Book #41 of 2015: Untouchable: The Strange Life and Tragic Death of Michael Jackson by Randall Sullivan I don’t know how I feel about this one. I did learn a lot, and Michael Jackson had a very interesting life, but this narrative is a really disjointed telling of it. It keeps hopping around in time …
Author Archives: Joe Kessler
Book Review: Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld
Book #35 of 2015: Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld I really love this novel, which is the first thing I’ve ever read from author Scott Westerfeld. It utilizes a cool narrative structure with two parallel stories told in alternating chapters, each of which has a pretty awesome female protagonist. One is a first-time Young Adult novelist, …
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Book Review: The Jihad Next Door: The Lackawanna Six and Rough Justice in an Age of Terror by Dina Temple-Raston
Book #31 of 2015: The Jihad Next Door: The Lackawanna Six and Rough Justice in an Age of Terror by Dina Temple-Raston This was a fascinating piece of local and national history that I’d had no idea about before stumbling across this book in the library. Basically, the Lackawanna Six were a small group of …
Book Review: The Colorado Kid by Stephen King
Book #30 of 2015: The Colorado Kid by Stephen King This short book reminds me somewhat of the author’s earlier From a Buick 8 with its lack of resolution at the end, but I think that aspect is handled a lot better here. Although we don’t really get any answers about the cold case of …
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Book Review: Nature Girl by Carl Hiaasen
Book #29 of 2015: Nature Girl by Carl Hiaasen I know Carl Hiaasen is supposed to be this great comedy writer, and his stuff is mostly set in my home state of Florida, so I should be predisposed to like — or at least relate to — the jokes. But I really didn’t enjoy any …
Book Review: Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson
Book Review: Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson (The Stormlight Archive #2) This Stormlight Archive sequel is much better and more eventful than the first one, which could seem like just a massive prologue in a lot of ways. (The Way of Kings does have great writing, worldbuilding, and character work, but so very little …
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Book Review: The Bro Code by Barney Stinson with Matt Kuhn
Book #48 of 2011: The Bro Code by Barney Stinson with Matt Kuhn Eh, not recommended. This was a last-minute Christmas gift from my dad after he found out I’d started watching How I Met Your Mother. And it’s funny for what it is, which is a list of amusing life tips (mostly of the …
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Book Review: Shade’s Children by Garth Nix
Book #36 of 2020: Shade’s Children by Garth Nix Shade’s Children is really not that similar to The Hunger Games, but they both feature young people being forced to fight for their lives in a dystopian future, and I think anyone who enjoyed the one story would probably like the other as well. (A studio …
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Book Review: Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
Book #33 of 2011: Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine I reread this childhood favorite for the first time in years, and was amazed at how good it still was. Its protagonist is clever and headstrong, its villains are fun to despise, and its love story is understated and touching. The main character even has a …
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Book Review: House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
Book #13 of 2011: House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski I feel like this is an easy novel to appreciate but a tough one to cherish. Yes, it’s different than anything else I’ve ever read. Yes, it was startlingly original. Yes, parts of it were very well-written, and yes, several of my friends love …
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The Lesser Joke: book reviews and more 