This is primarily the story of Anna Karenina’s troubled affair with Alexey Vronsky. It’s also the story of Konstantin Levin’s search for love and truth in society. While reading this book, I kept wishing that I could just read a “good parts version” as William Goldman called The Princess Bride. I kept getting bogged down […]
Character Connection: Weaver Smith
Weaver Smith is not the main character in A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly (known as A Gathering Light to Brits), but he plays a big part. I would say that he’s the faith of the story. Not religious faith, but faith in himself, in his friends, and their talents. Weaver is Mattie Gokey’s best […]
Dragon*Con Parade 2011
I went to Atlanta over the weekend, primarily to attend the Decatur Book Festival (I intend to write about that later). My husband was an unbelievably good sport and went along with me for the second year in a row. When we went last year, we found out that Dragon*Con is the same weekend in […]
Rapunzel’s Revenge by Shannon Hale
Take Rapunzel and plunk her down smack-dab in the middle of a Louis L’Amour book and you have the gist of this fun graphic novel. The framework of Rapunzel is here. Hungry mom, eager-to-please dad, evil witch, girl with crazy-long hair in a tower. But that’s about where the similarities end. See, Rapunzel doesn’t want […]
Just After Sunset by Stephen King: Book Review
Warning! This review will be incredibly long because I find it impossible to review a collection of short stories without reviewing each story. Feel free to move along. Overall, this was not a typical Stephen King short story collection. His short stories generally give me nightmares. There were a few horror stories in here, but […]
Character Connection: Francesca Giordano
Francesca Giordano is the main character in Poison by Sara Poole. I can’t write a better post than what I wrote in my review, so I’m just going to excerpt it here. Francesca was a great character. She’s so very earnest in her narration. Her tone actually reminded me a little of Mary Russell, Sherlock […]
Movie Review: The Help
Or, in which I ramble a little about the movie and a lot about conversations with my family. I took my mother and grandmother to see The Help this past Sunday. I read the book in early 2010 and loved it (my review). I bought it for my grandmother for Mother’s Day. She read it […]
Fool Moon by Jim Butcher: Book Review
4 Stars. I have to admit that this book spooked me a little. Not too bad, but I wasn’t expecting to be spooked at all. There are, I believe, four different kinds of werewolves running around Chicago, each scarier than the last. And holy cow. The worst is just–man. He’s a monster. So after finding myself out […]
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. Posted: Review of Linger by Maggie Stiefvater Review of The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa, translated by Stephen Snyder Character Connection featuring Wizard Howl Review of The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Read: Passing by Samaria by Sharon Ewell Foster […]
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver: Book Review
The Poisonwood Bible is about a Southern Baptist family that decides to go be missionaries in the Congo in 1960, just before the country was supposedly granted its independence from Belgium. The Prices didn’t bother with language or culture training, they just took off to spread the word about Jesus. Of course they weren’t prepared […]
Character Connection: Wizard Howl
Howl from Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones, is a bit of a difficult character to pin down. Early in the book, he strikes fear in the heart of the people of Market Chipping. They believe that he’s there for evil purposes involving the hearts or souls of beautiful young women. He’s obviously powerful. […]