A Cluster of All-Purpose Book News: February 20, 2019

Quote of the Post: “Comics will break your heart.” – Jack Kirby Faith Erin Hicks’ debut YA novel “Comics Will Break Your Heart” pulls the covers back on the comic book world; fittingly its title is a quote by Jack Kirby, whose heart was probably broken by comics a thousand times. I’m not sure what’s…

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A Cluster of All-Purpose Book News: February 11, 2019

Quote of the Post: “Maybe everybody in the whole damn world is scared of each other.” – John Steinbeck, “Of Mice and Men.” And he never even read a Facebook post. It’s International Day of Women and Girls in Science, so put down your protractor and pick up one of these books. Sidney Sheldon, who…

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Books Are Horrifying

At least, I wish more were. In trying to decide what to write about for the latest Slushpile, I pored over Best Of lists (still going strong on the cusp of February!), Top 10s, Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine picks, and the picks of those whom Reese Witherspoon picked for Hello Sunshine. I am all for…

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Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark

In my mind, no writer and illustrator were better paired than Alvin Schwartz and Stephen Gammell. Go ahead, ask a Gen X’er: “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” and its sequels were more terrifying than “Nightmare on Elm Street” or even some of the creepiest “Little House on the Prairie” episodes. (You’ll have to…

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Blind Faith: A Murder That Didn’t Add Up

Back when Rolling Stone was in magazine form, c. 1988, I bought a copy because it had Guns N? Roses on the cover. Oh God, I loved them. But aside from interviews with Slash and Axl and probably talk of that ?November Rain? song, there was also an excerpt of an upcoming book “Blind Faith”…

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