In 1996, Jon Krakauer attempted to climb Mt. Everest as part of a guided group for a writing assignment for Outside magazine. An experienced climber in the hands of a reputable group of guides, he didn’t really foresee any problems. Go, climb the mountain, hope conditions allowed them to reach the summit, go home, write […]
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. Over the past two weeks, I’ve Read: The History of Love by Nicole Krauss–So many people whose opinion I respect have loved this book, I expected to love it too. Unfortunately, I didn’t. 3 stars. M is for Magic by Neil Gaiman […]
“When had I a choice to be other than I was?” So begins this fictional autobiography of Alice Perrars’ life. And that’s about where I stopped caring overly much. That’s harsher than I mean to be, because the book was okay, but I have very, very little tolerance for excuses. And this was a running […]
When Janet Elder was diagnosed with breast cancer, she and her husband promised their twelve-year-old son Michael that they would get him a puppy as soon as she was better. They realized that life is too short to deny their son something he so desperately wanted, but they also knew that she would be in […]
I don’t even know where to start with a synopsis for this book, so I’ll just skip that. I have a feeling that the reason I’m not giving this book 5 stars shows more about what I’m lacking than about what the book is lacking. I felt myself on the verge of a huge epiphany […]
Don’t you just love larger-than-life characters? The ones who jump off the page and grab you? Whether you love them or hate them, you can’t be indifferent to them. I would love to know about the characters who just won’t leave you! Most of you will probably post about how much you love (or loathe) […]
I pulled this out of its mailer and my husband took one look and said, “Oh, crap. You’re going to have a tattoo soon, aren’t you?” I was a little hesitant to open it for fear of that very thing myself. I don’t have anything against tattoos on other people, they just aren’t for me. […]
Rita Lurie is a Holocaust survivor. Her story is remarkably similar to Anne Frank’s. She hid in an attic in Poland for two years at the very end of WWII. Her family’s hiding place was nowhere near as carefully-planned as the Frank family’s though. They fled Nazi soldiers in the night and eventually found a […]
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. Over the past two weeks, I’ve Read: Fortune’s Fool by Mercedes Lackey–This is another fun installment in the Five Hundred Kingdoms fairy tale series Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer–Very intense, very readable non-fiction The Roar by Emma Clayton–Fast-paced dystopian sci-fi for […]
I didn’t think I was going to be doing anymore challenges, but I keep thinking about these two, so I’ve decided it’s just time to sign up and get them out of my system! Colleen at Books in the City is hosting an Immigrant Stories Challenge. I’m signing up for the Just Off the Boat […]
Princess Andromeda feels like she can’t do anything right. Her mother, Queen Cassiopeia, always seems to be disappointed in Andie’s appearance and her tendency to have her nose in a book. Finally, Andie finds a way to prove her value as a researcher to her mother–just in time to help try to discover a way […]