The Hunger Games Trilogy, by Suzanne Collins: Book Review
In the last week I’ve read 1165 pages of young-adult oppressive-dystopia reality-television-bashing coming-of-age revolution fiction. The Hunger Games trilogy chronicles the tale of Katniss Everdeen, a teenager whose big heart, indomitable spirit and rage land her on the front lines of a fight to change a reality she never really thought to question. It’s sometime in the future, and the all-powerful Capitol rules over the twelve districts of the country called Panem. The rules are designed to prevent rebellion from the citizens after the government won a war against them 75 years...
Read MoreWin a Copy of The Knitgrrl Guide to Professional Knitwear Design!
Yesterday I had the pleasure of interviewing author Shannon Okey on Twitter* as part of her blog tour to promote her new book, The Knitgrrl Guide to Professional Knitwear Design. We had so much fun, and such a productive conversation, that I forgot to do the giveaway we’d planned. D’oh. The Giveaway To enter to win a copy of Shannon’s book, leave a comment on this post either asking a question about professional knit- or crochet design or about self-publishing, giving a professional tip on those topics, or answering one of the previous questions. This way we’ll end up...
Read MoreChat with Shannon Okey During Live Twitter Interview July 13th!
Shannon Okey has written a lot of books, but I admit I’m the most excited about the one she’s just self-published. It’s called The Knitgrrl Guide to Professional Knitwear Design, and, well, its topic is obvious. She’s just started a blog tour to promote the book (see the schedule, below), and next Tuesday, July 13th, I’ll be interviewing her live on Twitter from 4pm-6pm Pacific / 7pm-9pm Eastern time. We’ll be giving away a couple of her books, too. Just follow the hashtag #knitgrrlguide. You don’t have to have a Twitter account to follow along, but...
Read MoreBook Review – Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer, by John Grisham
Hey, when you were a kid, did you ever feel compelled to seek legal advice? Or play golf? Yeah, I didn’t think so. So you can imagine my confusion over why international bestselling author of legal thrillers John Grisham‘s new foray into kid lit has so far scored 3.35 out of 5 stars on Goodreads. Half his book, aimed at eight- to twelve-year-olds, is about things like how to avoid foreclosure, which lawyer in town to phone when your brother-in-law is picked up on a DUI, and what a mistrial is. Oh, and golf. I’m a grown-up who has sought legal advice, and I was bored to...
Read MoreLowboy, by John Wray: Book Review
An uncomfortable, riveting, beautifully written novel about a schizophrenic teenager named Will, his mother, and the detective looking for Will after he went off his meds and on the lam in the New York City subway system in search of the girl he believes will help him save the world from global warming. I consider myself to be a mildly enlightened person when it comes to mental illness, but I can’t say whether the portrayal of schizophrenia in this book is realistic or fair. What I can say, though, is that it seems realistic and not at all unfair. And it’s disturbing. And...
Read MoreGo See The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
The Swedish title, Män som hatar kvinnor, translates as “Men Who Hate Women”. Somewhere along the line the title for the English translation of the wildly popular, bestselling novel was changed to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It’s this difference in how stories are packaged in Sweden vs. North America that’s making me insist you go see this Swedish version of the story*. Hollywood is making a version too; it’s slated for release in 2012. But I can’t imagine how Hollywood won’t end up making a movie more about a tattoo than about men who hate...
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