I first read Fletch back in the 80s when the Chevy Chase movie was coming along, and for some reason I had problems keeping the story threads straight, as most of the text in the novel is dialogue, not action, so I would lose who said what and would have to go back, and back…
Category: The Book Shelf
Moon Over Soho (2011) – Ben Aaronovitch
Constable Peter Grant returns to investigate the supernatural in the second novel in the Rivers of London series written by Ben Aaronovitch. Picking up about six months after the first book, the novel sees Grant still dealing with the fallout from the events of the first novel, particularly the attack that left his friend, and…
The Hard Boys: The Tower Treasure (1927/1959) – Franklin W. Dixon
When I was a young boy in the late 70s, early 80s, I was devouring books at a variety of reading levels, and was delighted with the blue border hard cover editions of The Hardy Boys, I didn’t have them all, but I had a collection that would grow whenever I lacked anything else to…
A Darker Shade of Magic (2015) – V.E. Schwab
I dug excitedly into V.E. Schwab’s A Darker Side of Magic, I’d heard good things about it, and I like the idea of connected worlds, all sharing a city called London, one filled with magic, one destroyed by it, one fading, and one without any idea of magic (the closest to our own), and those…
The Murder at the Vicarage (1930) – Agatha Christie
It’s been a while since I’ve had a chance to check in on the writings of Agatha Christie, so I settled in to play a bit of the armchair (or lawnchair) detective as I enjoyed the first novel to introduce the other famous detective Christie was responsible for introducing to the world, Ms. Jane Marple,…
Parable of the Sower (1993) – Octavia E. Butler
Octavia E. Butler’s science fiction tale, that follows a young woman of colour on her quest to understand herself, the ideas of god, and the destiny of humanity. Within pages of this novel, I was completely swept up in Butler’s storytelling style, her characters, and the world she created. And here’s the thing, the world…
Battlestar Galactica 6: The Living Legend (1982) – Nicholas Yermakov, and Glen A. Larson
A quick check in with the Galactica brings me to the sixth book in the novelisations of various episodes, and despite the tagline on the cover about this being the story fans have asked for, there’s nothing to make this one stand out. In fact, of the books so far this is the shortest of…
Sandstorm (2004) – James Rollins
Craving a bit of arm chair adventure and travel I figured I would dig into the Sigma Force series by James Rollins and see what happens. I dug into the first big adventure, Sandstorm, and uses science fact, archaeology, and the action film template to deliver a rip-roaring adventure that takes us from North America…
Six of Crows (2015) – Leigh Bardugo
I came across this title on a list of fantasy novels that are must reads, and though I hadn’t read the other books set in the same universe, the Shadow and Bone series, that help compose what has become known as the Grishaverse, I figured I would dig in and see what it was all…
The Midnight Library (2020) – Matt Haig
Matt Haig has been very outspoken about mental health and depression throughout his career in both his fiction and non-fiction writing. Suffering from these issues myself, I really didn’t want to read any of his works, because I just didn’t need the reminders, and yay for him for finding something that works for him, but…
The Mind Reels 