RSS Feed- My guest Beth and Gone With The Wind
- Fairy tales and retold fables
- A Confusion of Princes
- The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict
- The Fault in Our Stars
- The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother
- How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming
- The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
- Books I’ve devoured
- For the love of books
08Apr2011
Co-review: The Total Money Makeover
Dave Ramsey is a radio talk show host, an author and a finance expert. He's made millions by telling people how to get out of debt and save for the future. If you haven't heard of him, I am shocked. I've never listened to his radio show or read a book of his until recently, but I knew who he is. He has a handful of books about finances, starting with Financial Peace, and each one is guidan
Keep readingView Comments (4)19Mar2011
Co-review: Best and Worst of 2010
I know what you're thinking. "2010? Are you serious?" Yes, yes I am. Just because we just celebrated St. Patrick's Day doesn't mean we can't take a little time to look back and reminisce at 2010, does it? Okay, really, I had planned to do this post three months ago. But I'm pretty sure the content won't change just because it's late. Remember that this list only includes books we rea
Keep readingView Comments (6)27Dec2010
Co-review: The Book Thief
If you're going to read a book about the Holocaust and WWII, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is a pretty good choice. Stories from that time period have been told over and over again, but Zusak makes it new through the unique perspective of Death, the narrator. Death is fascinated with a young German girl, Liesel Meminger, after having encountered her three times, the first being when her broth
Keep readingView Comments (3)30Sep2010
Co-review: Stargirl
Back in May, I wrote a post about the Top 100 Children's Novels poll that was done by the School Library Journal blog. Going through the list is fascinating and I've often gone back to look for books for my children. Caren suggested we pick a book from the list for a co-review, so we narrowed it down to #61, Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli. We tried to find a book that was closer to the top of
Keep readingView Comments (4)31Jul2010
Co-review: Beatrice and Virgil
It has been seven years since Yann Martel's unforgettable first novel was published. (And if you haven't read Life of Pi, stop what you're doing right now and request it from your local library.) His second novel, Beatrice and Virgil, is much shorter in length and thinner in plot and character development. Any reader of Life of Pi will be on the lookout for allegory and symbolism, and Martel
Keep readingView Comments (1)30Jun2010
Co-review: The Weed that Strings the Hangman’s Bag
Caren and I both loved Alan Bradley's book The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie and decided, since we're on a sequels kick for co-reviews these days, that we would do one for his next book. The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag is another tale of mystery and murder with Flavia de Luce, chemist, poisons expert, detective, adventurer, clever liar, and not-quite-eleven-year-old. This time s
Keep readingView Comments (2)30Apr2010
Co-review: About A Boy
We weren't supposed to read About A Boy by Nick Hornby for our co-review this month. We were supposed to read How To Be Good by Nick Hornby, but Caren's library system had a computer meltdown and couldn't get a hold of it, or find out if they had it. They did have About A Boy on the shelves so she picked that up instead and I requested a copy for myself. It wasn't what I had pick
Keep readingView Comments (1)24Mar2010
Co-review: As Simple As Snow
Gregory Galloway's first novel, As Simple As Snow, has a deceptive title. There is nothing simple about either the story or it's characters, and the title itself comes to have multiple meanings by the time the novel is finished.Galloway's approach is unconventional in many respects. The story is told as a first person narrative, but we are never given the narrator's name. In fact, his name is c
Keep readingView Comments (2)27Feb2010
Co-Review: Wuthering Heights
Emily Bronte's book Wuthering Heights is considered a classic in English literature. It takes place in the English moors, with most of the action between the two great houses Thrushcross Grange and Wuthering Heights. The narration is interesting in that it's told by Mr. Lockwood, who is renting in one of the homes. He wants to know the turbulent history of the strange man Heathcliff that owns t
Keep readingView Comments (2)31Dec2009
Co-review: 2009 Best and Worst
Happy New Year! But before we move on to 2010, let's take a look back at 2009. For December's co-review Jenny and I decided to share the best and worst books we read in 2009. Keep in mind that these are not necessarily books that were published in 2009, but rather were read for the first time that year.Caren's List of Favorite Reads:I had quite the battle trying to decide which books should mak
Keep readingView Comments (1)