

Bear's Best of 2015!
As we start to wind down 2015, I've been seeing a lot of best-of lists. You know I need everyone to know what I think. So here are mine. My favorite books published in 2015. I'm ready for you, 2016... come at me, brah! Have you ever read a debut novel by an author and saw in stunning clarity the respect and awards in that author's future? Chigozie Obioma's first novel gave me that vision from the first paragraph. [read more] The greatest and most transformative moments i


Finding your people... Book Riot Live
Last Spring, I was staring at a website... obsessively refreshing even though I knew registration didn't open until 11am. And my c̶r̶a̶z̶i̶n̶e̶s̶s̶ persistence paid off when at 10:58am, I was able secure my spot at Book Riot Live. Book Riot has felt like my book spirit animal since shortly after it's inception. Finally a book site that wasn't trying to be highbrow, snobby or ironic. No hipster beards, manbuns or JFranz lovers here (alright, alright , I'm okay with the bear


Girl at War by Sara Nović
Aside from the atrocities that hit you in the face early on in this book, something else stood out to me in the story of the Jurić family. Unlike other books, the action happened at the top of this book and then the rest of the pages were spent in working towards the healing of the main character and the place she calls "home". It's rare that we see the climax upfront and traditionally readers are pulled through a story by the promise of future action. I found myself being p