How do you handle books where you don’t identify with the characters at all? I’ve been stuck in two books the last two weeks, both of which I enjoyed but neither of which I devoured because I could not relate to the plight or the conflict or any of the drama. With Loving Frank, I [...]
Entries Tagged as ‘Uncategorized’
June 9, 2010
Summer Reading Challenge
After my initial irritation that I waited so long to read The Secret Life of Bees, I am going to challenge myself this summer to read 3 books that have been on my to-read list for longer than a year. In years past I’ve used my ABC Challenge as a more focused way to get through [...]
May 9, 2010
Bookstore Spotlight – The Book Loft
There is a hometown favorite here, The Book Loft, that takes up the length of an entire city block and is 32 rooms of awesome. In historic German Village, this book store is like no other. They will never have a Starbucks. My college friend Melissa was in town for business this weekend and stayed [...]
April 28, 2010
Review – Curtains
Tom Jokinen reminds us all that the funeral business is a business. Though not as scientific or in-depth as Mary Roach’s Stiff, Curtains outlines Jokinen’s foray into the death industry as he navigates traditional rituals, the cultural aspect of burial & cremation, and what exactly forever entails. Not terribly morbid or off-putting, I enjoyed Jokinen’s [...]
April 25, 2010
Mecca
About a million years ago, my friend Katie invited me to the Dayton Library Book sale. They don’t host it often, but every year the libraries clean off their shelves and sell paperbacks for $0.25 and hardcovers for $0.50. I don’t buy books for a few reasons, the first being purely selfish that library deadlines [...]
April 13, 2010
Review – The Art of Racing in the Rain
Wow. Just…wow. Garth Stein spoke to my inner dog lover and I cherished every minute of this fantastic novel. My heart absolutely ached from all the sadness. Most novels involving dogs are depressing at the end – naturally, when the dog (always) dies. But this one was different because there was tragedy in Denny’s life [...]
April 8, 2010
100
I can’t believe it’s time for my 100th post here. I started this blog last July in the hopes I would read and write more thoughtfully. I had been out and about in the book blog world and was not thrilled with spoiler-ridden plot summaries. As happens with many endeavors in life, if you can’t [...]
March 17, 2010
Bookish
I love bookstore type gifts. We dogsat this past week for some marathon runner friends of ours who were headed to Catalina for a race. As always, Annie was a saint. Well, except for that half bag of dog treats she devoured out of the pantry. I won’t hold it against her for being a [...]
March 2, 2010
Review – The World to Come
I love books that take a real life event and spin a fantastic story around it. The World to Come is like a dream, and the book itself very much mimicked a dream. Some parts were lucid, others are confused and scattered. The plot weaves among characters, and I occasionally struggled with the sections highlighting characters I [...]
December 31, 2009
2010 ABC Author Challenge Preview
Here it is – my 2010 ABC Author Challenge list. As with my 2009 Challenge, I reserve the right to switch out a letter or two. My no audios rule remains in effect, however. Atwood, Margaret – The Handmaid’s Tale Blume, Judy – Summer Sisters Collins, Suzanne – Catching Fire Diamant, Anita – The Red [...]
