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my pie in the sky wishlist at powells. really though, i can get more book elsewhere for cheaper so i'm all about the gift certificates! ;)
i'm not interested in making any money off of any of this, i just wanted to be able to post the book cover pictures because that's prettier and more interesting.
theoretically, i would get a comission off of any purchases through this site, but a) i'm not expecting a dime, and b) if i do get a dime, it'll go to a charity. which? not sure. if you have any ideas/inclinations, please tell me.
also, check out the following sites for (usually) cheaper prices: bookfinder.com, alibris.com, overstock.com, & bookcloseouts.com.
very very good. i’ve been carrying this book around for years now and everytime i’d pick it up, i’d put it down just as quickly. just a vague ‘um, no’, nothing more. well, yesterday it was a yes – from the bus ride in the morning till 1:30 last night. i did a lot of stuff in between of course ;) but still, a good sign of a good book.
i make no secret of loving fairy tale re-tellings, and story of tam lin has long been a favorite. it’s full of the real magic that you can easily miss in most (ahem, disney) adaptations of fairy tales. the kind that make you realize the only correct way to write Faerie is with a capital F and an ‘ae’. a really good book and one i will definitely read again.
(review written 06/29/06)
a one-night read, i was caught up in the story within twenty pages – a good sign. the characters and setting were well-thought out and quickly i started thinking this was going to be a series, since there was so much buildup to the actual action. unfortunately, i think this book suffers from what so many others do – especially those by first-time or newish authors: the ending was just way too rushed! too pat, the boy a little too mature in all the right ways, etc. all in all, a feeling that there was a certain rhythm going on that had been stopped mid-beat and us the dancers, that is, readers, are just looking around waiting for it to pick up again. ah well – still a good book, good writing, and memorable characters.
(review written 06/28/06)
i’d been keeping my eye out for this book a while now and was happy to stumble upon in it in the still-new westwood branch of l.a.p.l. – it’s funny how despite the adage, it general you can still totally judge a book by its cover. shoot, sometimes i can just tell a book will be good by the font chosen, or even just the spine standing there were so many other spines.
so yeah, good book – a little bit borrowed from the general cinderella story, enough so to make it interesting, but not enough to make it predictable. i still have some questions about the ending, but i like that – neatly tied-up endings are furstrating and unreal.
(review written 06/26/06)
an excellent excellent book. this book won the printz award, the highest award a YA (young adult) book can win – and i’m so glad it got the praise it deserves. such an original book – though i understand where some of the criticisms coming from regarding the narrator’s voice, it was a little disconcerting initially. soon enough though, i settled into it and was very happy to do so.
for a while now, i’ve been meaning to create a page of books from two of my favorite genres: dystopias and post-apocalyptic lit. don’t know why they’re my two favs, but they have been for years and years. classics like neil shute’s “on the beach” cemented it, but surprisingly there’s a whole lot of YA and kid’s books out there that fit the bill as well. anyhow, “how i live now” was really really good – highly recommended
(review written 06/23/06)
towards the end, i had the vague feeling that i’d read the book before and had forgotten about it until then. i’m still not sure – after all, it’s a fairy tale that i probably read before, and not necessarily this version by gaiman, but still a bit frustrating. a good story – i like how it bends and twists, though many parts were really predictable.
the illustrations were offputting, mostly – just not my style. but they stuck in my head, forcing my brain to use this image of tristan instead of imagining one, etc etc. hmph. don’t like that.
again, neil gaiman – interesting, some good parts, but overall i’m not super-impressed. what am i not getting about him that makes others just adore him?
(review written 06/20/06)
another retelling of the cinderlla fairy tale, but this time what happens after the “happily every after” begins? also, ella is astounded to hear in the whispers around the court and by the commoners about a fairy godmother and magic.
a good book but ultimately, a little fast at the end? or maybe not enough of an ending? basically, it felt like a well thought out book until the last ten pages or so. still, interesting bits here and there and a nice story over all.
(review written 05/30/06)
i’ve probably gotten this book out of the library three or four times and for some reason or another just never cracked it open. today i did and what a satisfying read. i usually never like books where magic ends or leaves for another world – they’re just depressing, like a magical ‘last of the mohicans’, sigh. but this oneuses that concept in a smart way, leaving a little loophole at the end which makes it all very bearable. the writing is good, the characters are real, the moral is true (things are not black and white and the ends don’t justify the means) – a nice quick book, pefect as a way to unwind at the end of a four-day-weekend.
