Oh, post apocalyptic novels, how I love thee. What kind of phase is this? I can’t seem to get enough. (I am getting killer tips for prepping and food storage though, ha ha.) One Second After covers the fall of American civilization as we know it after an electromagnetic pulse blast [...]
Category Archives: Fiction
Dune by Frank Herbert
February 24, 2010 – 1:10 pm
Dune sets the stage for an science fiction masterpiece of epic proportions. You have a large, dare I say ‘galactic’ feudal empire ripe with vendettas, politics, religion, destiny, and of course, planetary ecology. You have a child destined for greatness at the center of a massive web of personal agendas and empire wide [...]
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
January 19, 2010 – 3:36 am
East of Eden follows two generations of the Trask family as well as the Hamiliton family in the Salinas valley in California, and basically covers from the American civil war to world war I. It feels like a very ambitious novel. I think this book has everything but the kitchen sink all stirred [...]
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
January 12, 2010 – 12:40 am
Ender’s game is set in a future world where humanity is in a war with an alien race of giant bugs. Genius children have been bread and molded to become the greatest military leaders and win the war. This is my first Orson Scott Card book and I liked it. He writes [...]
Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank
January 5, 2010 – 12:01 am
Alas Babylon follows a group of survivors in a small town in Florida after the USA and USSR launch their nukes in a MAD war. I liked this book. On one hand I thought it felt dated, and on the other hand I really enjoyed peeking into the mindset of 1960 and the [...]
Foundation by Isaac Asimov
December 29, 2009 – 10:28 pm
Foundation is the first novel in the foundation series. The Galactic Empire is about to fail and Hari Seldon and the new science of psychohistory are attempting to save all human knowledge and bring humanity through the resulting dark ages. I am split on my feelings about this book. I have just [...]
The Copper Beech by Maeve Binchy
December 27, 2009 – 11:13 pm
This book felt more like a selection of short stories all centred around a common theme than a novel. The book opens with a description of a small rural school with a huge copper beech tree in the yard, in Ireland. Each successive section describes the life of someone from the village connected to the [...]
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
December 7, 2009 – 1:51 am
This is the second installment of the Hunger Games trilogy. It continues the story of Katniss Everdeen after she wins the Hunger Games (sorry if that’s too much information for those who wanted to read the Hunger Games). This fast paced novel is full of twists and turns. I couldn’t put it down. And now [...]
The Cinderella Pact a novel by Sarah Strohmeyer
December 1, 2009 – 4:35 pm
The main character of this novel (written in first person) is overweight and living a double life. The double life thing has been done and done, but I have honestly never read a book with a chubby main character. I liked that part. I’m really sick of reading books with skinny perfect women taking the [...]
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
October 18, 2009 – 6:41 am
I enjoyed this book. The Hunger Games is a very quick read and a real page turner. Set in a near future dystopia after the fall of the United States of America, a young girl and boy from the 12th district in the nation of Panem must compete in a death match type [...]
Into the Forest by Jean Hegland
October 7, 2009 – 4:24 am
This book follows two sisters as their lives change through tragedy and the decline of the world as we know it. Have I mentioned before I’m an apocalypse junkie? This book is a fairly easy read. It isn’t split into traditional chapters but flows more as a diary. I think the [...]
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
September 30, 2009 – 4:23 am
I was immediately pulled in by this book and the complex cast of characters. Why was I drawn in? Partly because of the difficulty of getting into the book in the beginning. Still I felt there was something great waiting for me if I kept at it. I am so glad [...]
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
September 21, 2009 – 10:58 am
Wow. This book has a lot of impact. This is a story about the love between a father and son in a post-apocalyptic world. They only have each other and must keep moving on the road. I have seldom read a book that more perfectly combines raw terror and simple heart [...]
The Stranger by Albert Camus
September 17, 2009 – 6:34 am
I am undecided on my feelings for this book. I was looking for books that explore philosophical concepts and was recommended this book as a starting place for existentialism. After doing some research on the author I discovered he had refused the existential label. Published in 1942, The Stranger chronicles a young [...]
The Children of Men by P.D. James
September 15, 2009 – 6:31 am
This book was well written and very thought provoking. I find myself still working over some of the moral dilemmas given in the book days after reading it. The year is 2021 and the human race is preparing for the end of civilization after worldwide infertility extinguished the ability to procreate in [...]
The Tenth Gift by Jane Johnson
September 4, 2009 – 2:51 am
I liked this book. It was entertaining and a quick read. The book follows two women’s stories, one set in London in the present day and one set in Cornwall in 1625. I liked the idea of the two parallel stories, but I found Julia and the present day story more of [...]
Sleep No More by Greg Iles
September 3, 2009 – 8:14 am
This book is not bad. I’m not a huge fan of suspense novels (anymore) but I did go through a big suspense phase a while back and this one is pretty good. It is a fatal attraction type story based on a supernatural premise. If you can say sure, I believe [...]
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
September 2, 2009 – 1:18 am
A frightening dystopian novel. The story is compelling and the characters are well developed. You don’t have to be a feminist to relate to the themes of women’s rights. Thankfully we can stop reading and say, I’m glad we don’t live in a world like that today. Oh, wait, yes we do. There are lots [...]
Thanks for the Memories by Cecelia Ahern
February 10, 2009 – 7:51 am
I would call this book slightly better than average but mostly forgettable. Sorry Cecelia Ahern, I really tried to like it. Read it if you are in the mood for a light hearted romantic comedy with well written, colloquial irish humor. Don’t read it if you want something more than skin deep, a premise that [...]
Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates
February 10, 2009 – 6:41 am
I have mixed feelings on this book. The writing was wonderful, and I was completely amazed that the world has not changed a bit since this book was written. It easily could have been written about people I know today. I especially liked the way the author artfully painted the character’s struggles as self defeating [...]