Author Archives: careyrox

Obsidian Series

My first impression about this scenario was “another demon, vampire, fantasy plot –why can’t we move on from that?” However when I thought about it superheroes are aliens, Harry Potter is a wizard, and even my favorite book series (Outlander) has a fantasy time travel element to it, so the supernatural doesn’t have to disqualify a book from being good. And actually, it was good. Take away the whole alien component and it’s a nice little trip back to the emotional roller coaster that is first love. Or to your younger self, where decisions were made based on emotion, not practicality or logical thought.

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan – Lisa See

From the very first page you get a sense of how empty a woman’s life is in nineteenth century China, and why women would dream of a deep yet platonic friendship with another woman to fill the many voids they have in their lives. Women today have many opportunities for happiness, which don’t necessarily rely on other women, but that doesn’t mean we don’t need female friends, and this book reminds you how much we still need each other even if we can find happiness in multiple forms through children, partners or work.

Countdown – Alan Weisman

Regardless of your political party or your spiritual beliefs there is one language that is pretty much universal; math. And the math indicates that we are approaching the point where the available food won’t feed the available mouths. Most of us understand the depleting of the Earth’s resources in a very distant sense because we don’t see it on a daily basis. And when you don’t see something it’s easy to think you don’t play a part in either creating it or fixing it. But that’s not true. We can fix it, if understand how we got here.

Voyager – Diana Gabaldon

How lonely and painful would it be to live a life devoid of emotion? Any emotion, as Jamie has without Claire. And when that emotion tentatively returns and Jamie lets himself experience joy I was scared for him, because as he knows when you open yourself to true happiness you also expose yourself to true loss, and if you’ve been there before you wonder if you can survive it again.

Dragonfly in Amber – Diana Gabaldon

Whether it be through wit, charm, humor or conviction Jamie commands the attention of those around him, and it’s as a leader that he seems whole as a person. But it’s his love of Claire that makes him whole as a man, and I love that while on the surface he seems to be the stereotypical strong male his greatest strength actually comes from Claire.