[visit the author’s website]
(review written 05/29/06)
didn’t like this book at all until the last dozen or so pages and then i loved it. a short book that took a couple of hours to read, it was frustrating and saddening. it tells the story of timna, the only daughter of noah, during the time of the great flood. her eldest brother’s fundamentalist zeal and her father’s “god-will-take-care-of-everything” smugness and blindness was irritating and maddening – though timna herself at time seemed treacherous and blind as well. the author does such a good job showing the slow craziness that comes from forty days at sea without any sure knowledge that the flood will end.
really powerful imagery that will still with me for a while, particularly the survivors of the flood who rap at the walls of the ark and cry out for help while hanging on the branches and bits of logs. reminds me of scences from the titanic – definitely not something i’d imagined hearing previous accounts of noah and his ark. shudder. i definitely want to read more by this author.
[link to the author’s website]
(review written 05/29/06)
one of the best books i’ve read in a long long time. so great! i’m hoping the author writes more -whether about mimus or others – so soon. it was the kind of book where after i finished reading i just kept patting the cover and sighing – yup, that good. taking place in a medieval world, it’s the story of florin, the hostage prince who has been forced to become the apprentice to the new king’s jester.
the cover illustration is perfect – it really conveys the atmosphere and focus of the book, which at times you might think is florin, but in reality is a commentary on outsiders, an old (thiry-something! ;) ) wise man, and the ridiculousness of revenge and war.
(review written 05/27/06)
i loved this author’s first book, wasn’t as crazy about the sequel, and with this third book, i think i’ve finally figured out why. first off, i really enjoyed this book (though her goose girl remains my favorite – it’s very excellent) but there seemed to be passages that were just so very YA in the least engaging/smart/interesting ways and then just as i would be getting frustrated, there would come another passage that would read like magic or wisdom, or maybe something of the two. it’ll be interesting to see how this author progresses in her writing – will one side shrink as the other grows, or will there constantly be this mishmash, which i grew to really enjoy in its unpredictability?
anyhow, the story itself is a good one, with some nice twists, though somewhat predictable as in who ends up with whom. the villagers and their world is very believable and rich. the story also teaches a good story of tolerance and acceptance without being too preachy or simplistic.
comment [1]
(review written 05/24/06)
i’ve been on a bit of a kick recently, reading books about urban folks who turned to rural woods and farms, looking for “the good life” the nearings and others wrote about and lived. in this book, a new york couple buys a little bit of land in upper state new york and before they know it, they’re setting up booths at various farmer’s markets selling wildflowers.
a good book, not too badly written, compared to so many others in this ‘back-to-the-land’ field. i looked around online and it seems they still are around, selling at major farmer’s markets in new york city.
(review written 05/21/06)
a young couple decides to try an experiment: live among the amish for a year and see how hard or easy it is to live without technology. a good book in general, with some great bits interspersed with some not very good writing. an interesting read all the same. here’s my favorite quotes:
”...and this explained not only why time moved more slowly but also why we had more of it, why we were able to relax and read the way we were doing right now: in the absence of fast-paced gizmos, ringing phones, alarm clocks, television, radios, and cars, we could simply take our time. In being slower, time is more capacious. The event is only in the moment. By speeding through life with technology, you reduce what any given moment can hold. By slowing down, you expand it.
Shortcuts lead to emergency mending sessions in order to piece back in what was cut out, to lengthen what was shortened: Computer users, cramped in a cubicle all day long, jogging around the block. Bureaucrats and financiers, zooming ahead along their career paths, then reversing gears to attend school concerts, ball games, and parent meetings. Captives of the technological environment fleeing for brief weekends to mountains, beaches, and rustic cabins.
What began as short lines become circles – myriad overlapping loops that, described on paper, resemble nothing so much as the cloverleafs of our freeway systems. These roundabout routes to satisfaction leave their followers less time than ever. For the better part of the day they are in transit, simply speeding forward, never arriving. In a world in which everything is in motion, motion finally comes to seem the absolute, the unfailing standard by which everything else is gauged. Progress becomes its own self-justifying local loop, the endless cycle…” (pps 67-8)
“In our era of high technology, affluent westerners spend billions every year to “get away” to exotic locales. They do so surely to escape the stress and frustration of modern life, but also to relieve its monotony. They spend forty-eight weeks of the year in the same job in a climate-controlled environment; when they go home in the evening, they travel on the same stretch of freeway to a subdivision where all the houses look the same; they watch telovision programs that reduce the complex issues of life to half-hour segments on a flat screen. They crave diversion, depth, escape. So they fly to Bermuda. Or for a few precious days, they stroll through Disney World’s mockup of the architecturally diverse midwestern downtown their grandparents once ambled through whenever they wanted to, and spend all the money they saved during the previous forty-eight weeks in the same job.
