writer at play
Posted in kids at play, picture books on Jul 31st, 2009
A list of our favorite picture books about globe-trotting and different cultures: How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World by Marjorie Priceman: This whimsical book chronicles a global quest for the finest ingredients for an apple pie. We like it especially because it includes a stop in Vermont for apples. Great to [...]
Alma Alexander’s post on reviewing writers (as in, writers who review other writers’ books, not the reviewing OF writers) popped up in my RSS feed as I was putting together my June reading roundup. It was timely because I always get this squeamish feeling before posting up reviews that are less than glowing. I like [...]
Posted in Uncategorized, reading, reviews on Jun 12th, 2009
My May reads: Graceling Kristin Cashore Eon: Dragoneye Reborn Alison Goodman The Trouble with Boys Peg Tyre The First Year of Homeschooling Your Child Linda Dobson Graceling and Eon were similar in many ways–long YA fantasy with female protagonists in traditionally male roles, dealing with the double-edged sword of their own powers. I’m hard-pressed to [...]
The reviews of the new Star Trek movie are starting to hit my Google Reader, and they’re quite negative (plot spoilers!). Glad I didn’t waste my birthday/Mother’s Day weekend sitting through 2 hours of that. I took a nap instead. Reading those reviews, though, have made me crave some space opera. I haven’t read anything [...]
All the Windwracked Stars by Elizabeth Bear American Creation by Joseph Ellis Snow by Maxence Fermine The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman I’m a little reluctant to admit that I had never read a book by Elizabth Bear or Neil Gaiman until last month. I expected them both to be fine writers, and I was [...]
I finished A Suitable Boy early in March. Immense and sprawling, this book meandered from storyline to storyline, rich in detail, at some points suffocatingly so. While the descriptions of Hindu rituals and customs were fascinating to me, the pages devoted to political speeches and legalese were not and I had no qualms about skimming [...]
In January I read: A Reason for God (Timothy Keller) Physik (Angie Sage) Queste (Angie Sage) The Mysterious Benedict Society & the Perilous Journey (Trenton Lee Stewart) Your Child’s Growing Mind (Jane Healy) Cod: a biography of the fish that changed the world (Mark Kurlansky) Mister Monday (Garth Nix) Grim Tuesday (Garth Nix) Hmm, I [...]
Posted in creativity, kids at play, reviews on Nov 12th, 2008
You may have already noticed that we do a lot of messy art projects around here, involving glue (sticky!), paint (staining!) and scissors (risky!). I am also far too ready to display the kids’ creations on the blog and on my walls (you should see my living room–it displays everything from the Husband’s cross-stitch, to [...]
Reading Sherwood Smith’s The Fox, sequel to Inda, that’s what. Here’s another reason why I’m reading so much more non-fiction these days: non-fiction is a lot easier to put down than a really good novel is. Non-fiction does not have me staying up past midnight, or have me pick reading over ensuring that everyone has [...]