the whistler

The Whistler by John Grisham

I remember it was a Saturday morning and I was working at the Public Library.  I had been given the job of going through the leased books on the new bookshelf and sorting them into the ones we wanted to keep for the library or the ones we were going to send back.  I picked

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all the birds in the sky

All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders

All the Birds in the Sky opens up with a six year old girl, Patricia, finding a wounded bird.  Immediately I felt I was entering the magical world of a fairy tale and thought that this would have been a great book to have read to my kids when they were young. It is at

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A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms by George R. R. Martin

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is a collection of three stories that take place in Westeros a hundred years before the events in the Game of Thrones series, a Song of Ice and Fire.  The stories are tales of a poor hedge knight, Ser Duncan (or Dunk), who tends to find himself embroiled in the

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The Storied Life

The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin

This charming novel is about life, love, romance, books, the people who are touched by books and the ways books can change people and the course of their lives.  It is a sweet and winning story which explores many types of love but is never maudlin, cloying or over-dramatic.   A.J. Fikry is the owner

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a-court-of-thorns-and-roses

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

A Court of Thorns and Roses is a young adult fantasy / romance by Sarah Maas.  The story opens with the central character, Feyre, out hunting.  It is winter, her family is hungry, and she has tracked her game deep into the wilderness, near the border of the land of the fairies.  There is no

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smoke

Smoke by Dan Vyleta

I just finished listening to the audiobook Smoke by Dan Vyleta, read by Allan Corduner, and I must say it is one of my favorite “listens” of the year. There is nothing better than the perfect pairing of a great book and a talented narrator who can capture the essence of a story. Smoke takes

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crosstalk

Crosstalk by Connie Willis

More and more we find ourselves living in a time of “full-disclosure”; an era where the notion of privacy is quickly becoming an alien concept. Much of this invasion of our privacy is beyond our control: cameras are ubiquitous and are found in most businesses, in many private homes, and on practically every street corner; our online activities

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the abyss surrounds us

The Abyss Surrounds Us by Emily Skrutskie

I really enjoyed reading this book. The Abyss Surrounds Us takes place in the future where the political landscape has changed and giant sea creatures, Reckoners, are bred and trained to protect ships from pirates.  The story is about Cass, who has studied her entire life to learn how to raise and train Reckoners to protect

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an ember in th ashes

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

Sabaa Tahir made quite a splash last year with her debut young adult novel, An Ember in the Ashes. Her book has been in my “To Be Read” pile for quite a while, and now that I’ve finally read it I can go right into book 2, A Torch Against the Night. This dystopic tale

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the dragon round

The Dragon Round by Stephen S. Power

The Dragon Round by Stephen S. Power is my first book to read in anticipation of the 2017 Hugo Awards. To choose it, I went to the “New Shelf” at the public library and looked for books with a fantasy or science fiction sticker on the spine. The Dragon Round is a plot driven story set in an

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The Deed of Paksenarrion

The Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon

Paladin: a warrior dedicated to the light, to protecting the people and fighting against evil.  Imagine you grew up on a small sheep farm.  You told your father that you did not want to marry, but he made arrangements anyway and the dowry has been paid.  What do you do?  Do you begrudgingly marry when

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