There might be another way. What is they just noticed the weather changing? Those who lack western affluence already rely on the weather for dail variety. New weather alters the look and feel of the landscape without alterling your location. You don’t have to travle elsewhere to experience the exotic; the exotic travels to you.” (pp 150)
(review written 05/08/06)
one of my favorite authors of all time – and the story here, especially the writing, is no exception. in general, i think hoffman’s stories just wash over you like a thing of nature, sometimes a storm, a gentle rain, bright sunlight, or with the speediness of dusk. either way, you just have to sit back and let it happen. what an inspiring writer.
you also happen to learn quite a lot about lightening in this book and especially about the effects it can have on those it hits but doesn’t outright kill. just the kind of fascinating information a girl like me enjoys. kinda scary, but true.
(review written 04/29/06)
i can’t remember now where i found a link for this [ah! i remembered: it was a sonderbook standout for 2003, and i agree with so many of this woman’s reviews] but this was a great book. it wasn’t fantasy.. at least not quite, nor even magical realism… not quite but it still had that feeling of possibility that i love.
saffy’s family is a creative, loving, individualistic jumble, and the best part of the whole book – really, they are the book. and how the author managed to slide in a really sweet love story on the side amazed me.
but even better is the writing – at first, too jangly for me, but quickly i caught up and just loved it. there’s so much spark in this book – and though that might sound just lazy reviewing, i really can’t think of a better word.
here’s a good sentence to prove to you what i mean: “The Banana House has always had a slightly magical feel about it, and this was because it was one of those places that appear to be bigger on the inside than they do on the outside.” love it.
(review written 06/24/05)
a good read – not the best of her fairy tale adaptions, but still good. i liked that her boy calls her ‘the impertinent one’ and she’s all sassy with him, but still it’s a cindererlla story and i just never liked cinderella, don’t know why.
the description of the foot binding was gruesome and, probably, realistic, but still, i just feel like i see all this criticism about foot binding but soooo very little, if any, about corsets, for example, that european women used for centuries. in many cases, women broke ribs and even had ribs removed just to have small waists. now, that’s just as drastic in my book. i mean you have to breathe, you know? but i see so little criticism about it, much less creativity surrounding it, such as bound does with foot binding.
i like that she’s not writing just about white women, that’s good, especially as there’s such a richness of non-european fairy tales to choose from when writing adaptations. but the foot-binding thing? not digging it, however well it fits into the whole cinderella story.
comment [2]
(review written 06/12/05)
such a good book – read it in one sitting, until the very end, when i got up and started pacing in circles, willing myself to read faster and faster, but not wanting it to end. i really enjoy all of napoli’s books (except the venice ones, don’t know why) and this one was no exception – it wasn’t as good as spinners or zel (those still tu at my heart, sigh) but it was good in a way only contemporary novels can be.
alvin is such a likeable boy and his uncanny luck borders, at times, on pure magic, i love that. but what really makes this book shine is the amount of detail the author weaves in, the depth and complexity of the characters doesn’t hurt too much either ;)
can’t wait to read more of her books!
(review written 06/12/05)
read this one in one night and a few rushed minutes in the morning, because i just couldn’t wait to find out what happens to mokie. i’m still puzzled and worrying about the ending – did she die? didn’t she? – which make me think there’s something big there i Didn’t Get, you know? but i liked it a lot – it rang true and had so much heart in describing the relationships between mokie and her three ‘mote beam’ friends.
plus, it affected, i’m sure of it, some of the sweeter dreams i’ve had in a long time, leaving me trying for long long minutes that morning when i awake to get back to sleep, back to the dreams. that’s gotta be a sign of something good.
(review written 06/09/05)
it took me a while to read this book, not because i didn’t like it, just it was too abstract in a way, too distant, and i was just too busy to give it the time it needed. once i stopped (and procrastinated) and gave it some serious reading time, i loved it and got pulled into christopher’s world.
obviously there’s a lot of humor in this book, but what i loved were the puzzles and logic games – reminds me of when i was 11 and really into those mensa quiz books. we would go on long car rides and i’d try and figure them out, going cross-eyed from the effort.
