I picked up an audio version of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children on a whim last week when I was leaving for a long bike ride. It came out in 2011 and never appealed to me, but the title was one I’d heard of in a sea of unfamiliar books, so I gave it […]
King of Malorn, by Annie Douglass Lima
A couple weeks ago, I promised you three reviews over the next three weeks. Well, uh, I switched web hosts and can’t seem to figure out the new scheduler. Last week’s post is still sitting in my draft folder. Sigh. I’ll try again. In the meantime, I’ll publish this week’s manually. I’ve highlighted Annie Douglass […]
OFFENDER, by Michael Brooks
I want to share with you a book for which I had the privilege of being an advanced reader. It just released in early June and is being offered at a discounted price for a limited time. I believe that’s through the end of June, which is why I didn’t wait a full week to […]
Joss the Seven (Guild of Seven, 1), by J. Philip Horne, 2016
Here is an example of self-publishing at its finest. J. Philip Horne has a natural ability to craft a story, his prose flows smooth as fresh cream, and he’s taken great care with the editing process. That’s a superb beginning. Kudos, Mr. Horne!! So…how about the story? Joss the Seven opens on Joss’s last day […]
Princess Academy, Shannon Hale, 2005
At the end of January, my husband and I decided our kids were old enough to take care of themselves for a week (the oldest is in college, the youngest in middle school), and we hit the Colorado slopes for the first time in two decades. It was a fantastic trip. We traveled […]
The Nameless Soldier
Once upon a time I posted many, many book reviews on here. I’ve gotten away from that due to writing time constraints, but there are a few middle grade series I do like to keep on top of. I’ve got one I’d like to highlight for you today. Perhaps five or six years ago, one […]
Carry On, Mr. Bowditch, by Jean Lee Latham, 1955
One of my favorite things as a reader is to find an aging book that has worn well. That is certainly the case for this 1956 Newbery winner. It tells the life story of historical figure Nathaniel Bowditch. Bowditch spent most of his life in the seaport of Salem, Massachusetts. He was only two years old […]
M. C. Higgins the Great, by Virginia Hamilton
This book wasn’t my favorite, but I want to review it because it won the Newbery in 1975, and as many of you know, I’m on a (long, slow) quest to read all the Newbery winners. It also won the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award and the National Book Award and became the only book to […]
Cold Mountain, by Charles Frazier
I’ve wanted to read Cold Mountain for a while, but I waited until I was finished with my Ella Wood trilogy so it wouldn’t be influenced by other works of Civil War fiction. Since I’m no longer concentrating solely on middle grade or young adult literature, I thought I’d throw it out here. It is the […]
Wonder, by R. J. Palacio
I’ve seen this book everywhere in recent years, with scads of glowing reviews, yet I’ve purposefully avoided it. I can only handle so many of the “social issues” books that are so popular these days. Even the better ones are usually too touchy-feely for my tastes, sometimes at the expense of a solid story. I […]