We’ll start with my Christmas recommendations, which won’t be tremendously different from last year’s. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens Honest Advent, Scott Erickson How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Dr. Seuss The Polar Express, Chris Van Allsburg Little Women, Louisa May Alcott The Christmas Pig, J. K. Rowling “The Gift of the Magi,” O. Henry “The…
I thought the afterword to Shirley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Jonathan Letham was rather clever. Among other things, he says, “Jackson is one of American fiction’s impossible presences, too material to be called a phantom …. too in-print to be ‘rediscovered,’ yet hidden in plain sight.” He goes on to…
I am going to convince you that sometimes quitting is exactly what you need to do. In this instance, I quit before I even started. At the same time, I visited a local bookstore (Posman Books in Atlanta) and bought a magnet that says, “Never never never give up,” which is supposedly a Winston Churchill…
I am very enthusiastic about Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse. I loved this book, and I am going to very soon go on to read the next in the series. But I can’t just leave you at that because this book has some graphic violence including some nasty scenes that involve children and the…
As far as Thanksgiving reading recommendations go, I have nothing different to recommend from last year. My favorite Thanksgiving-esque book is Home Cooking: A Writer in the Kitchen, by Laurie Colwin. It doubles as a cookbook, at least a little. And many of the recipes are perfect for this time of year. Beyond that, I…
Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson was my dad’s favorite picture book when he was a kid. (Published in 1955.) Which means it is an old picture book. It is also a classic. I was excited to see the movie in theaters this past summer, even though I don’t have kids the right…
I am ten days behind reminding you that it is time to start planning for Nanowrimo. So you better get on it. I have been deep, deep in edits, but thankfully I am going to write the second half of the novel I started last Nano in November, so I don’t have a ton of…
It is spooky season, which is what T. Kingfisher called it at the Fright Night author event I attended in September. We’re going to be hearing more about that event later. But it is spooky season. If you are one of those readers who just plows ahead in October with their usual reading and ignores…
I loved reading North Woods. Not everybody at book club did. There were even DNFs. I suppose it’s not an easy book and it is rather literary. But I thought it was exciting, very beautiful in its prose, unique, and well-executed. I will be looking into Daniel Mason’s other books and waiting for the next…
I don’t know if there is any real accounting for how much I liked this classic YA book. The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier just struck me as a very well-written book, nailing the concept and the genre on the head while also feeling fresh, even 50 years after its publication. Even though it’s kinda,…
Baking and fantasy as written by T. Kingfisher? Of course! YA. Fairy tale-style. Funny. Charming. All that. But it is Kingfisher, so there are also dead bodies strewn along the story’s path, and some scary moments, just more funny, coming-of-age things than the bodies and scares. It gets wacky. It gets introspective. And it’s written…
“Perhaps he’ll die this time. He finds this doesn’t worry him. Maybe because he’s so cold he has a drunkard’s grip on his mind. When thoughts come, they’re translucent, free-swimming medusae.” First lines of The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley. And I was hooked on her voice from the very beginning.
I would recommend that if you haven’t already, don’t read the synopses (at least the one on Goodreads) for Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar. There is just one line of explanation that—if you are very observant and have a good memory—could destroy your experience of the book. Because there is a twist of sorts, and the…
Apparently, one of the book clubs I am a part of reads Shakespeare in August—like for the past 17 years. It’s not the club I would have expected it of, exactly, but I was excited. I am a Shakespeare fan and have been since high school. Another thing: they bring in this Renaissance Literature expert/professor…
I considered a back-to-school theme for September’s what to read theme, but that stopped appealing when I thought how much no one wants to be handed more work to do at the beginning of the school year. Maybe I’ll do that next year. Instead, I’m going with a writing theme. Why? Because I am already…
I’ll bet a bunch of you kinda know where this is going with the title that I gave this blog. I see you. The thing is, I have a conference coming up at the end of October. I also have the opportunity to hit up some beta readers in October. And the conference has pitches…
I keep coming back in my mind to reading Hamnet in February. I hadn’t read Maggie O’Farrell before, and I was so impressed I was just waiting to come back to her. The Marriage Portrait—her newest book, from 2022—was my chance. While it did not disappoint, I ended up liking Hamnet better, but only because…
After an adulthood avoiding Kurt Vonnegut, I finally read Cat’s Cradle. I immediately wondered what had been wrong with me to avoid Vonnegut. Cat’s Cradle is written in clear, straightforward prose with short, snappy sentences and paragraphs. It’s a little strange and the science fiction part of it is just a little science-y and a…
I have never felt such strong emotion in both of two opposite directions as I did while reading Radiance by Catherynne M. Valente. I am not alone in either hating or strongly admiring this book, and I even found another reader who felt exactly as I did: I hated the book for a good long…
When a vote was taken at my YA-for-adults book club regarding If I See You Again Tomorrow by Robbie Couch, there was not one person who didn’t like it. It was about half-and-half people who liked it and people who found it “middling.” I was probably somewhere between these two positions, but I raised my…
