Category: Book Reviews

  • The Martian

    The Martian by Andy Weir My rating: 4 of 5 stars I won’t deny part of my motivation for reading this book is the impending release of the movie based on it. I have a strong preference for having read the book before seeing a film adaptation, and The Martian was both a book I’d…

  • Pirate Cinema

    Pirate Cinema by Cory Doctorow My rating: 3 of 5 stars I bought this as part of an ebook Humble Bundle some time ago, and finally got around to reading it. It only took me me three flights to or from Boston to finish it! (This was largely due to finding other activities on the…

  • OS X 10.10 Yosemite

    OS X 10.10 Yosemite: The Ars Technica Review by John Siracusa My rating: 5 of 5 stars I have read every one of Siracusa’s epic OS X reviews since 10.5 on. Lately they provide my feature overview before I get around to installing the actual update; this year is no different. One of the best…

  • The Happiest Baby on the Block

    The Happiest Baby on the Block by Harvey Karp My rating: 3 of 5 stars As you might have heard, our son Theodore was born two weeks ago. Since he is our first child, I naturally wanted to become more knowledgeable about little things like soothing him when he’s upset. We bought this book based…

  • How I Live Now

    How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is a relatively rare example where I decided to read a book based entirely on the trailer for its upcoming movie adaptation. It was a serendipitous opportunity because Rebekah happened to have a copy sitting out at her apartment, so I…

  • Alanna: The First Adventure

    Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce My rating: 3 of 5 stars What surprised me most about this book, selected for a YA book club, is that I had never heard of it, any of the other Tortall books, or the author, Tamora Pierce, before. This is strange to me because this sort of…

  • I am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to Be Your Class President

    I am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to Be Your Class President by Josh Lieb My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is a book I received for Christmas three years ago and hadn’t yet read (hi mom!). The ego and attitude of the narrator initially turned me off, so I went…

  • A Feast for Crows

    A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin My rating: 3 of 5 stars No spoilers for my thoughts on this one. First, on a metapoint, I thought about holding off on a review until I had finished A Dance With Dragons, because this book doesn’t really come to a conclusion and focuses on an…

  • 5 Very Good Reasons to Punch a Dolphin in the Mouth and Other Useful Guides

    5 Very Good Reasons to Punch a Dolphin in the Mouth and Other Useful Guides by The Oatmeal My rating: 3 of 5 stars As with most collections of existing material, if you like content at theoatmeal.com, you will probably like this book. It is nice to have some of Inman’s classic comics and lists…

  • Robopocalypse

    Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson My rating: 3 of 5 stars This one has been on my list for a while, discovered somewhere online. It seemed right up my alley. I was reminded to tackle it after my friend Emily read it recently, and I wanted to see if my impression lined up with her…