(review written 06/07/05)
the first time i picked up this book, i didn’t like it – i just looked at the cover, read the back jacket blurb, sighed at the oh-so-chic ‘zine’ format, and reluctantly checked it out, since it was assigned to me for my
but then finally, after reading the perks of being a wallflower, i was so excited about ya lit, that i just picked it up and read it in one sitting. so great – i love those nights, where you just can’t stop reading and it’s three a.m. and you’ve contorted your body into dozens of different reading slouches so that you can just keep on reading. this was a good book – i wish it’d been a hardback just so that when i finished it, i could close it with a satisfying thump. it would have gone along nicely with my satisfied sighing – what a great book.
(review written 05/31/05)
one in a series of YA books i’m determined to read this spring as part of my YA literature class in school.. i’m very glad i began with this one—such a good book. such a cliche but: i wish this book hadn’t ended, i wanted to keep following bobby marks and see how the rest of his summer and school year went.
bobby doesn’t like summer at all – he gets hassled by his dad, gets bored out of his mind, and more than anything, cannot even nominally hide or pretend that his weight is normal. yes, bobby is 14 years old and over 200 pounds, with no signs of slowing.
however, this summer, of course, promises to be something totally different. he gets a low-paying hard job, is abandoned by his best friend, has a local bully freaking him out, and his parents are fighting nonstop. out of all this negative, though, bobby makes sense of and starts to overcome seemingly impossible problems that have plagued him for years.
what really stood out for me, though, is that bobby is such a sweet boy, his voice really shines and comes across so honestly.
comment [1]
(review written 04/26/05)
sequel to ‘the goose girl’, i was really looking forward to this book. overall, i liked it and more than anything was very happy to revisit the characters and world. but.. this book was a bit of a disappointment—the writing was just not as smooth and complex as it was in the first book.
the first book took several years to write – i believe 7 in fact. this book, on the other hand, took a year or two, and it shows. or maybe it’s more that the first was based on a fairy tale and so had a decided structure to it, whereas this second book felt quite rushed.
still, i really enjoy this writer’s style as well as her creativity and vision and will definitely read her forthcoming books.
[link to the author’s website]
(review written 03/10/05)
a quick read (i’m starting to realize that’s a pattern for me.. is that good or bad?), this is also a good story. as much as i enjoy re-tellings of fairy tales, i realized tonight that i’ve gotten used to those authors who do most of them and, as good as (most of them) are, all their stories start to sound the same, have the same atmosphere, phrasing, etc.
well, not this one. it’s much darker for one. though a little too preachy at times, this book really stands out. the writing isn’t as beautiful – nor is it trying to be.
[link to the author’s website – there’s a great ‘recommended books’ page]
(review written 02/09/05)
Frances Clark Sayers was one of the most respected children’s librarian of her time, and, as a teacher at UCLA’s library school, was largely responsible for the large numbers of inspired creative children’s librarians that graduated during her teaching years. so far, i’m enjoying her speeches tremendously – and i can feel so clearly her strong personality and concern for librarianship in all of her writing. for now, here’s some great (and lengthy) quotes:
“Why surrender the air to advertisements of shaving lotions, deoderants, and endless piped music in supermarkets? What if one day, on the university campus at the noon hour, ... the voice of the librarian … should peal across the campus, reading some of the great words the poets and sages have written? That would be a glorious surprise. In New York, during World War II, on certain days of the week, the people on Fifth Avenue and Forty-second Street were assailed, only for a few moments, by the great words of Lincoln or Jefferson or the poets, booming out from the roof of the New York Public Library. It sounded like the voice of God..” (p.25)
“I hope for the day when we shall be called the belligerant preofession; a profession that is informed, illuminated, radiated by a fierce and beautiful love of books – a love so overwhelming that it engulfs community after community and makes the culture of our time distictive, individual, creative, and truly of the spirit.” (p.28)
“This initial impulse, this enduring faith in reading books to know them and to make them useful, has somehow been lost – not, I feel, because we are of lesser stature than our predecessors, but because, perhaps, there have been such pressured, such multitudinous forces at work upon the culture of our generation – economic, political, mechanical, and inventive – and the joyous obligation to read and to induce others to read seemed too simple a function in a world where everything and everybody were being mechanized, organized, industrialized, streamlined, geared for action in two wars, emotionally adjusted for depression, progressively educated, and made socially conscious.” (p.29)
Aldous Huxley quote: “In a rapidly changing age, there is real danger that being well informed may prove incompatible with being cultivated. To be well informed, one must read quickly a great number of merely instructive books. To be cultivated, one must read slowly and with a lingering appreciation the comparatively few books that have been written by men who lived, thought and felt with style.” (p.30)
“Somehwere, somehow, there has got to be an institution which belligerantly attacks the mediocre, the slick , the sentimental, the commercial, that is typical of the mass culture of our day. Not that it came from that masses. It is prescribed for them and is poured upon them by money-ridden, power-ridden, advertising-ridden radio, moving pictures, press, television. In a great measure… all of these forces are aimed more or less to make us all think, vote, buy, read, listen to, and look at the same thing. I am convinced that the mass mind is capable of much great distinction in its thought, but how can anyone resist the never-ending pounding on our five senses – eat this, read this, see this, buy so-and-so, and think such-and-such.” (p.36)
“Why cannot we besiege our communities with books and the love of reading? ... Why don’t we assail people with books? Why don’t we speak their lines over the loudspeaker? We should be noisy about books in a noisy world.” (p.37)
(review written 02/03/05)
though i haven’t read the entire book (and i’ll update this review when i do), just the first two chapters alone, along with the prefaces, fill me with such enthusiasm and pride in the incredible ‘hobby’ i’ve taken to during the last half-year.
