The Clarice Bean trilogy by Lauren Child, published from 1999-2006. The series includes, in order, Utterly Me Clarice Bean, Clarice Bean Spells Trouble, and Clarice Bean Don’t Look Now. There are three more books related to the series, but they are picture books and I did not read them. Best I can decipher, Child started…
Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte, published in 1847. I read the Barnes & Noble Classics edition, because it was given to me for free, but I did not read much of the front matter. Jane Eyre is a Western classic, easily on any list of top 100 novels of all time. Part of what makes…
Secrets of Ebook Publishing Success and Smashwords Book Marketing Guide, by Mark Coker. Both of these are free ebooks. Mark Coker is the founder and current head guy at Smashwords. He started Smashwords when he and his wife had written the book Boob Tube, but–despite obvious promise–could not get an editor interested enough to publish…
The Ender Quartet, by Orson Scott Card, which includes Ender’s Game, Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, and Children of the Mind, and was published by Tor between 1985 and 1996. There are plenty of other series-related materials, which I did not read. I figured 1,668 pages was enough. In fact, 706 pages might have been…
Who Could That Be at This Hour?, the first book in Lemony Snicket’s four-part All the Wrong Questions series which acts as the prequel for the A Series of Unfortunate Events series. Published 2012 by Little, Brown and Company and illustrated by Seth. Normally, I would wait until I had read all the books in…
The Sisters Grimm series by Michael Buckley, published from 20015-2012 by Amulet Books and illustrated by Peter Ferguson. The entire award-winning, New York Times Best-selling series: The Fairy-Tale Detectives The Unusual Suspects The Problem Child Once Upon a Crime Magic and Other Misdemeanors Tales From the Hood The Everafter War The Inside Story The Council…
Parade’s End, by Ford Madox Ford. First published as a series of books, Some Do Not…, No More Parades, A Man Could Stand Up–, and The Last Post, in the 1920s. I read the Vintage edition of all four stories together, published in 1950/1978. All authors have their overused words. For Rowling in the Potter…
The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers, third edition. Written by Christopher Vogler and based on the works of Joseph Campbell. Third edition published in 2007 by Sheridan Books. I read this book for work. I am a novelist, so I had to self-edit as I went, since it is written with a strong bent…
A Night to Remember, by Walter Lord, was published in the 1950s but reissued by Holt Paperbacks in 1994. This book is not on my compiled list of best books of the world (which lists more than 1200 titles). However, it is a sort of classic, and my daughter picked it out of a lineup…
I am a Harry Potter fan. (To see my review of the series, see here.) I was as curious as anyone about what Rowling would do after such astounding success and fame, and was happy to hear that there was a book on the way. I was as dubious as anyone when she announced it…
Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy, the translation by Joel Carmichael published by Bantam Books in 1981. The original was published in 1877. This is a solid book. It’s one of those real classics that fully deserves to be a classic. And, amazingly, it’s pretty great reading for the modern reader, as well. You do get…
In February, I joined something like 10,000 authors entering the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards contest. I did it with some reservations, because really I love self-publishing so much I am reluctant about a contract with anyone. However, a pay check and reader feedback–oh, and recognition–this is all important to my career. The catch with the…
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and published by Simon & Schuster in 1925. Notes and preface by Matthew J. Bruccoli. Let me just say, one of the best things about reading this book was its history in the forward. Not that I would wish this on anyone, but knowing that The Great Gatsby–widely…
We are leaving behind the Superbowl, not to mention Puxatawny Phil and our New Year’s resolutions, and are headed dead-on for Valentines Day (February 14) and the Oscars (March 2). In celebration of the Oscars and of movies in general, I am going to spend the month of February reading great books that made great…
Of course, my goal for January was to read as many of the self help books I have sitting unread on my book shelf, as I could. I never intended to post book reviews as I finished each book, since these are nowhere to be found on the “Best Books” list. That worked out fine,…
Have you managed any New Year’s Resolutions, yet? Are any of them writing-related? I, for example, have goals to write my business plan, to read and review more than 40 books, to publish two of my novels, edit another for Owl and Zebra, and win at NaNoWriMo 2014. Which brings up my first point of…
Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot: A Tragicomedy in Two Acts, 1952 by Grove Press. The play was first written in French, and translated later by the author himself. Seems everywhere I turn, “Waiting for Godot” is lauded as the height of theater in the 20th century, if not the best literature of the 20th century.…
Plays 5 (or Plays FIve), a compilation of five of Tom Stoppard plays, published by faber and faber in 1999. Also, Lord Malquist and Mr. Moon, by Tom Stoppard, from Grove Press, published first in 1966 and with an introduction in 2005. Note that I have recently reviewed Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, Stoppard’s most…
Harry Potter book series, by J. K. Rowling and published by Bloomsbury and Scholastic Inc, 1997-2007 (seven books). As many times as I have mentioned Harry Potter or J. K. Rowling, I have not officially done a review of the book series. So in honor of October, Halloween, and our recent trip to The Wizarding…
Before I get to my movie and TV reviews, I will share a few thoughts on e-books. When it comes to my Kindle, I go kicking and screaming. I really still like the actual book (as much as I still enjoy opening up a canister of new film and giving it a whiff and keep…
the starving artist 