The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore William Joyce I really have no need to browse children’s books anymore, but long ago in a life far away, I did work in a children’s bookstore–and sighed over more powerfully sweet stories and gorgeous illustrations than I can remember. So as my daughter and I were leaving …
Blind SightMeg Howry Luke Prescott’s life is pretty standard for an average middle class seventeen-year-old in small town Delaware–he’s a successful high school athlete, working on college admission essays; he has a small group of close friend and a part-time girl friend. His single mom and grandma have raised Luke and his two sisters; his …
Caleb’s Crossing Geraldine Brooks Caleb was a hero, there is no doubt of it. He ventured forth from one world to another with an explorer’s courage, armored by the hope that he could serve his people. He stood shoulder to shoulder with the most learned of his day, ready to take his place as a man of …
Elizabeth IMargaret George The imperial votaress passed on, in maiden meditation, fancy-free. ~ William Shakespreare I felt a close kinship with many of those who surrounded Elizabeth during her long reign. Like those whose lives were held in check by her capricious iron will, who waited long years for overdue titles and positions at court, …
Age of MiraclesKaren Thompson Walker My bookstore friend had a book for me–“imaginative premise”, she said, “I dreamt about it all night.” Then the suggestion that I just might want to consider it as a read-aloud for my classes. And she was right. Even the New Yorker raved about this debut novel in their August 6 issue, saying …
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children Ransom Riggs Peculiar traits often skip a generation, or ten. Peculiar children are not always, or even usually, born to peculiar parents, and peculiar parents do do always, or even usually, bear peculiar children. Can you imagine, in a world so afraid of otherness, why this would be a danger to …
The Distant Hours Kate Morton “… stories are everywhere. That’s all writing is, apparently, capturing sights and thoughts on paper. Spinning, like a spider does, but using words to make the pattern.” As soon as Edie Burchill confessed she kept a copy of Jane Eyre in her bag should she “need to queue unexpectedly” I …
A Red Herring Without Mustard Alan Bradley I have a real problem with mysteries. I don’t like them. Add to that the fact that I’m an Anglophile and my problem gets curiouser and curiouser–for who does mysteries better than the British? Miss Marple? No thank you. Poirot? I’ll pass. Sherlock Holmes? Not so much. And I …
The Watery Part of the WorldMichael Parker “Whaley said to her sister, ‘Maggie, I’m sorry all these years I never acted like I love you but I do,’ and her sister didn’t say anything just made that hush sound with the s’s streaming out of her mouth like water lapping the beach at night … …
The IlluminationKevin Brockmeier There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in. ~ Leonard Cohen Kevin Brockmeier creates a very believable world where every hurt–from hangnail to heart attack–shines with some sort of light, either shimmering, pulsing, flickering, blinding. At the very outset of the Illumination, as it was almost immediately called, …
This is my symphony 