here’s a sample paragraph: “”Masterfully handcrafted sweaters from many regions show us… that knitting skills have been badly neglected for generations in this part of the world where industrialization occurred early, most especially in the United States. Printed patterns and incomprehensible written instructions (i.e. “knitter-ese”) replaces intuitive deisgn skills and a thorough understanding of technique. A once simple and delightful craft has become enshrouded in elaborate line-by-line instructions – enough to daunt the most skillful knitter while thoroughly intimidating the novice.” (p. 19)
(review written 01/31/05)
this was a great book i read a few years ago, when i was first getting interested in fiber arts, especially weaving, at that time. barber’s writing is detailed without weighing you down in the slightest bit – though an academic, she does not, thank goodness, write like one (or at least, like most of them) and instead makes this book not only inspiring to read but also very thought-provoking. reading this book will more than likely make you gasp, cry out, shake your head in amazement, and/or smile enormously and sigh with satisfaction.
yes, it’s that good.
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(review written 01/31/05)
i had to get this book, though the patterns i’d seen online weren’t really spiking my interest (except for a few patterns, like the newsy hat, the felted bags, and the croc mitterns), just because the first was just so good. besides that, i heard the reference chapters in the beginning were extremely useful and told in the similarily-friendly way as in the first book.
(review written 01/30/05)
this book is a bit more artsy that felted knits – and i like that. felted knits is hands-down the best resource for learning to felt, in my opinon; but this book expands your conceptions of what felt can be.
for example, have you ever thought of a felted throw, all gossamar light? or a felted scarf, chunky and warm? or a see-through felted lampshade? definitely some of the projects are a miss but there is enough there to make me want to felt immediately – starting with their felted book covers, i think.
(review written 01/30/05)
a good book that didn’t quite live up to my expectations. the cover is so beautiful and i’ve always loved the fairy tale ‘east of the sun, west of the moon’ – but this re-telling, though starting out so promisingly, felt quite rushed at the end and way too tidy. ah well.
(review written 01/30/05)
this book fills in where stitch n’ bitch, and vogue reference as well, leave off – at least in regards to casting on, binding off, buttonhole-making, increases and descreases, seaming, and more.
the pictures are great, the explanations are clear, the writing is simple but understanding (!). i also much appreciate that it is spirally-bound, making it handy to open and easier to keep open.
lastly, i love that not only do they explain how but also why you would choose one method over the other, in a way that for some reason just clicks with me.
[note: i have no idea why powell’s image is so old-fashioned looking. they must not have updated the image they have to reflect the new edition they’re selling.]
(review written 01/29/05)
sometimes, incredibly, i get sick of make-believe worlds, however ‘parallel’ they are. though i hesitated a bit in posting this as an admitted read – as it is technically a romance novel – i decided quickly that truly i could care less.
the basic idea is, what happens when the town’s snob queen returns with less than what she left with?
this is a really good book with a great realistic protagonist and a ton of interesting complex people surrounding and (eventually) supporting her.
(review written 01/27/05)
quick good read – isn’t all gooshy and unreaslistic about the middle ages, but definitely is smart and funny.
also, i like how detailed the book gets in describing the work of bonesetters in the middle ages, as well as the general atmosphere of that time period. there’s also a bibliography at the end for those who want to read more about what it was like living in those time.
one interesting and gory fact cushman offers us: the traditional barber’s pole (that i always thought looked so jolly) dates in fact from the days when the barber was the all-around cutter, both of hair as well as any limbs that needed amputating. so, the barber would advertise his presence by hanging on a pole outside his workplace bloody rags.
yay for history! gulp.
