Hello fiction, my old friend.  After my bad experience with the last book I tried to read, the last 24 hours have been a literary delight. I am reading Scream for Me by Karen Rose.  It has reminded me that all is right with the world.  Good fiction is still good fiction.This particular novel is... Continue Reading →

This almost never happens.  I couldn't make myself finish a book that I had started.I heard that gasp of shock and despair.  Breaking the Spell may have had a point.  Honestly, I'm not sure.  I found myself 150+ pages into the book with no clue what I supposed to be getting out of it.  I... Continue Reading →

The book I'm in the middle of, Breaking the Spell (see yesterday's post), was written by a philosopher.  Today, I am the philosopher.  My task is to write a one-page statement of my teaching philosophy.It sounds like a remarkably simple task.  My goal after all is simple, for my students to learn stuff.  In reality, putting... Continue Reading →

I finished The Last Olympian.  Hope, the only item left in Pandora's box (not a box), was the key to the novel.  The temptation to release hope led Percy to leave it with Hestia (goddess of the hearth) to keep hope safe at home.  Then Percy had to get the gods to realize what made home... Continue Reading →

Two-thirds of the way through The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan.   This is the final book in the Percy Jackson series.  I find myself reading the book with great sadness and a good dose of disgust.  I blame it on the movies The Lightning Thief.That movie screwed up really bad.  Percy was five years too... Continue Reading →

3/4's of the way through Affair by Amanda Quick.  Yes, it is exactly what it sounds like.  A romance novel.  Set in Regency England, to be precise.  Sometimes I read things because they are "good for me."  Sometimes I read things purely for entertainment.  I am not a literary snob, fluff has its purpose!A lot... Continue Reading →

I finished Chains last night.  Much to my dismay, the story did not come to any sort of resolution.  The last page of the book was a notice that the story would be continued in another novel.  Pet peeve alert:  please indicate somewhere on the cover that this is part one of a series.  So... Continue Reading →

In Chains, our heroine (Isabel) is watching her owner get ready for a formal dinner party.  Mrs. Lockton uses glue to attach strips of mouse fur to her brows to get the full, bushy look.  Seriously?!Now, I know Anderson often sets her novels in historical periods.  And I have the utmost confidence in her research,... Continue Reading →

I finally finished Cry to Heaven.   Still not sure if I liked it or not.  I'm about halfway through Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson.   This is a YA novel set in 1776 in New York.  A young slave is trying to thwart a planned assassination of Washington.  What's interesting is that her motivation is totally... Continue Reading →

So in the last 24 hours, the only things I have read are instructions.  On the fun side, Harry Potter Scene It!  It's been so long since we've played this particular game that I couldn't remember how.  So long that the kid who was too young to even read the questions for the game now... Continue Reading →