Michelle Martinez

Michelle Martinez is a research librarian and associate professor. Her bibliographic duties include art, crafts, photography, architecture, popular culture, literature, and drama. She teaches a wide variety of short courses for the library and the Sam Houston State University Honors College depending on the semester; topics include digital research, graphic novels, human sexuality, gender and feminism. She is an occasional freelance writer and editor for the online cooking school Smart Kitchen.

Her book reviews appear in publications as diverse as Library Journal and Feminist Collections, and range in topical variety from graphic novels, Medieval and Victorian eras, popular culture, and GBLTQ history. She has been chair of the Popular Culture Association’s BDSM/Kink/Fetish area and is currently assisting with Disability Studies. Her articles on video games, censorship, and libraries have appeared and been cited in numerous publications.

 

Book Reviews by Michelle Martinez

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From the margins of society arise a unique cast of characters who take turns narrating the tale in The Sunlight Pilgrims.

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Harold’s Hungry Eyes is a deliciously adorable book about a Boston Terrier named Harold whose mind is always on the next meal.

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Whether or not readers are familiar with Chekhov, historical fiction lovers will want to read The Summer Guest in its entire page-turning splendor.

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Written as a traditional manga, and meant to be read as one (back to front, right to left), artist Rokudenashiko, a play on the Japanese words “useless” and “good-for-nothing,” tells her story of b

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Lisa has survived breast cancer and reached her 50th birthday only to discover, in a most humiliating moment during her surprise birthday party, that her husband has been cheating on her.

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This unique book is a must-have for art lovers and the budding artist or art aficionado. This book is a mixture of biography, picture book, and memoir.

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Readers who enjoy opera and operatic-like novels will want to read this latest work of historical fiction; however, they should prepare for some disappointment and confusion.

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In line with the latest of gorgeous cookbooks under #foodporn and #travelporn, Jose Pizarro’s Basque is more than a collection of regional recipes.

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In this first of a planned Lillian Frost & Edith Head series, readers will be swept away on a murder mystery set in Hollywood’s Golden Era.

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“The illustrations are adorable . . .”

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Oleg Kashin may be a recognizable name to readers who paid attention to international news.

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A mysterious benefactor offers $500,000 to Elizabeth and Richard, two complete strangers, if they will spend two hours together every week for a year.

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Starting in the 1960s and up to today, Mimi deftly weaves her tale, like the best and most intimate of diaries, skipping the dull moments and focusing on those that mean the most to the overall nar

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This gorgeous book is meant for anyone who is an aspiring gardener or an expert horticulturist, regardless of green-thumb abilities or current state of a reader’s yard or window box.

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This book is filled with colorful characters and photographs in a pictorial history of tattoos.

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Booth writes with humor and intelligence while exploring serious ideas in this charming narrative.”

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New York City was the center of the world in the 1940s, according to author David Reid. He builds his case looking at the political and social scene of the decade.

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Set in the distant future, Barsk: The Elephants’ Graveyard has humans long extinct and anthropomorphic species dominating the galaxy—a species the humans helped to develop and create.

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Prudence Ashton, the narrator, is not the photographer’s wife, rather it is Eleanora, Prue’s sister.

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“Writers on Dr. Who ought to consult this strange little book for ideas.”

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With gun slinging, gin drinking, cursing, prostitutes, desert towns, and good guys versus bad this meets the criteria for a good western.

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“Fans of thrillers with the hint of the supernatural will enjoy reading . . .”

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a fantastic read for a slow afternoon or a short flight.”

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This fantastic book owes a great debt to Carl Sagan’s original Cosmos series and bestselling book.

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The Borgia name conjures up larger-than-life history, sumptuous banquets, sexual license, and infamy.

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Set in the late 80s, Jed has escaped Chicago and the beginning of the AIDS crisis to return to where he experienced a hedonist paradise during his college days.

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Trying too hard with Celtic mythology and a modern setting in KingFisher, McKillip fails to reach her full award-winning potential (she has won the World Fantasy Award previously), in this

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Girl meets boy through an online dating account, and they take off to see the world after only a few weeks of dating.

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“Greenwell writes with a hypnotic flair and intense precision.”

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Victoria Kelly takes license with the legacy of Harry Houdini in her debut novel.

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“An unexpected pleasure.”

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While academic readers interested in celebrity studies will want to pick up this slim volume, readers should be aware that the references made will be to primarily Indian culture and will be lost o

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Middle school readers will love the Alcatraz series, of which Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians is the first title, originally published in 2007 and rereleased in 2016.

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This is a retelling of the classic Aladdin’s tale with a twist.

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Those readers interested in Napoleon will want to give this slim volume a pass—this is a book for academics interested specifically in leadership.

