Meet the Reviewers

Kat Kiddles, Editor
San Jose, California

A globetrotting bookworm with a tendency to over-think the scientifically unexplainable, she enjoys gnawing on literary limbs of fiction and fable, while washing them down with glistening goblets of introspective memoir. She’s not one to refuse indulging in the occasional encyclopedia but her passion lies in stories of spirit and sustenance.

Favorite places: airport bookshops brimming with local titles; yoga studios filled with the silent sound of eternity and painted with moments of enlightenment; long stretches of open road cutting through slabs of prickly desert

Weaknesses: subscribing to too many RSS feeds; over-packing books and socks; not knowing when to look away while people-watching

Believes in: unicorns; sales; health benefits of coffee

Refuses to: deny herself the opportunity to be herself

Gareth Long, Uncustomary Reviewer
Cambridge, England

A compulsive analyser of human behaviour, with a preference for escaping it whenever possible.  He is more comfortable lost within the world of a book, a film, a computer game or music than in a room full of people, but cannot prevent his mind considering the social, philosophical or scientific implications of the cultural artefact in which he is ‘lost’.  Would prefer to have been born without a brain and is still learning how to cope with its incessant wittering.  Because of this, it’s possible to find anything from scientific theory through to classic literature and down into the dirty realm of action thrillers nestling within the pile of books beside his bed.  There’s also a disproportionate amount of Michael Moorcock’s work on his bookshelf, which may explain the difficulty he now has relating to other people.

Favorite places: unique and unfamiliar worlds that his mind has never experienced before; a warm, bright, flower-speckled meadow beside a chuckling stream; the time-bending hillside at Delphi

Weaknesses: impatience (particularly with slow technology and people whose lives revolve around television); computer games that allow him to run over sheep-like civilians; a pressing need for catharsis

Believes in: independent thought; evolution; the beautiful, twisting chaos of life and humanity’s responsibility to respect it; the Messianic properties of cheese

Refuses to: blindly follow social expectation; have anything to do with real cars (it’s safer for everyone)

Lisa Abellera, Uncustomary Reviewer
Novato, California

A hunter of tropes, she stalks the wildlife of language, especially for prose that is filled with human complexity, human struggle, and human connection. This obsession causes her to imagine the stories etched in the lines of strangers’ faces, overheard in fragments of conversations, and revealed in the slightest of gestures. She’s a collector of metaphors and similes, of metonymy and synecdoche, incessantly searching for words which paint the human experience. Words which are clear and concrete. Words which offer intimacy and irony. Words which bring together contrasting ideas, raise intriguing questions and take everyday experiences apart to expose greater truths.

Favorite places: neighborhood bookstores; coffeehouses with Wi-Fi; French cafés; anywhere with the sound of the surf and sand under foot

Weaknesses: stray cats; pistachio ice cream; time-swallowing diversions like social media and shopping for shoes

Believes in: life on other planets; the perseverance of the printed, bound book; the healing power of a good belly laugh

Refuses to: stop chasing windmills

Kate Dubinski, Uncustomary Reviewer
London, Ontario

A print journalist who doesn’t do nearly enough writing for pleasure and believes reading newspapers is a seriously underrated form of education. Can read and write while driving, walking, running and shooshing a baby to sleep. Doesn’t like to be alone with her thoughts for very long; because of this she always has a book at arm’s-length as an escape, a distraction or a relief. Forgets everything that she doesn’t write down, so has notebooks, slips of paper, napkins and dozens of pens with her at all times.

Favorite places: coffee shops big and small; books stores of all kinds, independent and mass-market; airports and airplanes; slightly-worn paths that cut through wooded wilderness; home

Weaknesses: coffee; Lays regular potato chips; getting lost in Twitter links that lead to other links that lead to other links that lead to hours of time wasted on the Internet

Believes in: the value of good mainstream journalism; the power of positive thinking; evolution

Refuses to: like the colour pink; deny herself instant pleasure; stop eating wheat

Heather Rae Butler, Uncustomary Reviewer
Reno, Nevada

An information professional always on the lookout for her next adventure. Her obsession with books has taken her farther than she has dreamed possible and she is looking forward to seeing where it will take her next.

Favorite places: hidden forests and ancient buildings; outside seating at restaurants and cafes; anywhere with cobblestone streets

Weaknesses: Illy coffee; anything pumpkin flavored; creating a never-ending pile of “to read” books; museums; singing in the car while driving (alone); rainy days

Believes in: providing the masses with free access to information; the power of reading; doing what one loves; always having fresh flowers somewhere in the house

Refuses to: give up sending hand-written holiday cards; stop reading books made out of paper