Books

Let’s start with a question.  Have the last two to three years completely upended your life and forever transformed not just who you are but the way you see and relate to the very world around you? I’m guessing that for at least a handful of people, the answer would …

Beyond its expertly crafted entertainment value, 'I Am Not Who You Think I Am' contains the deep sadness and loss a teenager who, suffering from past trauma, is pulled down into a destructive spiral.    

'Sherlock Holmes & The Beast of the Stapletons' would make a beautiful holiday gift for the Sherlockian in your life. We all need some healthy escape right now, and this book is a timely providence.   

We sat down with filmmaker Jay Baruchel and comics creator Jimmy Palmiotti to talk about their adaption of 'Random Acts of Violence.'

In 'The Living Dead,' George Romero and Daniel Kraus have created a truly apocalyptic, no-holds-barred zombie vision. Despite being over 600 pages long, the book is ever mindful of pace and never gets bogged down in its luxurious portrayals.

Deborah Hewitt’s debut novel 'The Nightjar' imagines “another London, a magical world hidden behind the bustling modern city we know.” This world draws on the folkloric tradition of the “soul-bird” that carries the souls of the dead to the Underworld. But I struggled throughout to connect the book’s real-world setting and characters with the mythological elements that form the foundation of this otherwise entertaining fantasy novel.

The “book you can’t put down” is very much a cliché, but those of us who read regularly know the truth of it. This is one of those books.  If you are a fan of mysteries and back-roads America, 'The Sun Down Motel' is a must-read.

Be warned: 'The Reddening' is not a book to read alone. The sense of impending doom is there from the get-go. But it is genuinely hard to put down. Just keep the lights on.

'The Christmas Demon' ranks among the best and truest to form of Sherlock Holmes pastiches.  James Lovegrove’s writings are a contemporary gift to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle fans and not to be missed.

'Lent' is a tale of sin and redemption, of punishment and forgiveness, of power and justice, of certainty and compromise. And no writer of fiction is better at handling such enormous concepts than Jo Walton.

Cursed is the new Young Adult novel from Tom Wheeler and the legendary Frank Miller. Their collaboration is clearly built on a foundation of a shared appreciation of the Arthurian Mythos.

Tea Krulos takes another look at eccentric Americans in 'Apocalypse Any Day Now.' As usual, he lets his oddball subjects speak for themselves without rendering overt comment on their beliefs. Krulos’ engagement with this world helps his subjects open up to him and also makes for a more entertaining book than a more conventional, arms-length journalistic exercise. 'Apocalypse Any Day Now' is a fun and funny, but never mocking, dive into the bizarre world of doomsday preppers.

Many of us may have harbored secret longings for immortality. But perhaps, in watching a fictional immortal embrace his internal humanity through loss, we can discover ways to come to terms with our perishability.

If you haven’t read any of Eric Rickstad's books yet, go ahead and start here. If you are already a fan, don’t miss this one; it’s his best to date. 

Are you interested in reading a 20-page sex scene between an angel and a merman? If your answer is no, this is not the book for you.