Archive for September, 2009
« Previous EntriesDrinking Problems at the Fountain of Youth
Submitted by The Thin Red Line
Drinking Problems at the Fountain of Youth by Beth Teitell is a funny, scathingly accurate portrait of the pressures on “women of a certain age” to look younger than they really are. Ms. Teitell talks about the various tricks, expensive cosmetics and surgical procedures, and many other things in an [...]
Sunday Salon: Double Booking
Submitted by Book Nut
Look at me: participating in Sunday Salon!
It’s a dual thing this morning… a response in Suey’s recommendation that I blather more and a column in this morning’s paper about reading only one novel at a time. The author, Lisa McLendon, wrote about how she finds it difficult to read multiple books, commenting:
Confusion [...]
My Life in Pink and Green
Submitted by Book Nut
by Lisa Greenwald
ages: 10+
First sentence: “Things can always be worse.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
This looks like a very girly book. Pink background, face mask (or is it masque?), cucumber slices: you think it’s going to be frills and parties and giggles.
Except, it’s not.
Sure, Lucy Desberg loves makeup, and wants [...]
The Conch Bearer
Submitted by Book Nut
by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
ages: 10+
First sentence: ” Anand shivered as he carried a heavy load of dirty dishes from the tea stall to the roadside tap for washing.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Once, Anand had everything he thought his heart could desire. He went to school, his family was happy [...]
The Princess and the Bear
Submitted by Book Nut
by Mette Ivie Harrison
ages: 12+
First sentence: “Long ago, there lived a wild cat that was the sleekest, fastest, and bravest of its kind.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
One of the things I like best about sequels and series, especially in fantasy books, is getting to visit the world the author [...]
Our Daily Meds : How the Pharmaceutical Companies Transformed Themselves Into Slick Marketing Machines and Hooked the Nation on Prescription Drugs
Submitted by The Thin Red Line
Our Daily Meds : How the Pharmaceutical Companies Transformed Themselves into Slick Marketing Machines and Hooked the Nation on Prescription Drugs by Melody Peterson is an interesting book. As some of you may know, I was an ICU nurse for 26 years before becoming crippled in 2001 by an attack [...]
Library Loot #37
Submitted by Book Nut
I’m starting to think I need to be more like Amanda, and ban myself from checking out books. It would make me sad, but I really can’t read them all. Why do I think I can?
For A/K:
Hobbledy-Clop, by Pat Brisson/Illus. by Maxie Chambliss
His Royal Buckliness, by Kevin Hawkes
A Visitor for Bear, by [...]
Great Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe
Submitted by Book Nut
by… um… Edgar Allan Poe
ages: 13+
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
I saw this on display at the library, it having been chosen as the Big Read Wichita book for October and November. Not having read any Poe since Junior High/High School when I went through a morbid kick where he [...]
The Shameless Carnivore : A Manifesto for Meat Lovers
Submitted by The Thin Red Line
The Shameless Carnivore : A Manifesto for Meat Lovers by Scott Gold is an interesting book that is sure to spark much discussion with family, friends, and co-workers. Mr. Gold’s main point is that people should eat or not eat what they choose but should not try to force their [...]
Kidlit Mania
Submitted by Book Nut
First off: Just a reminder (you’ll be getting a lot of these in the next week), that the Cybils are coming! The nominations for the various categories — from non-fiction picture books through to YA fiction — will be open on October 1st. Anyone can nominate one book in any (or all!) [...]
Willow
Submitted by Book Nut
by Julia Hoban
ages: 14+
First sentence: “Maybe it’s just a scratch.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
As it turns out, Heather, Kailana and I all read this book within weeks (days?) of each other, which we realized thanks to Twitter. I had such a grand time doing a buddy review with Kailana, [...]
A Finder’s Magic
Submitted by Book Nut
by Philippa Pearce/Illus. by Helen Craig
ages: 8 to 10
First sentence: “There was a boy who went to bed in despair.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Some books are fun and exciting and adventuresome. Some books lure you in with flashy covers, or great blurbs, and keep you there with engaging characters [...]
