Paul

The action picks up where Infinity Gate left off, with nary a word wasted in the telling. More desperate challenges are faced and more insane solutions are acted upon. Hard to put down and the fastest 480 plus pages I've ever read! -Paul

Once again Nayler has created a very interesting and engaging near future world, with a specific animal in focus. A novella in length, there is certainly room and many directions to expand this particular reality he has crafted; I hope he does so. Naylor is officially on my watch list for future endeavors. -Paul

A major rewrite of a work previously published in the anthology Rogues, under the title "The lightning tree", edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois (sorry, currently no longer in our collection). A light but enjoyable and quick sidetrack inside the Kingkiller Chronicle universe. Worth the read. Just wish Rothfuss would attend to business and hurry up and FTDS! -Paul

A fast paced ride with many unexpected twists and turns. Definitely an engaging and entertaining amalgam of: time travel, AI, evil villains, multiverses, alternate histories, real magick, intimate relationships, and encounters with famous people, I found the book very hard to put down, except when I needed to catch my breath. -Paul

More red meat for Scalzi fans, with snappy dialog, constant forward moving action, interesting characters, even more interesting (incredible?) situations, and of course heavy doses of humor. Another one of his that's hard to set down. -Paul

Once again, Powers crafts an engaging, supernatural tale involving well known literary figures, in this case the Bronte sisters. Also thrown into the mix are their father and brother, and the consequences of missteps, misdirection and misdeeds with worldly and other worldly implications. -Paul

Novella in length and easily a one sitting read, Powers once again engrosses the reader in a quickly moving tale with lots of interesting main and side characters, all bound to a peculiar supernatural situation. I hope he will continue the story of Conrad and Arielle in the future, two of the newest players in his expansive, off-reality Los Angeles land-, or is that hell-, scape. -Paul

A vey quick, informative read. Although a bit wordy in my opinion, it is packed with good approaches, guidance and mental framing for taming and easily managing all the files, documents, and other saved bits floating around on your computer and other digital devices. The information found here can also be applied to the workplace and any sized group or organization. -Paul

Having been a reader of his blog posts for quite some time there was lot that was familiar in this book but also a lot that is new. My main takeaways relate to reframing the way I think and approach problems and other things that tend to pop up. Pretty inspiring, I've already been applying some of the strategies noted, and I would further recommend following up the supplement "homework" web-link he provides to keep the reframing effort moving forward. -Paul

Penner offers up another mystery tale involving murder and desperate circumstances for the protagonists. Although not as engaging a tale as her The Lost Apothecary was (a little too much revisiting of things already established for my tastes and a sense of it being rushed) she really develops a pretty detailed slice of Victorian England life, featuring good twists, turns and revelations, and a collection of interesting characters, both major and minor. -Paul

Truly a sweeping epic, Infinity Gate is a face paced read, packed with lots of action and many memorable characters. Taking a different approach to how the multiverse works, there is no effective space travel and movement between realities, using what's termed Step technology, takes travelers to the exact same spot on a variant Earth to where they departed from on there own version Earth. Thrown into the mix are different cultural, historical, and evolutionary paths on each world, some fairly similar, others wildly different. To keep everything from getting out of hand, there is a very larger and extensive government/control structure in place, the Pandominion, which calls all the shots and has a well developed enforcement army. Unfortunately, there is also another force out in the multiverse that has a very different approach to things, especially the idea of sentience. -Paul

An engaging, well crafted tale set in a future where the geopolitical landscape is completely different in wholly unexpected ways, AI driven machines are ubiquitous and sometimes beautifully crafted and at others coldly indifferent, human life is cheap and expendable when no longer useful, and talented hackers are in high demand for very specific clandestine activities. Throw into this mix an unusual set of conditions and circumstances on a protected chain of islands off the Vietnamese coast, and the nature of perception, observation, intelligence and communication and you get a book I personally found hard to put down. -Paul

A very well crafted horror and science fiction film, filled with memorable characters, many unpredictable bone chilling and hilarious moments, and plenty of post viewing discussion fodder and pondering points. A Jordan Peele must see! -Paul

Ultimately, this is a tale exploring the limits and burdens of motherly love, delving into the joy, sacrifice, and unspeakable horror that such can entail. Set in modern day England we learn about all the major characters through current events balanced with past moments that come closer to the same point in time as this decently paced story progresses. -Paul

Yet another engaging and fast paced Scalzi effort, filled with frequently snarky yet interesting and enjoyable characters, and, of course, a number of unusual and quite perilous situations that just get better and better. -Paul

More non-stop insanity involving 2 of my favorite Tim Power's characters, Vickery and Castine, who once again find themselves having enough adventures and things happen to them in three days than most people would experience in three lifetimes. Can Los Angeles and its surroundings get any more weird or dangerous? -Paul

The way this book is laid out is like a collection of puzzle pieces of various sizes and depths that gradually bring the bigger picture of the tale into focus. Overall though, the individual entries noting the individual employee responses and reactions are quite relatable to anyone who works for a living. -Paul