(review written 01/24/05)
read it in one night, such a quick great read. it didn’t hurt i was surrounded by my own two sweet cats, which made me more than once look over at them thinking ‘hmm, could it be for real?’ this story is about a cat who feels he doesn’t belong in his blueblood family and so decides to leave the House and go Outside.
the illustrations were just beautiful and i will definitely be on the lookout for more books by this author. very creative! also, this would be a lot of fun to read out loud between a parent and child.
[link to the book’s website]
(review written 01/08/05)
ah, i love librarians. and this book made me feel i definitely gotta study the wpa some more, and the great depression in general, too. besides all that, i also really enjoy and appreciate documentaries and any other format that uses original documents, such as, in this case, pictures of actual pack horse librarians trudging through scary looking snow in the middle of kentucky.
these women are my heros!
(review written 12/12/04)
this was a total impulse buy that i slightly regretted later – not just because impulse buys are moments of weakness that must be stamped out but becuase as pretty as these scarf patterns are – as original and creative, too – i’ve never been a big scarf lady. and living in los angeles doesn’t exactly help that feeling change in the least bit.
however, with that said, the scarfs are trully beautiful and i’ve decided i must make a few for my poor freezing family in maryland. and thus, the regret completely vanished. phew.
(review written 12/04/04)
how did i miss reading this book all these years? i can’t wait to read the rest in the trilogy. this was such a great book, i wish i had read it more slowly, but as it was, it took some discipline to slow down..
i didn’t like the Anastasia books (also written by this author) when i was little, i remember feeling like they were laughing at me, or winking or something, and that, of course, was. not. allowed. though this book does, at times, seem a little too ‘ooh, ooh, there’s a mystery, how exciting’ at times, the ideas behind the writing and the non-drama of the characters themselves give it enough weight to make it just right.
(review written 12/03/04)
this was a good ‘girl and her dog’ story (a refreshing change of gender) where Adaline, or Falling Star as her Arapaho mother called her, trys to patiently wait for her father, the famous explorer Kit Carson, to come back and take her away from her racist white relatives.
(review written 12/03/04)
a perfect fall reading book. this was one of those books that, although i’d had it out of the library for weeks now, i just put off reading but.. within ten pages, was certain i was in for a good time. (i love those types of books!)
pope’s writing reminded me of mary stewart’s writing, but not too much, which is good. usually i hate reading about the end of fairies and magic and all that, but this book persuaded me that in this situation at least, it was called for: these fairy folk were downright nasty.
(review written 11/24/04)
the cover illustration for this book is very deceptive, it doesn’t even begin to match the beauty and sophistication of the story within (though that’s not to say i don’t like the illustration. having read the book, i can now appreciate the hazy beauty of it, almost like modern animation..)
so, i liked the cover, that’s partially why i chose the book (yeah, i’m like that), but the story just kept surprising me and surprising me with its twists, turns and depth.
i loved this book!
[link to author’s website]
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(review written 11/21/04)
so good! based on the old bros. grimm tale, this story will definitely sit with you for days after reading it.
definitely a book that leaves me crying out ‘more, more!’ though the story was somewhat predictable (mainly because it’s a story you’ve heard before), the way it was told had so much style and obvious thought that it didn’t matter.
[note: the author wrote a sequel, called Emma Burning, released in january 2005, that looks very promising.]
[link to author’s website]
(review written 10/25/04)
such a great book! read it in one sitting, great from the beginning to the end. i am determined to get the sequel asap. so so good.
i love post-apocalyptic books, especially children’s post-apocalyptic books – and believe me, there are quite a few out there!
this book reminded me a lot of the the trilogy the wind on fire by william nicholson, although it isn’t as sophisticated as nicholson’s, or as good really, but it seems a little more direct, like it’s trying to tell a story with ideas, but not trying to preach to you or rock your world.
i like that, a simple read for those days when you want something thought-provoking and yet not too heavy.
[link to author’s website]
comment [2]
(review written 10/19/04)
i love queer writing, queer in the old sense of the word (like anne of green gables might have used it, or alice in wonderland.. !) this book was filled with such ramblings.. some funny like “she stopped roaring into the pillow and began to fish round for her handkerchief; you can’t see a person do that without helping, however angry you are”. some really useful like the term “brick-wall ending”, meaning you don’t ever think about the characters once the book is over. others just sweet and confusing and real.
by the way, this writer also wrote 101 dalmatians. hm.
[note: haven’t seen the movie, though i’m a closet-Gilmore Girls fan.]
