered if their child, instead of being “good and happy” would end up evil?
Mr. Chartwell
How one feels about depression being personified by a large black dog that plagues Winston Churchill is likely dependent on how one feels about depression, dogs and the famous Prime Minister.
Commencement by J. Courtney Sullivan
Commencement Commencement (Vintage Contemporaries) is an enjoyable jaunt through life in a women’s college and the years afterwards, until it goes completely off the rails.
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie
In as much as The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie has problems – and it does – the verve of its main protagonist and backstory of the author makes up for it.
A Word About #FridayReads
Shortly after Ricky Gervais hosted the Golden Globes last year and roasted his fellow celebrities, there was a disquieting feeling among his fans that maybe he wasn’t as interested in speaking Truth to Power as much as he was a bit of a jerk.
That’s how I’m feeling these days about Jennifer Weiner.
-->The Mistress Contract
A pseudo-academic treatise disguised as a conversation between a man and his long-time mistress, The Mistress Contract is a book you'll either love, hate or go "what IS this?"
