Category Archives: Book Review

Book Reviews (Listed Alphabetically by Title)

The Orphan Master’s Son

“But people do things to survive, and then after they survive, they can’t live with what they’ve done.” So, this is going to be a little lengthy, especially because I ended up reading up a fair amount on North Korea after I finished the book. I’ll split it into parts though to make it a …

The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared

– It really is you…Yury finally managed to exclaim. But…You speak Russian? – Yes, I went on a five-year course in your country’s language shortly after we last met, said Allan. The school was called Gulag. What about that vodka? The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonassen is kind …

The Rosie Project

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion is a lighthearted, funny, and highly enjoyable love story for all the nerds out there. Professor Don Tillman is a geneticist with Asperger’s Syndrome who embarks on a project to find a “suitable mate” (the “Wife Project”). But instead, he gets sidetracked by a woman named Rosie and her …

Armageddon in Retrospect

And how should we behave during this Apocalypse? We should be unusually kind to one another, certainly. But we should also stop being so serious. Jokes help a lot. And get a dog, if you don’t already have one. Whenever strangers or acquaintances ask me who my favorite writer is, I always say Kurt Vonnegut. …

State of Wonder

State of Wonder by Ann Patchett (Bel Canto, The Magician’s Assistant) tells the story of a doctor, Mariana, who is sent to Brazil, at the behest of the pharmaceutical company she works for, to locate an elusive scientist who was once her teacher, a Dr. Annika Swenson. Dr. Swenson has, for many years, been given …