2 Book Lovers Reviews
Well, it’s that time of year again, to sing the adult version of “School’s Out” and stop wearing pants for a week or two. Perhaps you’re going to bite that bullet and take that long awaited family vacation, or you may just want to stay the hell to home and sit by the pool and avoid all the stress. Well, whatever it is, you’re going to need some books. Here are some of my favorites that you might want to dig into or take a bite out of.
Just "click" on the book title to read my review.
- Dry Hard – By Nick Spalding - Spalding created some of the best absurd, down-to-earth normal people that I have come across in a book. They are a rather normal middle-class family, with all of the stresses and problems that any normal family has – how they handle those problems is what really makes this story so much fun. I frequently found myself saying to the two of them, “No, please don’t do that; you’ve gone far enough. Please! Stop! Now!” These two were a couple of great characters.
- Witchcraft for Wayward Girls – By Grady Hendrix - I love a great horror story; fictional monsters can make for a great story. But Hendrix went somewhere else here, these monsters were real; while the story is fiction, the monsters were real, and some might even say with the current political environment that they are still real today.
- Sunrise on the Reaping – By Suzanne Collins - It is a challenge to take a character like Haymitch and have readers start all over with him. However, we really don’t know much about him, beyond the fact that he won the fiftieth Hunger Games. What were those games like? What did Haymitch have to do to win (District Twelve isn’t exactly renowned for its winners)? These are all great questions, and I was in it for the ride.
- When We Were Real – By Daryl Gregory - When We Were Real has all of the quirk factor that I love in a good book. Give me something different with a plot that is completely out there. Well, the characters in this one are living in a simulation. I’m sure we have all had this conversation at one time or another. What if this life isn’t real? What if it is only a dream? There is even a whole psychological disorder of depersonalization or derealization. Who knew? But Gregory has taken this to a whole new level. A full-on four hundred plus page fictional account of that simulated world.
- My Friends – By Fredrick Backman - This is a story that should hit you in all the right spots, unless you are dead inside. Fredrik Backman is a writer who can delve deep into the human psyche and tell a story that ticks all of the boxes and finds some other boxes that you didn’t even know needed ticking.
- Atmosphere – By Taylor Jenkins Reid - A good book will entertain you. A great book will pull you in, make you feel like a piece of the action and above all else, it will make you think. Atmosphere gave me a lot to think about: the challenges that people face just to live their own life and how more often than not, there is a whole lot of chipping away done before those barriers are knocked down. And that we really can’t take it for granted that someone isn’t working hard to build that wall back up again.
Here are a few that I am looking forward to picking up over these holidays:
- House of Bone and Rain - By Gabino Iglesias
- The Sound of Distant Engines - By Robert E. Dunn
- Anima Rising - By Christopher Moore
- Shadowlocked - By David Moody
- The Moose Paradox - By Antti Tuomainen
- This Book is Full of Spiders - By David Wong
Do you have any book recommendations for me? I'd love to hear them!
Happy Reading!
Summer Vacation Reads & Recommendations - 2025!