Book Review: The fact that Kent Haruf was writing Our Souls at Night while he was dying makes this poignant novel even more so. The story is about relationships that form near the end of life and the effect it has on the people around them. Haruf writes about a small fictional town in Colorado with such style and ease that one not only feels like they know these characters, it leaves one feeling like they’re real people … or at least based on real people. And then you wonder how much of the story is autobiographical–and that’s the moment that you realize how much we’ll miss a talent like Kent Haruf. Not his best book, but a wonderful finish to an inspiring writing career. Four Stars.

Book Review: I haven’t cross-referenced my review for the first book of the Century Trilogy by Ken Follett, but I’m pretty sure my review of the second book, Winter of the World will be pretty much the same. If you’re looking for a great beach read that will take a good chunk of your week (or two), you could do worse than to read one of these gigantic tomes by Follett. Fast-paced and full of violence and sex (and characters that die off a la Game of Thrones), it’ll have you flipping the pages faster than you can say “gird my loins.” Not great literature, but a fun read. Four Stars.

Book Review: If you’ve ever played the video game Portal, then you know the premise of The Fold by Peter Clines. A research facility figures out a way to make a teleportation device–a door that makes you travel long distances instantly–and the resulting plot comes from what goes right … and horribly wrong during the process. I was loving this book until halfway through, when alternate universes and ant men attacking the lab were introduced. Then it all became just a little too silly for me. Shame, really, because until that point it was turning out to be one of my favorite sci-fi thrillers of all time. Three Stars … an average score for the awesome first half and the ridiculous second half.