The Shameless Carnivore : A Manifesto for Meat Lovers
Submitted by The Thin Red Line
The Shameless Carnivore : A Manifesto for Meat Lovers by Scott Gold is an interesting book that is sure to spark much discussion with family, friends, and co-workers. Mr. Gold’s main point is that people should eat or not eat what they choose but should not try to force their [...]
Why Manners Matter:The Case For Civilized Behavior in a Barbarous World
Submitted by The Thin Red Line
Why Manners Matter:The Case For Civilized Behavior in a Barbarous World by Lucinda Holdforth is a very interesting book. As I am myself a lifelong Miss Manners devotee, I found the book to bring further updates to the modern world.Which is in need of more mannerly behavior than ever I [...]
Review: Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson
Submitted by BOOKS ON THE BRAIN
Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson explores the darkest recesses of the troubled mind of a teenage anorexic coping with the death of her best friend. For a mother of young girls, this was a most terrifying reading experience.
Lia and Cassie were best friends growing up, making a dangerous pact to [...]
Dreaming Anastasia
Submitted by Book Nut
by Joy Preble
ages: 12+
First sentence: “I didn’t always dream about my family.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Review copy sent to me by the publisher.
Dreams are funny things.
They’re often just manifestations of stress or hopes or fears. But, what if they were real? What if what you dreamed really happened… or [...]
From Cover to Cover
Submitted by Book Nut
Evaluating and Reviewing Children’s books
by Kathleen T. Horning
ages: adult (I’m sure teens could read it, if they’re interested).
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
I think it was Liz who mentioned this book in passing, though the title immediately intrigued me. Lucky me: the library had a copy, so I stuck it [...]
In Which I Attempt Cake
Submitted by Book Nut
And spectacularly fail.
Life lesson #135: sometimes, even when the recipe is from Bon Apetit, and even when you think you know what the heck you’re doing, all you end up with is cake mush.
The cake wasn’t strong enough to hold the weight of whatever it was I was supposed to do… and [...]
My Bloggy Goals
Submitted by Book Nut
Today’s BBAW question is a tough one for me:
Write in 50 words or less…what do you like best about your blog right now and where would you like your blog to be a year from now?
I have never been about bloggy goals. I get on, I write my reviews (and whatever else [...]
Why Manners Matter:The Case For Civilized Behavior in a Barbarous World
Submitted by The Thin Red Line
Why Manners Matter:The Case For Civilized Behavior in a Barbarous World by Lucinda Holdforth is a very interesting book. As I am myself a lifelong Miss Manners devotee, I found the book to bring further updates to the modern world.Which is in need of more mannerly behavior than ever I [...]
In the Midst of BBAW
Submitted by Book Nut
I happen to be having a birthday. And, in honor of that, I’m giving you another 25 things about me! (Because, you know that’s exactly what you wanted on my birthday!)
1. You all know I read and write. But what else do I do with my time?
2. I have dabbled with: cross-stitching, [...]
Book Recommendations
Submitted by Book Nut
Today’s BBAW topic:
Today we encourage you to blog about a book you read only because you discovered it on another book blog. Preferably, this will be a book you loved! You might also write a bit about the blog you discovered it on!
I get the books I read one of three ways, [...]
The Moonstone
Submitted by Book Nut
by Wilkie Collins
ages: adult
First sentence: “I address these lines — written in India — to my relatives in England.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Ten things about this classic mystery:
1. Basic plot summary: sacred diamond taken from India, gets bequeathed to flighty high-class (Victorian) girl, gets stolen same night. Who done [...]
Twilight of Avalon
Submitted by Book Nut
by Anna Elliott
ages: adult
First sentence: “So I say to call the visions into the scrying bowl.”
Support your local bookstore: buy it there!
When the lovely Kailana and I discovered we were both reading this book, we thought it would be fun to do a buddy review. Below are some questions she asked me [...]
1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
Submitted by The Thin Red Line
1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die edited by Steven Jay Schnider is a large, fairly complete compendium of highly regarded movies. Some foreign and some American. I’m already family with about three quarters of the movies in the volume. And from the decripions want to see a whole [...]
