Category: Book Reviews

My 2 Cents on Five Excellent Queer YA Books

What’s new, readers? This is an insane time for everybody, but I’m glad to see the Black Lives Matter protests are having such a powerful effect on the American people’s collective consciousness. We’re finally recognizing the importance of being antiracist instead of merely “not racist,” Confederate monuments are being taken down, reforms are going to … Continue reading My 2 Cents on Five Excellent Queer YA Books →

My 2 Cents on The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

What’s new, readers? Today is the first day of June, which means summer is on the horizon—and you know what, I couldn’t care less. Things have been so exasperating lately, not just because of the dimwits out there who see fit to dismiss the necessity of face masks, but also because of the police-inflicted murder … Continue reading My 2 Cents on The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes →

My 2 Cents on Five Excellent Science-Fiction Books

What’s new, readers? I hope you’re continuing to social distance, wash your hands, wear masks, et cetera. Unfortunately, there are some people out there who see fit to protest these crucial guidelines. A tweet by @kellydavio perfectly encapsulates the circumstances: “What zombie movies got wrong about the actual apocalypse, part 1,487: they omitted scenes of … Continue reading My 2 Cents on Five Excellent Science-Fiction Books →

My 2 Cents on The Kingdom of Back

When you hear the name Mozart, you will most likely think of Wolfgang Amadeus, the child prodigy who made unimaginably vast contributions to classical music—but there wasn’t just one musically proficient Mozart. With her young adult novel fusion between historical fiction and fantasy, The Kingdom of Back, Marie Lu (Legend, Warcross) pulls us into a decade-long … Continue reading My 2 Cents on The Kingdom of Back →

My 2 Cents on All Our Wrong Todays

I’ve always been partial to time-travel tales—Back to the Future, Stephen King’s 11/22/63, Audrey Niffenegger’s The Time Traveler’s Wife, NBC’s Timeless, et cetera. And I can add another one to the list: All Our Wrong Todays, the 2017 debut novel by screenwriter Elan Mastai (The F Word). It takes place in an alternate timeline where … Continue reading My 2 Cents on All Our Wrong Todays →

My 2 Cents on Such a Fun Age

Kiley Reid kicks off our year strongly with her winsome and thought-provoking debut novel, Such a Fun Age. Emira Tucker, a black twenty-five-year-old who lives in Philadelphia and recently graduated from Temple, babysits for a white, affluent married couple—Alix Chamberlain, lifestyle guru and blogger, and her husband Peter, a news anchor who becomes embroiled in a … Continue reading My 2 Cents on Such a Fun Age →

My 2 Cents on Catch and Kill

I have clear memories of that pivotal event in 2017—when Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and significant contributor to the #MeToo movement Ronan Farrow (War on Peace) published in The New Yorker a damning exposé consisting of allegations against disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein for his serial pattern of sexual abuse. It was fascinating to keep up … Continue reading My 2 Cents on Catch and Kill →