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Social media is a pervasive presence in teenage lives nowadays, yet there is a double standard, as there has always been in the female narrative: Rather than teaching boys not to rape or peers not

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A drug similar to Ritalin, called Concentr8, has suddenly stopped being distributed and the repercussions are as Dr.

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A standup comic, according to Kliph Nesteroff’s interviewee Dick Curtis, was given its name by the mafia.

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A Song for No Man’s Land is the first in a planned series.

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Snow White gets an amazingly adventurous overhaul in author of the Defiance series C. J. Redwine’s retelling. Princess Lorelei has magic in her, but her mother never taught her to use it.

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Readers interested in anthropology and the cultural exploration of why humans have created the idea of home and what this idea means will enjoy John S.

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“the story is charming and readers who enjoy romance ought to give this a try, even if they aren’t huge fans of the GBLTQ scene—this is a great toe-dip into those waters without the oft-ass

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There is a reason John Spurling (author of multiple novels and plays) won the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction (The Ten Thousand Things), and it will become clear in reading A

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In this high fantasy, seventeen-year-old Oleander “Lea” Saldana is a “clipper,” a trained assassin, and her favorite method is poison.

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The answer isn’t 42. At least, that’s not sociology professor Paul Froese’s conclusion. Readers having an existential crisis will want to read this book.

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“a fantastic example of literary nonfiction, of science and field research combined with beautiful narrative . . .”

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“beautiful narrative of historical fiction. . . . absorbing . . .”

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In The Paradox of Evolution, physiologist Stephen Rothman claims to expose a major and neglected problem in Darwin’s theory of evolution, and it is a paradox: reproduction is purposeful, f

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With Japanese ghosts and demons, author Sean Michael Wilson and illustrator Michiru Morikawa have created cultural Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark in comic form.

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Julia inherits a gift from her grandmother: the ability to see through a person’s eyes when they are in the most trouble and their soul is reaching out for help, from somewhere in the future.

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This novel is as finely tuned as the best banjo played by 19-year-old runaway slave Henry Sims.

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Little is known about Zenobia, a real historical figure born c.

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Potential is unrealized in Mingmei Yip’s newest novel. The dialogue is awkwardly delivered and falls flat.

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Harry Christmas is no longer an alcoholic. He’s pickled—so long in the drink, particularly Scotch, which he refers to as “the rot,” that there’s no memory of sobriety anymore.

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On July 1, 1967, B. passes her first counterfeit check.

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Ten years have passed since Sophie Keane walked out of Jake Carter's life. Once Special Forces partners and lovers, all that is over.

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Fans of Verdi's opera La Traviata and readers who enjoy biographies of courtesans won't want to miss this gem by Rene Weis, a regular contributor to the Royal Opera House programs.

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In a blend of history, memoir, and travelogue, renowned ceramicist Edmund de Waal invites readers, artists, art critics, and the curious into his obsession with clay and its beauty from its genesis

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Have you ever wanted to be a character in your own book? Leah Tang has been one.

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Kyle Keeley and his teammates, Miguel, Akimi, Sierra, and Haley are back. Kyle and his friends have become celebrities, starring on television commercials for Luigi L.

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Gorsky is an homage to The Great Gatsby, with an interesting premise, but author Vesna Goldsworthy lacks subtlety in crafting this tribute.

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The title of the novel comes from a Charles Atlas slogan. This book is for the reader who enjoys experimental or postmodern fiction. This is a book to think about.

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A trio of male friends navigate their relationships, jobs, and lives, as well as the changes over time in this slow-moving comic.

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XKCD comic artist Randall Munroe has created a book to explain how things work.

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If readers ever wished Mike Rowe would create a comic out of Dirty Jobs then this is the book for them. In fact, the cover character of JB rather looks like Mike Rowe.

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The Cure for Dreaming is set in 1900s Oregon, with the backdrop of the suffragist movement. Olivia Mead is called on stage to be hypnotized by the young and famous Henri Reverie.

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The Seven Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor’s full-page, bordered illustrations are composed of bright colors like the tiled floors of Mediterranean homes, adding great depth to these retold ta

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This remastered and colored edition brings together the four volumes (Ramor’s Conch, The Temple of Oblivion, Riga, and The Egg of Darkness) originally published in 1975 in black a

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Jennifer Hayden’s first graphic memoir is the powerful story of the story of her tits—from their conspicuous absence in her early teens that leads her to stuff her bikini top with rocks to their ev

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Both Stuart Lowe and Chris North are astronomers, and together they have created a brilliant collection of infographics in order to make complex ideas graspable through visual representations.

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“rollicking good ride.”

