it’s a crazy week for me — a few days in colorado for an event at group publishing, and a few days in the san bernardino mountains with my family and another family. so, i think it’s time to post a week of 2 sentence book reviews!

i’ve got 44 lines for 22 books. the first sentence of each review is a summary, and the second sentence is my opinion. hope you appreciate the brevity!

part 1: five general fiction books
part 2: three general non-fiction and two young adult fiction books
part 3: four illustrated books or graphic novels and one humor book
part 4: four christian living books and three theology and ministry books

first up: general fiction

Unholy Night, by Seth Grahame-Smith
5 stars
Somehow, the same mind that brought us Pride and Predjudice and Zombies, and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Killer, rewrites the birth of Christ as a wild thriller involving an master thief and a mystic with a treasure-trove of evil powers in his tool box. Fully respectful to biblical story, this book can easily sit on my shelf next to Christopher Moore’s wonderful Lamb.

Sacre Bleu: A Comedy d’Art, by Christopher Moore
4 stars
Moore’s weirdness takes on the world of 19th century impressionist painters in the evil muse who provides their brilliance and the color blue. Not as laugh-out-loud funny as Moore’s best works, but still a fun read with tons of historical fiction context.

A Hologram for the King, by Dave Eggers
4 stars
A despondent and lonely man seeks redemption and hope in a presentation (and expected cash-cow contract) with a Middle Eastern king. Eggers is one of my top-10 authors, but this fairly depressing work is not his best (though it’s still better than so many other books).

Whiteout, by Ken Follett
3.5 stars
A thriller involving a deadly virus, high-stakes security, thugs, and family dysfunction, with a little romantic longing thrown in the mix. The romantic bits literally made me laugh out loud with their cheese and lack of believability, but the story is otherwise good.

Bag of Bones, by Stephen King
3 stars
ghost story involving a grieving writer and the historical sins of a small town. more a picture of grief and writer’s block than a scary story.