Review - Nocturnes by John Connolly

Nocturnes by John Connolly
Publisher: Atria Books 2005
Paperback 406 pages


Horror-lite. That's what I would call John Connolly's well written collection of tales in Nocturnes. Normally, horror fiction isn't near the top of my list of things to read, but one day I found this collection waiting for me on the holds shelf of the library. Why it was there, I have no clue, which made reading these tales all the spookier. Just creepy enough to make an invigorating read, without leaving me with nightmares, I would recommend this book to anyone who loves the mastery of Stephen King without all of the fright or psychology. I must say that the short story Some Children Wander by Mistake didn't help my fright and repulsion from clowns. And it's amazing that Connolly was able to do this in ten pages what took Stephen King to do in 1100 pages.

So as the weather gets colder, why not curl up in front of the fire and read about a polite vampire, a child turned demon, or a prep school that sacrifices to bones? For me, I will thank the ghost in the library that placed this book on hold for me.

Review - Four Ways to Forgiveness by Ursula K. Le Guin

Four Ways to Forgiveness by Ursula K. Le Guin
Publisher: Harper Collins 1994
Paperback 305 pages



What I love about Ursula Le Guin is that she never fails to engage her readers into thinking about larger themes of what it means to be human, while allowing our imaginations to soar to distant worlds. In this collection of four short stories, Le Guin shows us two worlds in a far off galaxy. One civilization is ancient, exploring the universe collecting knowledge or other worlds. One of these worlds is Yeowe, a civilization one the verge of revolution. The world is in chaos as the people try to recover from generations of enslavement, racial inequality, gender inequality and religious turmoil. By using the perspective of an alien observer Le Guin is able to give us a range of viewpoints of this tumultuous uprising. By turns reminiscent of our own troubled history and wholly magical and new, these novellas are four more reasons why Le Guin is one of the premier social writers of our times.