Quick Book Reviews Blog

It is no secret that the longer humanity goes on, the more we become reliant on electronic technology to survive and keep on going. As I see it, there are two main fears associated with technology: the fear of it gaining sentience and turning against us, and the fear of losing it completely.  While it does seem outlandish at this point in the real world, I’m sure you've wondered more than once what would happen to the world if all electronic devices were to be disabled.  Would we all revert to living in small tribes?  Would we band together and try to rebuild?  Would we go to war with each other over the little resources we have left for being unable to grow food and obtain water by ourselves?  Would people care about money?  Will there be anyone left to make alcohol?  Well, it seems that these thoughts crossed the mind of Ray Gorham, and so he wrote about what he imagined would happen in his novel titled 77 Days in September .

Author of the widely-successfully Killing Lincoln , it seems that Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard have a sort of fascination with assassinations on presidents.

I've reviewed a few of Grisham's works before, like his classic The Firm and one of his best-selling novels, The Racketeer . I’ll be honest in saying that I may have given the author a bit more praise than he deserves; many people see him as being to books what Hollywood is to movies. What do I mean by that? Well, while his books are always full of action and have a relatively intriguing story, many of them lack originality and deeper meaning. However, that is not to say that it’s a bad thing… after all, we all need this kind of entertainment from time to time.

I’ve already reviewed a few of John Grisham’s most widely-acclaimed works ( A Time to Kill , The Litigators and The Racketeer ), but I have yet to really touch on some of his earlier successes, and The Firm is without a doubt one of them. As a matter of fact, this is the book that put Grisham on the map for many avid readers seeking a breath of fresh air amongst a sea of recycled, cookie-cutter stories.

It has been a while since an author has really tried to break down what we consider to be conventional and venture into unknown territory where the craziest things can happen. Well, actually, you can scratch that as Cracked.com editor Jason Pargin (David Wong) wrote a genuinely twisted story with John Dies at the End . The whole plot of the book is centred around a substance called soy sauce, and of course, video store clerk David Wong and his friend try it.

In modern times, as you can surely see, technology is developing faster than it ever was before. Only a few decades ago computers were the size of elephants and took up giant rooms to store a few megabytes of data. Today, we have computers the size of our hands capable of storing dozens, if not hundreds of gigabytes of information without a problem. However, what’s scarier is the progress done in robotics and nanotechnology; not only are computers becoming tremendously more powerful and capable than humans, but they are also slowly taught to process information and understand things on the fly. It might not sound like much, but if you ask me we’re not too far away from a Terminator reenactment.

1942: The United States are knee-deep, like many other countries, in the Second World War. A captain of the U.S. Navy, Lawrence Pritchard Waterhouse, is seen as a real mathematical genius and prodigy, one who knows no equal. He is assigned to detachment 2702… a detachment so secretive that only a few people even know of its existence. With the help of detachment 2702’s commander and Marine Raider Bobby Shaftoe, Waterhouse is set on a mission, with the objective being to prevent the Nazis from finding out that the Allies have cracked their Enigma code.

The South of the United States of America hasn't always been known as being inhabited with people open to cultural diversity (and that's a big understatement). Even today, in some places, especially smaller, rural towns, racial tensions are still alive and boiling... and John Grisham guessed it would be the perfect setting for a tense courtroom drama centered around a little girl and what her father did for revenge.

The year is 1987 and June Elbus lives a life closed off from practically everyone else. The only person around whom she can feel and be herself is her uncle, a renowned painter by the name of Finn Weiss.  Apart from being her grandfather, he was also her confidant and her best friend; he was the bright light in June’s life. Unfortunately, Finn falls victim to some kind of mysterious illness one day and departs from this world, leaving June all by herself (metaphorically of course).