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Dark, soulful tales that haunt long after the last page.
Summer of Night by Dan Simmons My rating: 2 of 5 stars I wanted to like this book a whole lot more than I did. It had been a while since I read a straight-up horror novel and I wanted that visceral experience, that suspense, that fear of the unknown. But what I got was…
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak My rating: 5 of 5 stars Oh. My. Gosh. This is an amazing book. Just amazing. I don’t think I’ve had such an emotional reaction to a story since my first reading of Where the Red Fern Grows, and that was about 35 years ago. Our narrator, Death, wastes…
I suppose every teacher faces the question, “Why do we have to learn this stuff?” Lord knows I asked it enough when it came to math. I get it a few times each year in my English classes, especially regarding the literature we read. I’d like to answer the question here. History, science, and yes,…
Oedipus Rex by Sophocles My rating: 5 of 5 stars Another year of reading Oedipus Rex with my AP Literature and Composition students. As always, the play was a hit. Who can resist a story about a dude icing his daddy and making babies with his mama? The kids’ favorite line is always the one…
Bilbo’s Last Song by J.R.R. Tolkien My rating: 3 of 5 stars I typically skip over the songs when I read The Lord of the Rings. Maybe I shouldn’t admit that, but I do. I just don’t really care for them and they seldom move the plot along. And, while I think Tolkien was a…
Joe by Larry Brown My rating: 3 of 5 stars Wade Jones is one of the most disgusting characters ever created. In fact, nobody in this book was particularly likable. This book is basically about a bunch of broken people and the amount of booze they can drink. I’d bet not a page was turned…
Have you been to one of the Halloween superstores yet? Believe me, I have. They’re a great place to go, though I tend to only get a few pieces there each year. I prefer to put my costumes together myself to ensure I don’t encounter anyone else who is dressed just like me. That’s harder…
Me and the wife watched World War Z last weekend. I love a good zombie movie. So naturally most of the details of this one have already slipped my mind. No, it wasn’t good. Worse, it made me think about the state of our culture, as reflected in zombie movies, of course. In the old days,…
Steven E. Wedel 