(There are some other books titled After. This should not come as a surprise. I’m not talking about those books.) After by Bruce Greyson, M.D. is nonfiction. It is a sort of recounting of Greyson’s decades studying NDEs (near-death experiences), from his first encounter and complete dubiousness to many serious studies, research, and affiliations to…
I know I read a lot. I still get intimidated by big books. Funnily enough, Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo is not even 500 pages (similar to the second book, Crooked Kingdom), but the book itself—perhaps because of paper type?—feels bigger than that. And, honestly, I wasn’t that into if for the first quarter…
I’ve run into K. M. Weiland several times on the internet and, I think, in Writer’s Digest. She has an award-winning website for writing help and I believe I have subscribed to her emails in the past. I think that some of this happened years ago when I was self-/indie-publishing, so I still associate her…
I really just do my own thing, don’t I? Let’s be direct: I begin every single book I read desiring to enjoy it (and eventually review it favorably). I would like every book to blow my socks off. Alas, reality. For a little while it seemed I rated every book I read highly. But lately?…
Note: I don’t know why I was holding this review, exactly, but here it is. Probably I was too busy writing the great American novel (or an awesome, best-selling YA fantasy trilogy). I knew that for this year’s National Novel Writing Month (November), I wanted to write a novel I had in my head which…
I have been handed books by my (now-eighteen-year-old) daughter a couple times (right after she read them), and she has handed me a couple that I loved (like We Were Liars). When I walked in her room several days ago she was balking at the final pages of The Silent Patient. When I said, “What?”,…
I was so busy Nanowrimo-ing and having holidays, that I never read the Thanksgiving book that I had slotted for this year. Yes, there are some Thanksgiving books, though so far (the past two years) I have found them to be a stretch. This year, however, the book is clearly a Thanksgiving book while also…
THE TAILOR OF GLOUCESTER I have tried to read and review a children’s picture book each Christmas along with a novel and a nonfiction book. This year I chose The Tailor of Gloucester by Beatrix Potter. I have never been a big Beatrix Potter fan (I can’t say I’m not a Potter fan because, well,…
So, this is one of those best of lists that is strangely particular. However, it is possible that you are also looking for a list like this one. Perhaps you, too, are suddenly curious about steampunk. A sort of mashup of fantasy and science fiction (though really science fiction), it’s not the world’s largest subgenre,…
I read this book because it is on “the” list of best Christmas books. Note: there are not that many books on this list. I have read one or two each holiday season since I started this list, and, quite frankly, it has not been full of winners. Yet. There is still hope. Which means,…
If you have not read this novel (and/or seen the movie), perhaps you are a little out of the loop or a little old? It is a modern manifesto of the teen life, since the late 90s but still extremely loved and adopted by each decade of teens since. The Perks of Being a Wallflower…
I have not finished this book yet. It is a daily reading, but I wanted to get the review on The Starving Artist now (December 5th) so that if you are interested in reading it, you won’t miss Advent this year, entirely. I will update the review after I read it all, but I don’t…
If you’ve been paying any attention at The Starving Artist, then you know I am up to my neck in Nanowrimo, the National Novel Writing Month when writers write about 1700 words per day until they have a “novel.” As part of my project this year—a YA fantasy adventure trilogy, book one—I have immersed myself…
I have accidentally established a writing residency tradition. Apparently (because this just happened twice and now it’s a thing), I go to a local bookshop when I am in whatever town (well, obviously I would hit up the local bookshops) and I purchase an easy (read: often pop-fiction-y or romantic), engrossing, possibly writer-related book. Then…
Goodness sakes. This is a tough book, of a sort. It is not just like Kimmel’s other books. It is highly academic, religiously explorative, and takes place in Indiana, yes, but it is pretty dark and trippy, falling down a sort of well into ancient Greece (think the dark side of mythology) while standing planted…
I really enjoyed reading The Used World, but I can’t say that I would recommend it across the board. Here’s the thing. Haven Kimmel also wrote two memoirs, A Girl Named Zippy and She Got Up Off the Couch, and they were pretty popular in the early 2000s, gaining a number of fans for Kimmel.…
I am kinda taking it easy, right this second, as I am recovering from Covid and it’s not been an easy one for me. I have been reading a lot, but I lost the book I am currently reading this morning (?!) and so I somehow wandered to my laptop and started looking for new…
I have now read six books by Haven Kimmel, this summer. I have two to go. I don’t know why, but I saved the novels till last, and I am in the middle of the “loose trilogy” of her first three (of four) novels. The (very) loose trilogy is The Solace of Leaving Early, Something…
A GIRL NAMED ZIPPY Haven Kimmel is one of my favorite authors. I had put off re-reading her books and reviewing them because I was waiting on the most recent, much-awaited novel, The Farm. However, it has been several years and that book is now available in England, I think, but I still can’t get…
I suppose one of the reasons Haven Kimmel isn’t a super-famous author is because she backed out of the limelight on purpose at the height of her authorial ascension. But maybe that’s not quite right. It seems that A Girl Named Zippy, her first published book and a memoir which I will review in a…
the starving artist 