(review written 10/08/04)
i was so excited to get this book – and it is useful, but… i don’t know, it just feels badly organized, way too dry, and kind of snobby too! plus the illustrations haven’t been that helpful so far and the explanations are annoyingly vague. maybe it’s just me – everyone else seems to be crazy about this book.
besides, the patterns at the back are down right ugly.
(review written 10/04/04)
with beautiful timeless projects ranging from slippers to pillowcases to bags, galeskas gently introduces the long-honored tradition of felting. with clear and concise language, and smart use of images, tis book will help anyone make their first felted project. additionally, i can totally agree with the author’s note that the vast majority of these patterns were created with the beginner knitter in mind.
for those who already have felted, this book is still a great resource not only in describing in detail what actually happens during felting but also has a handy list of recommended yarns and companies.
[btw, this was the first book i used to follow my first pattern to create my first real knitted project (i’m totally ignoring that long skinny bulky thing i made a few weeks before that – it felt ridiculous to be making as it was 90 degrees in l.a. and i was knitting a friggin’ 100% wool scarf! ay.) – to see the results of said project, check this out.]
(review written 08/20/04)
this was the first knitting book i bought, during my short-lived first try at knitting my junior year of college. along with this book, i got double-pointed needels and thick warm wool to make some knittens for me and the boy, but it all came to nothing. the book itself, however, stayed with me and once in a while i’d pick it up and daydream about being a knitter.
the cute illustrations soften the serious-ness of the writing and old-fashioned style of the book in general. although an old book, the writing is not old at all. for example: “The quick staccato music of the 17th and 18th centuries must surely have found its inspiration in the rapid rhythmical ‘click’ of the knitting needles.” (p.7)
(review written 07/16/04)
like expected, the book is really good – the writing is super personable and not condescending. a bunch of the patterns are great and i love how with each pattern, it tells you which skills you need to know, or will learn in the making of that project.
more than other general knitting books, i find myself over and over again reaching for this book when i need to understand for the umpteenth time how to increase without making holes, what is a 3-needle bind-off, and more.
(review written 07/04/04)
i have no idea why i chose this book—not at all the sort of a book i’ve ever read, really, the bridget jones type and all (though i liked the movie, the book was just ok).
a totally different world than what i deal with (though with the familiar tones of ‘take this job and shove it, i don’t work for you no more’) but definitely a reflection of what i see all around me on fashion magazine covers, on the streets in l.a., on tv, etc etc.
all in all, good, but without any depth whatsoever. as expected.
(review written 06/21/04)
so great! i think napoli is an incredibly gifted writer and so far i’ve loved all of her books (though this one and Zel are my favorites by far). she focuses, in general, on re-telling fairy tales: fleshing them out, making them real, and seeing different sides in the story.
one thing though, i did feel really strongly that one or two pages more at the end were needed.. or maybe i just wanted my happy ending. sigh.
this is such a beautiful book – even if you don’t like fantasy (god forbid!) or fairy-tales (gasp!), this book has a lot of just pure good (and bad) human truth. if you don’t like it, i’ll eat my shoe.
(review written 04/17/04)
so good! i never really like the fairy tale of rapunzel, it just seemed too silly and unrealistic (which seems now a funny reason to dislike a fairy tale) but this rendition of it was great great.
a quick read, but so prettily written i wanted to linger and absorb though the anticipation of seeing what happens and reading how it happens just spurred me on the entire time..
just beautiful! my head is full now with images and feelings and wishes ~ a good book does that to you.
(review written 03/29/04)
this was a really sad book, filled with gruesome and horrible scenes. i have never been really interested in the civil war and definitely i’ve never been into reading about wars. i don’t know why, but this book, despite being a pretty realistic novel about the civil war, appealed to me for a long time and when i finally stumbled upon it, i started reading and couldn’t stop till i finished.
this book flat-out depressed me: just thinking about all the horrible things people have done to each other in the name of war, and usually in the name of someone else’s war. how the women and children and old people are affected even though they have no active role in creating or continuing the war… it just made me so sick to read, though at the same time, the way the story was told was so beautiful. that combination is incredible – i just got caught up in it all, impatiently waiting for the next page..
(review written 03/27/04)
a very good read but also very different from what i usually read – which leaves me with a kind of unsettled feeling and i can’t decide if that’s good or not.
i love that the mood of the book is staying with me—but it was made all the stronger (hence the staying-power) due to a sweet boy’s great music playlist playing softly in the background while i was reading… it just fit so well with the book. as does this beautiful weather and time: friday night, lazy rain, quiet night, good book.
