Well – as far as premises go, this one was pretty contrived. I typically am fairly okay with a contrived story line as long as it is well told. Unfortunately, that was not what I experienced with One Day in December. The story has a basic take-off point: Girl has bad day, girl gets on packed bus, girl sees boy sitting at bus stop, boy sees girl, neither of them actually get on/off bus to meet the other, girl spends a year looking for boy. Girl finally meets boy at a party and is introduced […]
BOTM: December 2019
Hey all! It’s that time of month again! My Book of the Month box has arrived! (Okay – note here that I said again and yet… I’ve never done one of these posts before! And yet – “again” is certainly true… This is my 36th box from Book of the Month.) This month I chose Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston. Because I’m also a BOTM BFF (I did say 36 boxes), I got an extra book for my birthday. I chose The Glittering Hour by Iona Grey. Ever since I chose Red, […]
2019 in Books: The Full Rundown
Since 2019 (as described in my last post) was the year of the book, I wanted to do a full rundown of everything I read this year. I read so many books I couldn’t put down – and I’m not even sure I’ve actually got them all on this list, but I think I’ve got most of them. So here we go: Currently Reading: The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett The Shortest Day: Murder at the Revels by Jane Langton Best of the Lot: My Favorites Shout by Laurie Halse Anderson The Beekeeper’s Apprentice by […]
2019: Year of the Book + A Review of The Starless Sea
If 2019 is nothing else, I would say it became the Year of the Book. I’ve always considered myself an avid reader, but this year was above and beyond what I’ve read in the past (or at least, since homework made reading for fun more difficult to find time for). 2018 was almost The Year of the Book. (It certainly started that way between The Philosopher’s Flight and The English Wife – both books I could not put down.) However, 2019 will get credit for the sheer number of good books I read that I […]
Dear Madam President: A Response
I can’t exactly call this a book review. The only review-like thing I can really honestly say is that Jennifer Palmieri’s book, Dear Madam President: An Open Letter to the Women Who Will Run the World, is exactly what I needed after the year and a half we have been through since the results of the 2016 election. I was drawn to the book after hearing an article or podcast (potentially NPR?) mention it – specifically her chapter on “Nod Less, Cry More”. I was intrigued. But there was so much more in here than just sage, […]
BOTM: Enchanted Islands Parts One and Two
Okay, so I admit, I’m starting this without actually finishing the book, but I needed to take a moment to stop and reflect. The first two parts of this book are really what lead Frances Frankowski to her job and mission in Navel Intelligence. I was beginning to wonder, honestly, when we were going to meet Ainslie Conway, the man we know from the beginning that Fanny is going to marry. That being said, having some clue of where this book was going did make the journey through parts one and two more bearable. We […]
Shadows of Sherwood: Eerie Hints of Democracy’s Downfall
For the first book of the summer to read off of the Dorothy Canfield Fischer 2016-2017 Nominee List, I read Shadows of Sherwood: A Robyn Hoodlum Adventure by Kekla Magoon. Below are my reactions. We have backup plans. And backups of backup plans – specifically for the situation that Shadows of Sherwood suggests. That doesn’t stop the story from being frightening – particularly in the age of Trump running for president. When I have a student come up to me asking if Trump is going to win because she’s afraid of what’s going to happen to her […]
Dorothy Canfield Fischer: New Reads, New Opinions
I’m going to start reading Shadows of Sherwood on my drive back to Vermont today. The idea will be that if I can finish that book amongst all the packing, and finish Ocean at the End of the Lane, I will have two new book reviews for this blog relatively soon. I love fantasy, but I also love historical fiction. The Dorothy Canfield Fischer Award is Vermont’s YA book award, and it gave me a good starting place for this summer’s list of books to read. My name gave me a good place to start on this […]
Down the Rabbit Hole
This blog post contains some spoilers for After Alice by Gregory Maguire. As the book was only very recently released, this warning has been put her as a courtesy. After Alice by Gregory Maguire, if you have not yet read it, is a reintroduction to a world that doesn’t make sense. It is the dark side of Wonderland. I will admit, it’s tame in comparison to some versions. (I refer here to Splintered by A. G. Howard as well as a few other versions I can just barely think of off the top of my head.) But […]
Books That Have Influenced Me
Here’s another list of ten books – yet again inspired by a Facebook pass-it-along type game. However, this one asked for a reason that the book influenced you, and it wasn’t restricted to childhood books, so I figured it was time to put up another list. So here goes: