Official word of warning: this is NOT your kiddies' manga. Both in subject matter and graphics, Message is definitely for mature audiences. So if you have younger ones in the house, be careful not to leave the book lying around. The "godfather of manga" has...
"Cherish baby girls around the world," the back cover rightfully demands. And who could possibly resist the red-cheeked cuddlebug from Russia, the laughing wonder from Peru, the bejeweled bundle from India, the kitty-hugger (never mind the beast himself) from New Zealand, the intrepid explorer (with...
What are the chances ...
Here's a common occurrence at our house: I can't go to bed without a book, which usually means I'm a constant barrage of 'Did you know that ...
I'm facing a bit of a conundrum with this book: just how little can I tell you and still entice you to check out this astonishing debut novel by emerging-fully-formed-like-Athena, new author Jeff Backhaus? Hmm ...
When Pancho Sanchez arrives at St. Anthony's Home, his 17-year-old self has already survived too much death, and yet he's planning on more. The last of his family – his mentally challenged 20-year-old sister – was found dead in a motel room. While the police insist what...
What began with the scare-every-parent-to-death middle grade/young adult novel, The Face on the Milk Carton, concludes (for now) after 23 years, four sequels books, and one e-story (What Janie Saw, which I confess is the only part of the series I haven't read, mainly because I can't bear to...
Whenever I open a Shaun Tan book, my face just gets a goofy grin. It's a Pavlovian reaction, guaranteed. Although his latest doesn't come with a straightforward narrative, it does manage to cleverly include tidbits and reminiscences from his entire oeuvre to create a whimsical portrait...
This is not a spoiler: If you take a good look at the cover of the recent memoir Bend, Not Break: A Life in Two Worlds, you know the pages will deliver a happy ending ...
Let's go back about seven years. So a writer walks into a bar. It's dark, but thankfully not smoky. The majority of the people there are more bookish (including Booker-ish!) than biker brutish. The writer finds a drink, and is standing slightly off the side with...
A busy Seattle hospital. Hip, young doctors. Desperate patients. Administrative hierarchies. Sound familiar? I heard the latest Carol Cassella title (Healing) even has a character named Addison! I started (because of an alma mater connection), then stopped watching Grey's Anatomy after the first season (although I've had to revisit...
At 65, Harold Fry is a quiet, solitary old man, retired from the brewery where he worked much of his adult life. Although he married Maureen – his one and only love – decades later, their days, weeks, years together are rather lonely and withdrawn....
Shimura Takako, a well-established manga artist recognized for her LGBT focus, continues her gender-bender series with sensitive honesty. That said, don't let the sweet, fuzzy cover fool you: Shimura knows well that protecting her two wide-eyed protagonists from their less-than-understanding peers will become less and...
Already designated “definitive political biography” on its back cover, The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks by Brooklyn College political science professor Jeanne Theoharis will reside in my personal reading history as the most difficult book I’ve ever reviewed. Never before – and hopefully never...
Let me start with what has been deemed as historical record. According to the Thomas Jefferson Foundation – which not only owns and operates Jefferson's legendary home, Monticello, but maintains the most comprehensive website focused on "Monticello, Jefferson, his family, and his times" – this is the official...
So, here's the last of the Lisa Genova oeuvre. If I had to rank her three titles thus far, the #1 slot – shelves ahead of her others – remains her stupendous debut, Still Alice, then continues with this, Left Neglected, trailed by her most recent, Love Anthony. Armed with their Harvard MBAs...
So enthralling was Lisa Genova’s Still Alice, I immediately went and got myself her other titles and hit 'play' one after the other. I don't remember the last time I read three books by the same author in such immediate succession. That I got through...
Life along the Silk Road – 19th-century style, imagined by and translated from a 21st-century Japanese original – moves onward west, meticulously detailed in creator Kaoru Mori's breathtaking manga. To catch up, make sure to read the first three installments; you definitely need the back story of young...
Three weeks into the new year, and I'm already so behind I surely wouldn't mind a do-over. I don't think I've ever been this tardy before with the latest annual installment of Oliver Chin‘s energetic, entertaining Tales from the Chinese Zodiac series, but hopefully this is a case...
I'm not quite sure how this 2009 debut novel actually ended up on my iPod (surely I ordered it at some point) and why I decided to click on it when I did. How ironic that missing memory quickly became a point of concern when...
