Blog Dates

I Heart Lily King’s FATHER OF THE RAIN: or, How A Bookseller in Colorado Almost Inadvertently Killed Me

By liberty on July 28, 2010 | Add a Comment

As I mentioned in my last blog post, I am a HUGE fan of Twitter. It was on Twitter last year that I met Joe B. Foster, my personal book guru. A super-smart, fantastically sardonic bookseller in Colorado, Joe has never let me down with a book recommendation. I blindly follow all of his suggestions. But, a few months ago, I balked at one of his picks.

“Father of the Rain, by Lily King,” he told me. Now, I had heard good things about King’s first two books, but had not read her myself.

So I looked the book up. It’s the story of Daley and her alcoholic father, and the affect their relationship has on her, both as a child, and an adult. While I was sure Joe was right about it being good, admittedly, this did not sound like the usual kind of book I read. I like dark and twisted.

“Hmmmm,” I thought, “No murder. No anthropomorphic animals. No pictures. I’m not sure.”

I am currently reading the book called Beautiful Creatures. It’s a fantasy book about a boy named Ethan Wate. He lives in a boring town, and dreams of traveling the world when he is older. One day, he meets a girl named Lena who he is immediately drawn to. She has long black hair and green eyes. The only problem is, she is living with her uncle who hasn’t come out of his “haunted house” since Ethan was born. But, he soon finds out she has a huge secret that might tear them apart. Beautiful Creatures is an amazing book so far, and I can’t stop reading it.  Out of five stars, I would give this book a 4.5 so far. Keep on Reading!

An informal interview with Paul Harding

By michele on July 13, 2010 | Add a Comment

What are your five favorite bands of all time?  
Impossible question! Off the top of my head, five of my all time favorite bodies of music are:
    1.    Pretty much anything by the Rolling Stones
    2.    Beethoven’s piano sonatas
    3.    John Coltrane’s classic quartet
    4.    Sly Stone’s album, Fresh
    5.    Prince’s album, Dirty Mind
 
But that list already makes me feel very disloyal to a whole lot of musicians and composers…. 


What about your five favorite books of all time?

 Mostly, the usual suspects….
    1.    Moby Dick
    2.    War and Peace
    3.    Absalom, Absalom!
    4.    The Magic Mountain
    5.    Moby Dick, again….
 
This makes me feel disloyal, too…. 


What I Talk About When I Talk About Things That Gwen Makes Fun Of Me For

By liberty on July 05, 2010 | Add a Comment

It’s summer! It’s vacation time! Know what you need? A really big, epic book to read – and I have just the book for you. Two words, my little book kittens: LONESOME. DOVE. The Pulitzer winner by Larry McMurtry. Now, I know I’m a little late to the Lonesome Dove party. And trust me, I’ve been kicking myself for it.

This weekend, I re-read the Life as We Knew It series. I enjoyed reading them again, and couldn’t put them down. The reason I re-read them was because the third book in the series, This World We Live In, came out, and I forgot what happened in the two books before that. I would recommend the Life As We Knew It series for 13 year-olds and up. Out of five stars, I would give the whole series a 4.
 
The book I just currently finished is called The Girl Who Fell from the Sky. It’s a book about a girl named Rachel. Rachel was in a terrible accent with her mom, sister, and brother. She was the only one that survived. Rachel then goes to live with her strict grandmother, and tries to fit in at school. All of Rachel’s classmates are either black or white. She is light brown and it’s hard for her to fit in. The Girl Who Fell From the Sky is an amazing book and one of my favorites. I would give it 4 ½ stars!
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