Quick Book Reviews Blog

  Short Summary Grant Ginder has added his unique voice to the realm of political humour about a decade ago, and since then has made many valuable contributions, the latest of which is titled Let's Not Do That Again . It tells the story of Nancy Harrison, whose run for senate would have been perfect, if not for her daughter Greta.  Caught making headlines with extremist protesters in Paris, she threatens to sink Nancy's campaign, forcing her along with her son Nick on a search for Greta before it's too late for everyone.

Fredrik Backman seems to have a fantastic penchant for the unusual in his stories, and he presents yet another original premise in his latest novel, Anxious People . The story takes place in an open house, where a group of eight people have been taken hostage by a failed bank robber.    They all have their own worries, grievances, and failures in life to deal with, and as the situation escalates into a national drama, they begin to see rather surprising truths about themselves.

Anne Tyler has long been known for her profound understanding of the emotional depth characteristic to human nature, and in Redhead by the Side of the Road she explores the power of human connections from a more lighthearted perspective. Following the story of the neatly-organized Micah Mortimer, we witness a series of events throwing his life in complete upheaval, in the process surprising him and leading him on a journey of self-discovery bound to change him forever.

Jonathan Evison has a keen eye for observing the innermost workings of our society, and in Lawn Boy he introduces us to Mike Munoz, a young man a few years out of high-school, who is about to learn a whole lot about the world on his own. Unsatisfied with his trajectory of menial work and recently fired from his last gig as a landscaper, Mike decides to shake his life up a bit and give chase to the good old American dream... after all, shouldn't every American be entitled to it?

Into David Wong's Absurdity David Wong is a writer that doesn't need much of an introduction for those who are into horror comedies. His John Dies at the End and This Book is Full of Spiders have catapulted him into relative stardom, demonstrating his capability of bringing something original and hilarious to the genre.

Joshilyn Jackson Ventures to the Middle of Nowhere The Southern United States, though plastered with stereotypes and generalizations, is a complicated and unique enough place on this Earth with its own sort of internal system that has remained the same throughout the years, even as one government took over after another. Joshilyn Jackson, like a few other authors, has used the South as a setting for her stories on more than one occasion, being perfect for family dramas and sagas because of the traditions found in it. In The Almost Sisters she takes us into a little town located in Alabama, one that personifies what that part of the world is all about.

The Power of Desperation Most of us like to believe that we have enough integrity not to make any deals with the devil should the opportunity present itself, no matter what offers may be put on the table. Desperation, however, has the power to drastically change our minds and priorities, and it is quite likely that there is a right set of circumstances in which every single person on Earth would sell their soul to the devil.

After fending off the Shadow Men from destroying the entire world in their last outing, David Wong and his friend John are trying to live out their days in relative peace and comfort in the disappointingly strange town of [Undisclosed]. However, Jason Pargin had other plans for the now practically cult-classic duo, suiting them up for a new round of adventures in This Book is Full of Spiders .

The personalities which colour our beings are things constantly subject to change and even complete metamorphosis, depending on the facts and philosophies we learn as well as the events we experience. In many cases, people remove themselves further and further from what they would refer to as their true natures, becoming products of their experiences rather than their own being. In A Man Called Ove , Fredrik Backman introduces us to just such a gentleman, the titular Ove, a 59-year-old widower whose bitterness marks his orderly days.

In his previous novel, The Rosie Project , Graeme Simsion introduced us to Don and Rosie and the hilariously charming adventures that finally brought them together. Needless to say, there are two stages in the lives of such couples: before and after marriage. Now that they are living together as husband and wife, in a different city, with different jobs, things have started to take on a different meaning... especially when Don learns that Rosie is pregnant.

Time may be the one thing that will best us all in the end, but while we're here it could also be heralded as the one thing that prevents stagnation and boredom. With time things, places and people tend to change in one way or another, creating new experiences that keep things interesting. A lot can change in a country during a period of twenty years, and so Bill Bryson decided to revisit the United Kingdom two decades after his travels that ultimately led him to write Notes from a Small Island .

The concept of dating (or “courting”, depending how fancy you are) is one that that seems to have undergone a tremendous amount of ages as societies have been developing over the course of thousands of years. We've constantly been inventing rules and traditions, and then reshaping them to fit whichever direction society tended to go. Thankfully, it has come to a point today where people (in most developed countries at least) have a great amount of freedom in whom they choose to go out with and what they do together.

We all know that one person in our circle of friends or acquaintances that tends to be somewhat troublesome, with a real knack for getting themselves into sordid adventures. And that is a fortunate turn of events, for as it happens these people often need the help of their more level-headed friends to untangle some situations.

Amy Poehler is a name that generally evokes smiles on people's faces, belonging to a person who has truly made her mark in the acting community, bringing a special kind of comedy to the screen, the kind that is memorable in its uniqueness. Needless to say, she has done a lot of work before really bursting through into the biggest of leagues with her performance on Parks and Recreation ... as a matter of fact, she has had a pretty interesting and fulfilling career as a comedian.

The British Isles have often been portrayed, from the North American perspective at least, as having lots of charm and mystery to them, with their inhabitants having so many close similarities and, at the same time, vast cultural differences. It feels like a bizarre place on Earth where all is different and yet the same. American author Bill Bryson had the chance to fully immerse himself in this fantastic world upon moving to Britain in the early 1970s.

The need for self-understanding and a personal identity is something virtually every human on this planet has, but we all go about it in different ways. While some people undertake grandiose journeys around the world, there are others who prefer to delve deep onto odysseys into their own minds. In A Life in Books by Warren Lehrer we are treated to the latter as we are presented the fictitious biography of Bleu Mobley, a man who had a rather interesting life, going from living as a child in a public housing project to becoming a journalist, a professor and a best-selling author, amongst other things.

The step from the pre to the post-graduate world is a big one to take, one virtually nobody forgets, no matter if that final graduation was in high-school or university; being thrust into the big unknown full of expectations from it is an unparalleled, once-in-a-lifetime experience, the one during which we actually do some of our most crucial learning and adapting. Though the experience is, in itself, similar for most people, we all go through our own unique trials and tribulations, and in Graduates in Wonderland best friends (and authors of the book) Jessica Pan and Rachel Kapelke-Dale chronicle their post-graduation lives in as much detail as possible.

There is no denying that the internet has come to occupy a rather important place for us humans, being relied on every day for everything from important corporate transactions to menial entertainment seeking. In Notes from the Internet Apocalypse , Wayne Gladstone explores the idea as to what would happen in a world where the internet suddenly stopped working.

The time is long ago, and the location is Venice. The merchant, Antonio, the senator, Montressor, and the naval officer, Lago, have spent their lives in search of wealth and power, and though they have become prominent figures, it seems that every one of their opportunities to climb further is shut down by a very troublesome and loathsome man: Fool Pocket, an envoy from the Queen of Britain. It seems, however, that the three men have hatched a plan to get rid of him once and for all: invite him to a night with promises of wine and debauchery, only to poison him.

Most of you probably know Mindy Kaling from her role on the hit sitcom, The Office , and from what I gathered based on my viewings of it, she played the kind of character you either loved or hated. Personally, I couldn’t stand every moment she spent on screen, and as a result I was extremely skeptical about purchasing her book, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? … I only did so because of the number of good reviews and a personal recommendation which came from a friend.