Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Wednesday, August 25th, 2010
Hey, college freshmen to be--if you've read all the worthy tomes that were suggested for your summer reading, or if you haven't opened one of them, here's a suggestion for a great introduction to college life, fantasy style: The Magicians by Lev Grossman. Miserable in high school, Quentin Coldwater is ...
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Friday, July 23rd, 2010
I'm not particularly fond of books about vampires or zombies, but I have to admit the Summer Reading List put together by NPR's Glen Weldon has me thinking that some of these titles might be a fun reading experience. Teenage mutants, the Beatles as zombies, and 'squidnapping' are just ...
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Friday, June 11th, 2010
I love to get recommendations from friends and colleagues for my next good book to read and am less likely to trust recommendations from other sources. However, the last novel I read and enjoyed came to my attention through our library's new service--the NextReads Newsletters (click here to sign up). The ...
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Wednesday, May 26th, 2010
Many mystery series over the past couple of decades have become theme oriented. The Betsy Devonshire series by Monica Ferris features the owner of a needlecraft shop. While cooking themed mysteries usually contain a recipe or two (think Joanna Fluke's Hannah Swensen series) Ferris's cozies always include the directions for ...
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Wednesday, April 28th, 2010
Despite what you might think from many currently popular novels and movies, love is not just for the young themselves, but also for the young at heart. Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson is one of my favorite new books which features a mature romance. Major Pettigrew, a widower, ...
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Wednesday, March 31st, 2010
Spokane's annual spring literary festival features appearances this year by the authors of two of my favorite recently read novels. Jess Walter's The Financial Lives of the Poets gave me lots of laughs, although it is not strictly a humorous novel. A 40ish Spokane man's life comes unglued, partly from ...
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Friday, March 12th, 2010
One of my favorite fantasy authors, Robin Hobb, has just published the first book in a new trilogy. Dragon Keeper begins with the hatching of the rescued sea serpents which the great blue dragon, Tintaglia, led up to their hatching grounds. Unfortunately, the dragons which emerge are not the magnificent ...
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Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010
A celebration of the beloved American classic, To Kill a Mockingbird, begins this month and continues through the middle of March at area libraries, universities and community venues. I've been recording the book this past month to be broadcast on the Bookshelf, a program of KPBX radio in Spokane. This ...
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Friday, December 18th, 2009
Jess Walter's latest, The Financial Lives of the Poets, was picked by Time Magazine's editorial staff as #2 in its list of the ten best fiction books of 2009. There are lots of people right now who are waiting for a library copy of this particular book, but in the ...
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Thursday, November 19th, 2009
This year's winners of the National Book Awards were announced on November 18th. The choice for fiction, Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann, is one of my favorite books from this year's reading, and I was thrilled to find out this morning that it had won this prestigious ...
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