Paul’s Book Reviews: Historical Fiction, Science Fiction, Young Adult

“The future was coming nearer, one relentless goose step after the next. Juliet could still remember when Hitler had seemed like a harmless clown. No one was amused now. (“The clowns are the dangerous ones,” Perry said.)” —Kate Atkinson, Transcription Transcription by Kate Atkinson I first read about this novel on the literary website The […]

Paul’s Book Reviews: My Top Reads for 2018

This is going to be a short list. Looking back over the books I read in 2018, only three stand out—and by “stand out” I mean books I’d happily read again. Two are new, published this year or in late 2017; one is from 1998 but new to me. Two are mainstream fiction with historical […]

Paul’s Book Reviews: Thrillers, Nonfiction, Science Fiction

“If democracy came to China they would end up electing idiots, as in America.” —Kim Stanley Robinson, Red Moon Red Moon by Kim Stanley Robinson My thoughts on “Red Moon” are similar to those I expressed in my review of KSR’s previous SF novel of ideas, “New York 2140.” I loved the first half of […]

El Tour es Muy Bueno

It’s El Tour de Tucson day and we’re housebound, at least until all but the stragglers pedal past our neighborhood. The only way out requires crossing the tour route, which’ll be blocked to car traffic for a while yet. The stragglers, who’ll be about 25 miles into their 100+ mile route as they pass our street, would probably welcome being run over, but I’m not […]

You Can’t Read That! Banned Book Review: The Poisonwood Bible

You Can’t Read That! is a periodic post featuring banned book reviews and news. YCRT! Banned Book News Local pastors petitioned to have LGBTQ-themed books removed from a Banned Books Week display at the public library in Rumford, Maine. The library, backed by patrons and the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, stood its ground. Per […]

Paul’s Book Reviews: Playing Catch-Up

My book review posts don’t normally have a theme. They are what they are: reviews of the latest books I’ve read, fiction, nonfiction, thrillers, whatever. This time, though, I include three books I’ve had on the to-read shelf for years … more than a decade in one case … that I finally got around to […]