tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55833796928578106662025-05-16T11:56:03.962-07:00reviews of books that kick ass.love books, will travel.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12693233657606543071noreply@blogger.comBlogger1218125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5583379692857810666.post-64509648257822054462016-07-11T06:00:00.000-07:002016-07-11T06:00:03.827-07:00

I was living on lake time last week which is why I went missing. Since I'm teaching summer school (which starts right now), I decided to take the week of the 4th completely off. No editing, no writing, just a lot of ice cream and s'mores. And of course reading, because I never need a vacation from that. My first lakeside read was Wendy Wax's latest Ten Beach Road novel, Sunshine Beach. 

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The Incarnations by Susan Barker is a story woven together in 3 parts: A taxi driver named Wang’s present (2007 Beijing) life with his wife and child, Wang’s own (messed up) childhood and early adulthood, and the letters from Wang’s "soul mate", the person (not identified until the end) who has followed him from one life to the next, always meeting and developing some sort of

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Since I was only a teacher in my own classroom for one year, I haven't left much in the way of lasting impressions. I was just trying to survive. Currently I'm subbing and I do teach summer school every summer, but my sub kids are more my buddies and my summer school kids usually hate me. So there's that. HOWEVER. I personally have teachers I would like to thank. Which leads me to

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Although I'm not really into architecture past How I Met Your Mother reruns on Netflix, I was intrigued by a book that featured the two iconic architects who dominated the 20th century between the both of them. Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) and Philip Johnson (1906-2005) and would love to know what they ate for breakfast because they both lived an awfully long time and I don't think they were

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I've never been very good at math. Or baking. But that doesn't mean a gal like myself can't appreciate eating pi. Get it? Anyways. How to Bake Pi: An Edible Exploration of the Mathematics of Mathematics by Eugenia Cheng uses recipes as a metaphor for math and explores different math concepts (and yummy desserts) one chapter at a time. She also talks about herself, which brings a realness to

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First. Love & Friendship is actually a romantic comedy that came out in theaters in May directed by Whit Stillman. The film got great ratings and features Kate Beckinsale as Lady Susan, love her. Love & Friendship: In Which Jane Austen's Lady Susan Vernon is Entirely Vindicated is the novella written by Whit Stillman which came out a few weeks before the movie. I recommend enjoying

love books, will travel.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12693233657606543071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5583379692857810666.post-79760526897939379862016-06-20T11:37:00.002-07:002016-06-20T11:37:22.944-07:00

Happy first day of summer! Today's the day to bust out the books you told yourself you would make time to read, but haven't because it wasn't summer, but now it IS summer and you have no excuse. Vitamin D and all that. First up, All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda which comes out on the 28th. The description alone is intriguing (the story is told in reverse), and once you get started you

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I've loved Cameron Diaz since I first saw her in My Best Friend's Wedding (and then fully fell in love after seeing her in The Sweetest Thing). She is so gorgeous and versatile and hilarious, there is literally nothing NOT love about her. And now, she has a book. The Longevity Book: The Science of Aging, the Biology of Strength, and the Privilege of Time is a book about the aging female

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I haven't read a Melody Carlson book in ages, and I missed her, so when my mom told me about her new (or not so new) Follow Your Heart series, I was like GIMME. And although it was a little weird reading a romance novel that was heavy on the sweet instead of the skanky, it was a nice change of pace. A little corny sometimes, but in a good way. Anna Gordon had a rough childhood

love books, will travel.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12693233657606543071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5583379692857810666.post-14368513270988617382016-06-13T00:30:00.000-07:002016-06-13T00:30:00.187-07:00

I'm not going to get into all the gory details, but I've actually been to Banff National Park, in the middle of winter. Kind of strange because I live in Buffalo, and don't enjoy outdoor winter sports. At all. But here I found myself roughly 8 years ago, smack in the middle of the park, being pulled around by dogs. You'll never truly know until you read my memoir. I highly recommend seeing

love books, will travel.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12693233657606543071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5583379692857810666.post-12802529296140333132016-06-10T00:30:00.000-07:002016-06-10T00:30:01.848-07:00

Silence in the Dark is the final book in Bradley’s Logan Point series, I definitely recommend scarfing the others up before reading this one. Bailey Adams is a flight risk, she's a runner (we have this in common). So after she broke off her engagement to Danny Maxwell, she did the only thing she could think to do. She ran. Taking off to the mission field in Mexico. But when she makes plans

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Skipper Supreme: Buck Showalter and the Baltimore Orioles is a light read about a coach and how he completely turned around a team in the midst of a major losing streak. Readers will get to know Buck Showalter as a person, but this read mostly focuses on his life in Baltimore. When he took over late in the season of 2010, he brought with him the kind of energy that rouses an

