If you'd been here yesterday, you would have read a different post. We would have been listening to Burt Bacharach tunes and I'd have bored you with dim memories of my early childhood, listening to my parents play songs like "Wishin' and Hopin'" and "Walk On By" in a Pennsylvania living room. Also the snow… Continue reading Reading Challenge month 14 ~ A book by a female author
Category: Reading Challenge
Reading Challenge month 13 ~ A mystery or thriller
Hello. MM here, stepping in to write this month's summary of the Reading Challenge. This month's selection was A Mystery or Thriller, perhaps partly because of our schedule: it was a dark and stormy end of the semester and finals were on the horizon, and H. is a happy and well-versed fan of Ngaio Marsh—in… Continue reading Reading Challenge month 13 ~ A mystery or thriller
Reading Challenge month 12 ~ A funny book
Writing a funny book has to be one of the most difficult tasks a person can undertake. Maybe it's just me, but when was the last time that a book made you laugh out loud? (I'm talking about a book that intended to make you laugh; I laughed while reading a few books lately that… Continue reading Reading Challenge month 12 ~ A funny book
Reading Challenge month 11 – A play
I don't know why this post is so late because I read my play weeks ago and so there's no good excuse for the delay. I can't blame Hanukkah, which passed quietly and beautifully, with friends, with latkes, with brisket, with the growing glow every night, the plastic blue dreidel hidden in a new spot… Continue reading Reading Challenge month 11 – A play
Reading Challenge month 10 ~ A book of short stories
Technically, yes, If on a winter's night a traveler is a novel. But it's a novel stitched together from 10 distinct stories, beginnings of other novels, interleaved with a narrative—humorous, experimental, mysterious, and at times confounding—that's meant as a scaffold to support the whole. So let's call them short stories and, besides, who's going to… Continue reading Reading Challenge month 10 ~ A book of short stories
Reading Challenge month 9 ~ A graphic novel
I first heard of Nimona when M told H about this web comic that she might like about a shape shifting girl and two scientist-knights. But I didn't give Nimona much thought. Not then. Each Thursday, when a fresh panel was released online, H and M would talk it over in excited tones, wondering what would… Continue reading Reading Challenge month 9 ~ A graphic novel
Reading Challenge month 8 ~ A book based on a true story
Here it is the 14th and I'm supposed to be writing my thoughts about this month's book (which, truthfully, I haven't finished, though I am enjoying it), but I find myself distracted and impatient—and now days late. You know how it goes. I started with thoughts of Queen Elizabeth II, who last week passed Victoria's… Continue reading Reading Challenge month 8 ~ A book based on a true story
Reading Challenge month 7 ~ A book based entirely on its cover
Maybe it was the title. Maybe it was the background colors. Maybe it was the way the title appeared in a doubled, hurried font. I can't explain it, but I kept seeing this book's cover and I couldn't get it out of my mind. It's strange, isn't it? The artwork, such as it is, is mostly… Continue reading Reading Challenge month 7 ~ A book based entirely on its cover
Reading Challenge month 6 ~ A book your mom loves
Stumped, I tell you. I was stumped. Mom loved to read. We all did. That was plain as day. My growing up houses had overflowing bookshelves and stacks of reading material on kitchen counter tops, desks, and bed side tables. Mom always had a half-devoured book by her chair and a to-be-read shelf in the… Continue reading Reading Challenge month 6 ~ A book your mom loves