The toll

The Toll by Cherie Priest

The Toll by Cherie Priest takes a goofy, swamp-dwelling cryptid of Southern folklore and turns it into something genuinely terrifying. The swamplands near the Okefenokee are steeped in an eerie, foreboding atmosphere—the kind that makes you think twice about what might be watching from beyond the trees. The Bells really should have paid more attention. […]

Star Trek Lower Decks Vol 1: Second Contact by Ryan North

Star Trek Lower Decks: Second Contact was a jolly good reunion with the crazy crew of the USS Cerritos. Reading the comic felt remarkably like watching the show. Nay—better than that. It felt like stepping into that world. That is a gift of all good books. Well, minus the risk of being vaporized or taken […]

Quickshots

This and That Redux

Horror Collector #1 by Midori Sato and Norio Tsuruta Horror Collector #1 by Midori Sato and Norio Tsuruta is a series of six creepy Japanese-centric urban legend short stories. I like Fushigi Senno, despite his aloof standoffishness. I found the addition of grainy photos to preface each story an unusual choice given the rest of […]

Quickshots

Little Of This, Little Of That

Chinese Proverbs Illustrated: The Wisdom of Cheng-yu translated by James Trapp Chinese Proverbs Illustrated is a delightful lesson in linguistics, namely proverbs/idiomatic phrases in Chinese. A cheng-yu is a series of four characters that represents an idiom/proverb, often derived from a story. Each has the Chinese characters, pinyin, pronunciation, both the literal translation and the […]

Watership Down

Book Review: Watership Down (graphic novel) by Richard Adams, Illus. by James Sturm & Joe Sutphin

Richard Adams’ classic Watership Down is brought to lustrous life by James Sturm & Joe Sutphin in this new graphic novel. I first read Adams’ novel in ninth grade and absolutely loved it. Finding this graphic novel was a real treat. The story follows Hazel and his brother Fiver. Fiver is a bunny with the […]

Book Review: Oracle by Thomas Olde Heuvelt

Heuvelt’s Oracle starts when two students biking their way to school one foggy morning make an incredible discovery. They find the wreck of a ship from the 1700s in the middle of a tulip field. One student- Emma- enters the ship and vanishes. Others follow, before the government steps in and seals the area off. […]

Book Review: Guillotine by Delilah Dawson

***Trigger warning- abuse, murder, contentious political opinions Dawson’s Guillotine follows fashion designer hopeful Dez, who’s playing would-be beau Patrick Ruskin in order to meet his mother. Marie Caulfield-Ruskin is editor-in-chief of the prestigious Nouveau magazine, and Dez desperately wants an internship. But an invitation to the Island, the ancestral home of Patrick’s family becomes a […]

Arts and Crafts

Painting Calm by Inga Buividavice Inga Buividavice’s Painting Calm presents an immersive journey into creating introspective watercolour art using nature as inspiration. Buividavice’s artwork draws the viewers in with a gorgeous interplay of of soothing colours and shapes. Take ‘Dusk’s Resilience’, reflecting the calm of twilight, and inviting profound contemplation. Likewise, ‘Ethereal Symphony’ suggests a […]

Medical Marvels

The Anatomist’s Library by Colin Salter The Anatomist’s Library by Colin Salter is a tour through medical history. Divided into six chapters, Salter explores medical texts from the ancient world of Galen and Hippocrates to today’s modern world. The book is full of beautiful illustrations, primarily with informative captions, making for engaging reading. It was […]

Little People, Big Dreams Collection

Queen Elizabeth by Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara Queen Elizabeth by Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara explores the life of this former royalty who has sadly since passed away.  Elizabeth wasn’t initially in the direct line of succession. That came about when her uncle renounced the throne and her father became king. Young Elizabeth had to begin […]