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Category Archives: Reviews by Bethany
A Review of Mike Brown’s How I Killed Pluto And Why It Had It Coming
I bought this book several years ago, back when I qualified for an educator discount and could get paperbacks from Random House for $3 apiece. Whenever you see me review a book that seems out of my usual oeuvre (I … Continue reading
A Review of Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad
The greatest trick Colson Whitehead ever pulled was convincing this bookblogger that he had written a realistic novel. Yes, yes, I know that the fact the railroad in this novel is a literal series of tracks running under the nineteenth-century … Continue reading
A Review of Andre Dubus’ The Lieutenant
My reading goal for 2017 is to read more of what I call “quietly good” fiction. By this I mean stories that are well told but in traditional ways. I’m taking a moratorium on shifting point of view for a … Continue reading
Thoughts on Paulo Coehlo’s The Alchemist
It’s possible that I was the last English teacher on earth who hadn’t read The Alchemist. When did this book become so omnipresent on 9th grade reading lists? Many students list it as a favorite, and it’s not surprising that … Continue reading
Bricks
My First Official Literary Insight of 2017 is as follows: I like real Victorian novels better than fake Victorian novels. More soon. Like tomorrow soon!
Posted in Reviews by Bethany, Uncategorized
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A Review of Orson Scott Card’s Magic Street
Reading this book last week sounded like such a great idea at the time. I was away at a writing residency, living by myself in a tiny cottage on a hilltop (it was wonderful!!), and I was reading two very … Continue reading
A Review of Khaled Hosseini’s And The Mountains Echoed
When I ranted a few weeks ago against Gods without Men and against the use of multiple points of view in general, part of my touchiness had to do with the fact that at the time I was reading And the … Continue reading
A Review of Hari Kunzru’s Gods Without Men
This book begins with a short chapter entitled “In the time when animals were men.” This is the only chapter in the book that has a title. This chapter is clearly meant to allude to Native American mythology, but with … Continue reading
A Review of James Romm’s Dying Every Day: Seneca at the Court of Nero
Is it just me or is everyone talking about the Stoics lately? One of the adult students I tutor works them into conversation at least once per session, and somehow or other I am part of a Facebook group called … Continue reading
A Review of Dave Eggers’ A Hologram for the King
In this novel, protagonist Alan Clay is a salesman facing bankruptcy and ruin who travels to Saudi Arabia with the goal of selling a hologram (and the larger business package that goes with it) to King Abdullah. This novel is … Continue reading
Postcards From Purgatory 