Re-Reads | Raging Biblio-holism

Slaughterhouse-Five

January 4, 2017 by Drew

The Short Version: Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time – and as he bounces between the decades of his life (a young man, an optometrist, a prisoner of war in Dresden, a prisoner of aliens on Tralfamadore), the novelist creating him considers his own time in Dresden and how best to write about it. The Review: It feels fitting to me that the first review I’m publishing in 2017 is of a book that needs no review. Slaughterhouse-Five is the […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature, Sci-Fi • Tags: Autofiction, Book, Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Dresden, Fiction, Kurt Vonnegut, Literature, Memoir, Re-Reads, review, Reviews, Science Fiction, Semi-Fiction, Slaughterhouse-Five, The Ten Year Catch-Up, Vonnegut 201x, World War Two

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Lullaby

March 27, 2015 by Drew

The Short Version: Carl is a reporter on the trail of a story about Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. As it turns out, he once had a child die from it too – and he notices a strange coincidence: a particular lullaby from an innocuous book of songs & poems from around the world. Except this song isn’t so innocuous: it’s a culling song, able to kill the person who hears it. So Carl sets out, with the help of a haunted-house […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature • Tags: Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Chuck Palahniuk, Fantasy, Fiction, Horror, Lullaby, Magic, Re-Reads, Reviews, Thriller

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Good Omens

March 23, 2015 by Drew

The Short Version: The world was created. This is generally regarded as an only so-so idea – but the end is coming! The Antichrist is born unto… an utterly ordinary human family (thanks to a clerical mixup with the babies). And one angel & one demon, friends over the millennia, decide that maybe we don’t need the end of days to happen – but they’ve gotta find the kid first. Hijinks ensue. The world, such as it is, goes on. The […]

Categories: Fantasy, Fiction, Literature • Tags: Angels, Apocalypse, Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Death, Demons, etc, Fantasy, Fiction, Good Omens, Humor, Literature, Magic, Neil Gaiman, Re-Reads, Religion, Reviews, Terry Pratchett, Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman, The Devil, The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch, Witches

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Mrs. Dalloway

March 16, 2015 by Drew

The Short Version: On a June day in the 1920s in London, Clarissa Dalloway is throwing a party. From the morning to the evening, we follow her and several others about London through what is an ordinary – and completely extraordinary – day. The Review: For the first time, I’ve re-read something that I’ve already reviewed on this blog. Mrs. Dalloway was one of the first books I read and reviewed here, way back in fall 2009. This gives me a […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature • Tags: Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Fiction, Literature, London, Modernism, Mrs. Dalloway, Re-Reads, Reviews, The Ten Year Catch-Up, Virginia Woolf, Woolf 2015

American Psycho

January 12, 2015 by Drew

The Short Version: Patrick Bateman is 26 years old. He works on Wall Street, enjoys the finer things in life, takes good care of his body. Although he also does plenty of drugs. And he also enjoys acts of unspeakable violence and deprivation. This is his story. The Review: I don’t reread that much. There are too many books to read moving forward, you know? It’s that biblioholic impulse. But there are books that you know you’re going to revisit again and […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature • Tags: 6, American Psycho, Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Bret Easton Ellis, Fiction, Horror, Literature, Re-Reads, Reviews, Satire

The Osiris Ritual (Newbury & Hobbes Investigations #2)

September 2, 2013 by Drew

The Short Version: An Egyptian mummy is unveiled during a high-society gala in London, setting off a chain of brutal murders. Meanwhile, girls have been disappearing around the country in the wake of a magician’s tour. Newbury and Hobbes are on these respective cases, as well as trying to track a rogue agent – and meanwhile all signs point to a dangerous villain from the Empire’s past having resurfaced… The Review: I had forgotten, I guess, just how crazy everyone was […]

Categories: Fantasy, Fiction • Tags: A Newbury and Hobbes Investigation, Fantasy, Fiction, George Mann, Newbury & Hobbes, Re-Reads, Sci-Fi, Sir Maurice Newbury, Steampunk, The Osiris Ritual, Veronica Hobbes

The Affinity Bridge (Newbury & Hobbes Investigations #1)

September 2, 2013 by Drew

The Short Version: Sir Maurice Newbury, agent of the Crown, is trying to help the head of Scotland Yard with a mysterious glowing policeman when he’s summoned to Buckingham Palace. The Queen (Victoria) tasks him with discovering the cause of an airship crash – a case that pits him and his bold & able assistant, Veronica Hobbes, against foes human, clockwork, and perhaps something else entirely… The Review: I forget how it was that I stumbled upon George Mann’s delightful […]

Categories: Fantasy, Fiction, Mystery, Sci-Fi • Tags: A Newbury and Hobbes Investigation, Fantasy, Fiction, George Mann, Mystery, Newbury & Hobbes, Re-Reads, Sci-Fi, Sir Maurice Newbury, Steampunk, The Affinity Bridge, Veronica Hobbes

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Brave New World

December 24, 2010 by Drew

Another revisited book – this Christmas just seems to be the break of re-reading, doesn’t it? I can’t remember, honestly, when I first read Brave New World. I want to say freshman year of high school… but I can’t be sure. I didn’t remember much of it – to be honest, I don’t think I understood much of it at a real level at the time. I remembered the “everyone’s drugged and happy” bit but I completely forgot about The […]

Categories: Fiction, Sci-Fi • Tags: Aldous Huxley, Brave New World, Dystopian, Fiction, Olive Edition, Re-Reads, Sci-Fi

The Vesuvius Club

May 22, 2010 by Drew

This is technically a re-read. I read The Vesuvius Club for the first time a couple of years ago… but never got around to reading the rest of the Lucifer Box series (sadly only a trilogy, at the moment). Then, while I was in London, I saw that they had a nifty box set in the 3-for-2 area… so actually it was like 5-for-2 and I couldn’t pass that up. The book is fun, but not all that amazing. Box […]

Categories: Cannonball Read II, Fiction, Literary Challenges, Spy • Tags: Book #41, Cannonball Read II, Fiction, Lucifer Box, Mark Gatiss, Re-Reads, Spy, The Vesuvius Club

Raging Biblio-holism

The overwhelming urge to collect, consume, and consider books

Tag: Re-Reads

Slaughterhouse-Five

Lullaby

Good Omens

Mrs. Dalloway

American Psycho

The Osiris Ritual (Newbury & Hobbes Investigations #2)

The Affinity Bridge (Newbury & Hobbes Investigations #1)

Brave New World

The Vesuvius Club