Reviews

Staff Review

The Burn Palace

By Stephen Dobyns
Star Rating
★★★★

Rated by Helen H.
Oct 30, 2016

I’ve been obsessed with Abigail Thomas’s work, and I've been reading everything she’s written one after the other. I decided I wanted to read something else, not only to cleanse my palate, but so I would have a book I already know I’ll love waiting for me at some time in the future when I really, really need a good book to read. So I compromised and read an author whom Thomas had thanked in her acknowledgments.

Staff Review

Swarm

By Scott Westerfeld, Margo Lanagan, Deborah Biancotti
Star Rating
★★★★

Rated by Josh N.
Oct 29, 2016

In Zeroes we were introduced to a group of teens with unusual, mostly subtle superpowers who find themselves in an increasing amount of trouble with both drug dealers and the police, using the very powers that got them into trouble in the first place to get them out again. I liked the novel a lot, so when I found out about the sequel, I was very excited.

Staff Review

Under the Volcano

By Malcolm Lowry
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by Matt C.
Oct 20, 2016

British consul, Geoffrey Firmin, is living in Mexico in self-imposed exile, solitary and saturated with liquor.  He was once happy, or maybe ne never was.  He isn’t sure now that he’s too riddled by alcoholism to even put on his socks.  But on this day, The Day of the Dead, 1938, he has a visitor.  His wife Yvonne has come to rescue the consul from himself.  Maybe she can persuade him to leave Mexico behind and start over with her.  Maybe she can salvage their marriage, left in ruins by her string of affairs with Geoffrey’s two best friends – both of whom are t

Staff Review

Dracula, Season 1

By Universal Studios Home Entertainment
Star Rating
★★★

Rated by Josh N.
Oct 19, 2016

The DVD says Dracula, Season 1. There is no season two. The series ran on NBC in the 2013-2014 season and didn't get renewed. Which is a shame because although it's hilariously campy (in a brooding, gothic way) and takes extreme liberties with the source material, it's also a tremendous amount of fun for fans of melodrama, stylish visuals, steamy sex scenes, and Grand Guignol violence.

Staff Review

Meet the Author: Danyelle Ferguson

By Danyelle Ferguson
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by Helen H.
Oct 18, 2016

Danyelle Ferguson discovered her love for the written word in elementary school. Her first article was published when she was in 6th grade. Since then, she’s won several awards and has been published world-wide in newspapers, magazines and books. She’s grateful every day to work in her dream jobs – author, editor, and nurturing her readaholic tendencies.

Staff Review

Cloud Atlas

By Cloud Atlas (dvd)
Star Rating
★★★★

Rated by Diane H.
Oct 15, 2016

Cloud Atlas is a movie that, for me, gets better with every watching. Fortunately, I had been forewarned that it is confusing; otherwise I might have turned it off after the first few minutes. While I got the gist of the plot with the first viewing – several lives interweaving and affecting each other through time – with each subsequent viewing I was able to catch more detail and see layers I had missed before.

Staff Review

Meru (DVD)

By Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhely
Star Rating
★★★★

Rated by Michelle H.
Oct 14, 2016

I have long admired climbers for their singleness of purpose and puzzling assessment of risk. Dwindling food reserves. Lack of oxygen. Numb toes. Incoming avalanche. Keep climbing!