A very accessible and quick read that really covers the subject of courage from the Stoic viewpoint quite well. A good prescription to help navigate and conduct one's self in these more than "interesting times." -Paul

A richly developed world packed with engaging detail and a multitude of well developed characters I can hardly wait until the next volume is published to see where the often unpredictable action leads. -Paul

Rich with a wide cast of characters who populate the story as it progresses, with each getting enough individual development to spark even more interest, there are also plenty of ups and downs and twist and turns, some fairly predictable, some not at all, to engage the reader in following along with how these two grow as they share experiences while apart and together. -Paul

Loaded with all kinds of historical details this story provides a window into the Jewish experience leading up to the expulsion from their homes after 1000 years of faithful service to their beloved country. -Paul

This humorous and all too true graphic novel follows Jen (not Jennifer!) as she deals with her parents divorce and moving with her mom from the city to the country. To cope, Jen works on her cartoons, but eventually as all three get to know each other better and have a few adventures together, things mostly get better. -Paul

Written in a voice true to the story’s setting and local culture, this engaging and multi-leveled tale captures quite well how difficult it can be to survive and more or less successfully navigate through life and stay true to yourself and those you respect most. I often found myself reflecting on my own not so dissimilar experiences as a sixth grader as I followed Bryan through his triumphs and travails. A very highly recommended read. -Paul

The story of Natalie, as told in pictures, and how she navigates entering middle school along with a bunch of kids from other grade schools, the loss of her best friend (who’s turned into a really “mean girl”), the making of new, truly good friends, and finding out what she’s good at doing. Of course there’s a lot of anxiety, self doubt, and missteps along the way but Nat survives, spectacularly, in this sweet and humorous tale. -Paul

I have become totally hooked on this series and very much recommend it for older tweens. I plan to continue enjoying my way through each volume even after the current quarantine/shut down is lifted! -Paul

The author, Janae Marks, deftly weaves the all too common experiences of African-Americans with the U.S. justice system and its fallout into an engaging tale of a young girl on the cusp of adulthood, juggling several things at one time while balancing what she feels is the right thing to do and the fear of suffering the consequences, both if she does or does not follow through in her quest. -Paul

Recommended for upper elementary and above, for some content and word complexity. -Paul

Recommended for tweens and older this is an action and adventure tale with humor and grisley demises sprinkled throughout. -Paul

A funny and quite well paced action and misadventure tale of a group of eight graders during a class trip to Washington DC. Centered on Wyatt Palmer and his various personal anxieties, the tale follows him, his nerd buddies, and assorted other classmates as they deal with teacher chaperones, a pair of menacing and creepy strangers they meet during their plane ride, and a series of mostly bad and ill-informed choices made not only by Wyatt but others as well. Make no mistake, things get quite dangerous and potentially quite fatal for several of the characters along the way. -Paul

Another in the series of picture books that includes The Good Egg and The Bad Seed. Looking at what it means to be cool from very superficial aspects to truly meaningful ones. Well told with a very good message. -Paul

A classic tale that relates the experiences of a very spoiled and selfish young girl, Mary Lennox, who is sent to the Yorkshire country estate of an Uncle after her parents die of a cholera epidemic in India. After a bit of culture shock and getting used to her new home she learns of an abandoned garden on the estate that has been locked since her Uncle’s wife died 10 years earlier. After finding a key she is able to finally enter the garden which is dormant and choked with weeds. Mary starts to tend the garden and undergoes a bit of a transformation into a better person. Soon she meets a local boy, Dickon, who has a way with animals, and he helps her with the garden. Eventually she meets her cousin, Colin, who’s kept isolated in a room inside the manor and is presumed to have a spinal deformation that keeps him under constant care. As the three become thick as thieves and the garden blooms, several things change among the individual characters and their relationships. -Paul

Celtic Woman once again provide a very enjoyable listening experience with their special treatment of traditional songs of the season. Just a heads up, this group will be appearing at the Gallagher Bluedorn Performing Arts Center on the UNI campus on December 22nd. -Paul

You knew it was only a matter of time before John Legend would release a Holiday album and here it is. Featuring both classic songs and new, original tracks guest artist include Stevie Wonder and Esperanza Spalding (one of my favorite bassists of all time!) -Paul

Menzel's amazing voice is once again worth the price of admission, as with her previous Christmas release she teams up for a number of duets with an A-list of currently popular vocalists. Very centered on recognizable favorites this release does include one not so traditional Hanukkah song, Ocho Kandelikas, which is sung in Ladino. -Paul

Pentatonix have once again released an enjoyable a capella collection of Christmas music, featuring brand new arrangements of familiar favorites. I'm always amazed at what this group comes up with. -Paul

Features catchy rhythms evocative of the jazz and pop music of the 50's and early 60's with clever and often humorous lyrics that do push some boundaries, being just naughty enough to add spice to seasonal cocktail listening cocktail mix with out being too strong. -Paul