Blog

Memoirs and Histories

Yearbook | Seth Rogan Summary: This memoir is not a ā€˜tell-allā€™, but perhaps a tell-much. Seth Rogan began professional joke writing as a kid and his stand-up experience is exactly the way we remember him sounding and speaking from film. His relaxed and casual style isnā€™t too far from the truth. He does make one …

Boredom Busters

The Final Girl Support Group | Grady Hendrix Summary: Thereā€™s a trope commonly used in horror movies, specifically those fitting the slasher genre, called the ā€˜final girlā€™. This is an unassuming main character that eventually triumphs over her attacker, most likely causing their death. What if the final girl character became so common, they collected …

Favorites from Anywhere

I thought I was pulling together a selection of works not at all alike each otherā€¦ but no, I really do like my adventure stories with moral or ethical consequences. Read The Count of Monte Cristo aloud ā€“ the language is musical. Island of the Blue Dolphins might need note taking or drawings of the …

Inventive YA Novels

Each of the following suggestions is an inventive and original concept with lots of running, hiding, seeking, fighting, and sometimes a little magic. Every Day in particular starts a series with amazing implications for our understanding of time and consciousness. -Cinda The City of Bones | Cassandra Clare Summary: Suddenly able to see demons and …

Go-To Childhood Novels

Remembering my favorite go-to books of childhood, I was fortunate to have a lot of reading time when visiting my grandparents who had amazing ā€˜oldā€™ collections of work Iā€™d never heard of. They loved providing animal stories like Riki-Tiki-Tavi and the following. I was well acquainted with the Disney movies of these first two before …

Movies I watched to better understand and enjoy my travels to Ireland, in May 2022

Michael Collins | Neil Jordan –Ā Director Summary: Ireland, 1916. His dreams inspired hope. His words inspired passion. His courage forged a nation’s destiny. A Biographical film depicting the life of Michael Collins, head of the early version of the IRA. Recommendation: I recently visited the GPO in Dublin where portions of this movie was filmed.  …

Stunning Picture Books

The Garden of Abdul Gasazi | Chris van Allsburg Summary: When the dog he is caring for runs away from Alan into the forbidden garden of a retired dog-hating magician, a spell seems to be cast over the contrary dog. Recommendation: I forget to read the words, Iā€™m so captivated by the art! See more …

Beach Reads

A Princess of Mars | Edgar Rice Burroughs Summary: In the spring of 1866, John Carter, a former Confederate captain prospecting for gold in the Arizona hills, slips into a cave and is overcome by mysterious vapors. He awakes to find himself naked, alone, and forty-eight million miles from Earth a castaway on the dying …

Fantastical Adventures

The Disasters | M. K. England Summary: Like many science fiction stories, this one has the main character facing an explosive crisis from which only his perspective tells the ā€˜truthā€™. Nax and his crew of survivors must get a message to those authorities who are not teaming up to sabotage the station themselves (for fun …

Reinventing the Past

Etiquette & Espionage | Gail Carriger Summary: Sophronia is 14, a member of the gentry, and ā€œa cracking botherā€ as she displays all the hallmarks of an under-stimulated overeager puppy. She wants to know how things work, is willing to take systems apart to study them, and canā€™t help but eavesdrop on interesting conversations. Whatā€™s …