Having just finished Deanna Raybourn’s A Curious Beginning, it was interesting to listen to this book. While both tales are about the Victorian period, women who don’t conform and murder most foul, the books have very different paces and atmosphere. Raybourn’s was a rollicking adventure with quick Gilmore Girls-like dialogue. Thomas’ A Study in Scarlet …
The feeling I have this week must be the same feeling kids in my junior high had when they were chosen first for [insert any group sport]. I joined NetGalley and will now be reviewing books for publishers as they are published. I. AM. SO. EXCITED. The special feels. They are so great. Those of …
I don’t remember what I was reading in first grade…or second…not even third. I begin to have vague recollections around fourth with Roald Dahl’s The BFG and The Babysitter’s Club books. There is nightly tradition in my house. My son and I curl up in my bed with the book we’re currently reading together. We …
I wouldn’t call myself a great fan of Edgar Allen Poe. I read the requisite stories and poetry in high school. You know the drill. It’s Halloween and your English teacher pulls out “The Raven” or “The Tell-Tale Heart” and they try to be all spooky. As a modern teenager you think “um, what?” and …
I may have set some kind of record this month—a personal record anyway—in the number of books I consumed. And, yes, I’m using the word consumed on purpose. My mom has always said I devour books, that I should slow down and enjoy them. I do enjoy them! Just at a quicker pace than most. …
If you hang around readers for very long, you begin to see a pattern. Most have read Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice.” Many of those who have read it claim it is, not only their favorite Austen book, but on their list of favorite books of all time. There have been a dearth of Jane …
The last two posts to this blog have been about wrapping up one year and looking forward to the next. My last post, one word resolution, was really about setting goals. I’ve always preferred goals to resolutions. I’m not sure I could point out why. I tend to be a little anti-establishment, so I just …
There is something about mythology that I love. It’s always been that way. Greek, Norse, Native American, Egyptian. I love them all. And, I think, that is one of the things I love best about “Arcadia Falls” by Carol Goodman. This story has all kinds of myths, fairy tales and legends built into it. There …
I’ve been saving this book for the last few weeks. Maybe a little because I didn’t want to come off as one of those academic people who casually name drop classic literature. “Well, when I read ‘The Mill on the Floss’ it was the tension of Maggie’s desires and her circumstances…” So, I’m not going …
“I like hanging around words listening to what they say.”—W.H. Auden I’m not sure when my love of words began. It may have been in third grade when I wrote my first short story. It was a handwritten exposition about my youngest sister—a dabbling in non-fiction that didn’t last long. It could have been in …
Word by Word 