(review written 02/19/04)
sleeping beauty was never one of my favorite fairy tales when i was little but it seems that some of my favorite fairy tale re-tellings are ones of sleeping beauty. this one was an easy fast read but still thoughtful and graceful.
the heroine was entirely believable and the love-interest boy is sweet and mysterious, but in a much more interesting way than usual.
for the first time in probably years, since i just had to know how it ended, i read it in class with the book on my knees under the table. ha! wonder if my teacher knew. i felt so 13 reading it like that. (and also felt so bad-ass, just like i did when i was 13. whatta dork.)
(review written 02/12/04)
card weaving, or tablet weaving at it’s sometimes called, is one of the oldest forms of weaving with the simplest tools needed to create beautiful practical works of art: yarn, square cards made of any stiff material, and a beater.
considered the classic book on card weaving for the beginner, this book also comes with a dozen cards to practice with.
filled with projects, history, good illustrations, and clear writing, this a great book to dip your toes into the old craft of tablet weaving.
[wanna know more? see my cardwoven belt.]
(review written 02/06/04)
wonderful wonderful. after i read this one by alice hoffman, i ran out and bought another one and got out from the libray yet another of hers.
she is such a great writer and just really truly moves me. i was just bawling at the end of this book and i can’t remember ever doing that (except maybe, as with everyone else in the world, when i first read little women).
oh! i want to just experience that kind of lyrical lush lovely magical feeling all the time. she’s definitely my favorite new writer in a long time.
[link to author’s website]
(review written 02/01/04)
this book is skinny but packed- and the best part is the very simple and thorough explanation of css (cascading style sheets) – the whys, hows, and wheres (to find more info as well as examples). i’ve used css for a while, both on this site, at work, and for school, but it’s been largely guesswork, not understanding why the font size should be 12px/18px, etc. now i get it a bit better.
although most of this stuff is online – i’m old-fashioned when it comes to really truly learning. i can learn online o.k. but i just learn so much better and faster with paper.
this book was logical, thorough, and politically my way: open source all the way, baby! i loved this book and really can’t wait to read more of carrie bickner’s work.
[note: ah, i’d been wanting to get this books for months it felt like! as soon as i finished it, i ordered Eric Meyer On CSS and Zeldman’s Designing With Web Standards. i just can’t wait any longer to learn about css. ]
[link to author’s website]
(review written 01/18/04)
i bought this kid’s picture book when i was out in moab, utah this past summer for work. the drawings, by Peter Parnall, are gorgeous—simple and beautiful lines with low-contrast colors.
i read it first in moab and just re-read it now, the story is good and easy for any age. the mood of this book reminds me of the smallest bits of beauty and intricacy found in nature, which i often forget about here in l.a.
(review written 01/13/04)
in case it wasn’t obvious already, children’s literature makes up most of my favorite writing – there’s less cynicism, needless violence and unhappy sex, and tons of imagination, humor, and questions.
this book was good; somewhat predictable but good.
and best of all, it left me with the atmosphere of this other world the author had created, where trees whisper and little girls listen. ..really nice, i hope there’s more of these types coming.
(review written 01/10/04)
oh this book was really good. i love fantasy and magic – but i hate the hokey stupid ways they’re usually portrayed. the writing here was wonderful and spooky and real.
the premise of this book is what happens after the hero completes the impossible task and wins the princess – what happens after ‘happily ever after’? the feelings in this book are honest and deep, no one pat answer, all the little subplots are not tied into a neat package, and so on.
the imagery is really pretty—some beautiful ones, such as “Moonlight fell like mist over the world. Willows crouched beside them on the bank, their trailing leaves the hair of hunchbacked old women, hiding their faces, their secret eyes.”
[note: please ignore the cover as best as you can – it’s horrible and doesn’t reflect the depth and sweetness of the book itself.]
(review written 01/09/04)
first off, i love all of robin mckinley’s books. my favorite is still The Blue Sword but that’s probably at least partly from my great memories of reading it as a teenager, tucked away in my room, with cheetoed-orange fingers and a purring sweet cat next to me.
normally i am not a fan at all of vampire books, just not the right kind of magic for me, too bleak, but this one just knocked my socks off. it’s very different from the other mckinley books, because it’s such a normal world, besides the Other aspect (vampires, werewolves and other weres, et al), with cars and the internet, and so on.
i loved the way sunshine, the main character, just talked and talked in her head (hence to us) because that’s exacly what i do. when i’m freaked out, or in moments of great tension and high emotion, i always remember that i have to do my laundry, wonder why elephants are often called oliphants in fantasy books, think of that time in 5th grade that i snuck my book report into the teacher’s desk with the other reports cause mine was two days late, etc etc.
(review written 12/31/03)