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As a lover of Shark Tank, I was super entertained by Julie Halls' Inventions that Didn't Change the World. When I first received the book, I thought to myself, what people come up with now makes me laugh, reading about what inventions people came up with in the 19th Century will be even more amazing. And I was right. 19th Century Britain was a hub for bizarre inventions

love books, will travel.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12693233657606543071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5583379692857810666.post-457007674286745982016-06-03T00:30:00.000-07:002016-06-03T00:30:07.139-07:00

REPOST: Because it's in theatres today and I can't wait to see it!   Check out this trailer, I cry every time I watch it. Guys. Jojo Moyes. I can't even properly put into worlds how much her book-to-movie (out in June) Me Before You affected me after I turned the last page. I literally had NO idea how it was going to turn out. And I am not planning on spoiling it for you, but I am still

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Honestly, I didn't think The Translation of Love by Lynne Kutsukake would be a book I would enjoy. I typically like to read books I can relate to, or a,t least wrap my head around and although I could not see myself in her shoes, 13-year-old Aya Shimamura was such an interesting character, I could not put this book down. Set in post-war Japan, it's 1947. Aya and her father have been

love books, will travel.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12693233657606543071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5583379692857810666.post-85607229857920672342016-05-30T11:28:00.000-07:002016-06-01T11:29:47.215-07:00

         

love books, will travel.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12693233657606543071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5583379692857810666.post-78217537788319525432016-05-27T11:49:00.000-07:002016-06-01T11:49:15.760-07:00

After being abandoned by her parents, and then raised by her grandmother, Mercy Louis has turned into an extremely successful teenager. She's the best basketball player in the state, popular, beautiful. Girl's going places. Or is she? Because nothing is ever as it seems, especially in this debut novel by Keija Parssinen. The Unraveling of Mercy Louis is honestly the

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I am loving all of the latest psychological thrillers. So many women. So many mind games. It reminds me of my early twenties. Minus the murders. Alafair Burke's The Ex is my most recent favorite. Three years ago Jackson Harris' wife Molly was shot up (along with other commuters) at a train station by a teenage boy. Scarier, in light of all of the real-life tragedy our world has been

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In Benjamin Black's seventh novel in the Quirke series, Even the Dead, my favorite Irishman's recent blackouts puts him on the injured list. No work, no booze. Not that he'll abide by doctor's orders. An automobile "accident" occurs that results in a fiery one-car crash, leaving a young man dead breaks Quirke's convalescence. Suspicions of foul play drives him back to work in

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Strong Inside by first-time author Andrew Maraniss tells a story that many have never heard, about a kid who integrated big-time college basketball with very little support. Growing up in the midst of The Civil Rights Movement, in the South no less, it wasn't easy for Perry Wallace to become the first African American basketball player in the Southeastern Conference, but that never stopped him.

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I truly believe that if you were to go to the land of normal, no one would be there. But I understand the need to be able to function in society and how important that ability to function is to kids with disorders such as Asperger's syndrome, autism, ADHD, OCD, and dyslexia. We are more aware of these disorders now, but I didn't even realize that one out every six children are diagnosed with

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In a world where people are going to extreme measures to be parents, Lisa Scottoline's latest novel, Most Wanted is intense, emotional, and just plain brilliant. Oh, and kind of scary. Marcus and Christine Nilsson want a baby. Bad. Bad enough that when they discover Marcus is infertile, they decide to use a sperm donor so that Christine can get pregnant. Months pass, Christine is pregnant,

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What I love more than fiction is realistic fiction. I have to be in the right mood to read novels where characters have supernatural powers or with wild plotlines (Harry Potter not included, obviously). Most of the time I want to sit down and open a novel that could happen to anyone. Well, the right anyone. And that's exactly what Kaitlyn Greenidge's debut novel We Love You, Charlie Freeman was.

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I totally blanked on reviewing Dry Bones by Craig Johnson, the latest in the Longmire Mystery series that is officially available to watch on Netflix (FYI), another dead guy, another hit. Kudos to Johnson for his interesting subject matter, as a girl with a wild imagination, I really enjoyed this tale. In the 13th installment, a skeletal remains of a Tyrannosaurus rex are found, along

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Since Cheryl Strayed's Wild came out in 2013, women of all ages have become more adventurous and confident in all things wild such as camping, hiking, and backpacking. To help boost confidence still, Ruby McConnell came out with a guidebook tailored to women titled A Women's Guide to the Wild: Your Complete Outdoor Handbook. Because although women are JUST AS CAPABLE AS MEN, we are a special

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