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Everything you need to know to plan your white wedding is at hand in Martha Stewart Weddings. This is a beautiful reference book for the wedding planner or the bride-to-be.

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Lilly Fields is washed ashore broken and battered. Found in a time and space between worlds by John the Collector, Lilly is taken in, cared for, and mended.

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Jewish Noir isn’t for the faint-hearted nor is it for the typical noir fan, and not due to the Judaic symbolism, mythology, or history, but rather because Jewish noir, as it is defined by

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Aging and death are inevitable, but it doesn’t mean one must accept it gracefully.

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Diplomatic editor for The Guardian Julian Borger returns to the Balkans in this chronicle of the pursuit and capture of war criminals by the International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague.

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John Willis made an accidental connection with a Chinese gangster, helping the man named Woping Joe after a bar fight, and only months later they reconnect when John calls the number on the busines

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Contraband Cocktails: How America Drank When It Wasn’t Supposed To by Paul Dickson is a slim volume of cocktail history and recipes.

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Matt Parker is a comedian and a mathematician, a nerd who revels in the challenge of numbers and believes math can be recreational, and he is the best person possible to write a book about math to

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On Cats is a posthumous collection of Charles Bukowski’s poetry about cats compiled by former Fulbright Scholar Abel Debritto, who is also editor of the Bukowski collection On Writing

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Sophia by Michael Bible is a beautiful contemporary novella that reads like a series of sequential prose poetry vignettes interspersed with visions of saints, real and fake, by the scoundr

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Rachel Ball’s graphic novel The Inflatable Woman is unlike any cancer memoir currently published in its creativity and fictionalized account told through the main character Iris, who stand

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Drinking at the Movies by Julia Wertz is an interesting comic memoir of living in New York as a poor, desperate, and whiskey-addicted comic artist trying to make it.

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Warren the 13th and the All-Seeing Eye written by Tania Del Rio and illustrated by Will Staehle stands out among its peers in the young adult/children’s category of adventure stories.

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Fans of the Sleepy Hollow movie should beware buying this graphic novel based off the Fox series.

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The Master of the Prado by Javier Sierra is a work of illuminated autobiographical fiction.

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This book is not for the uninitiated in comics or graphic novels of either today or those past.

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The Hillary Rodham Clinton Presidential Playset by Caitlan Kuhwald is an absolutely fantastic book for adults and children alike.

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Ed Vere’s Max the Brave is reminiscent of P. D. Eastman’s Are You My Mother? Told in a similar style to Mr.

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The board book Owl Howl by Paul Friester and Philippe Goossens has been translated from the German and into English by Erica Stenfalt—and thank goodness!

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Lenny & Lucy, written by Philip C. Stead and illustrated by Erin E.

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The Marvels by Brian Selznick, author and illustrator of The Invention of Hugo Cabret, is a multilayered masterpiece in which the illustrated story tells of a theatrical family, t

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"ideal for a story time . . ."

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Anna Llenas’ The Color Monster: A Pop-up Book of Feelings is an adorable book for ages 3–7.

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Oreo, the heroine of the title, is raised by maternal grandparents. She is the daughter of a white Jewish deadbeat father and a black actress mother, who is constantly on tour.

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“written accessibly and intelligently, without hyperbole . . . a sincere work of scholarship . . .”

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“this coloring book falls flat.”

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Selfish, Shallow, and Self-Absorbed is a timely book for the discussion in current culture about the decision on not having kids.

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The Jottery: Thought Experiments for Everyday Philosophers and Part-Time Geniuses is a clever book for creative or would-be creative people.

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It is Paris, 1862, and the novel’s narrator, Victorine, “wears the green boots of a whore.” Sitting outside a shop window and sketching with her friend and roommate Denise, she is approached by a s

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“an absolutely phenomenal book.”

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“Everyone is suspect.”

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“Elizabeth Crook vividly paints the terror, panic, and confusion as well as the bloody results of real-life shooter Charles Whitman’s horrendous actions.”

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Mastering the Art of French Eating is a food memoir in which the reader explores several of France’s regions, including Alsace, Lyon, Troyes, and Brittany with Mah as she masterfu

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Arcanum is a must-read for any fantasy fan.”

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“. . .

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“. . . enough variety, like a box of chocolates, that one can poke around the book looking for the one with caramel and find it.”

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“If you have a penis, know a penis, or would like to get to know one—pick up this book and read it!”

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Jeff Ayers, one-time Seattle Public Library (SPL) employee and freelance reviewer, takes us into the SPL with this amateur thriller.

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“. . . a fantastic novel. . . . lighthearted and darkly comedic at the same time.”

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In The Affairs of Others Amy Grace Loyd, former literary editor of Playboy, makes her fiction debut.