I finished Michelle Obama’s memoir and thought, “This is the best book I’ve read in a long time.” And then I thought, “I would really like to have a cI finished Michelle Obama’s memoir and thought, “This is the best book I’ve read in a long time.” And then I thought, “I would really like to have a conversation with Michelle Obama.” Along with a million or so other people, I’m sure. Mrs. Obama gets it and connects it, and still inspires hope. ...more
In a moment of weakness, Binny scoops up a tempting wad of twenty pound notes left behind in an ATM. But the glorious thoughts of school trips she canIn a moment of weakness, Binny scoops up a tempting wad of twenty pound notes left behind in an ATM. But the glorious thoughts of school trips she can take and gifts she can give soon lose out to the reality that she can't possibly use the money without dire consequences. She resolves to take it back, but she's tried to stash her ill-gotten gains in so many places that she can't remember where it last was. Meanwhile, her witchy neighbor, Miss Piper, (who has asked for "first refusal" of their cottage should they ever decide to sell and is therefore on Binny's enemy list), has started making cunning clothespin figures of Binny and her family. Does she know about the money?
I love every character in cash-strapped Cornwallis family, but it's Binny, the aspiring writer, who tugs at my heart the most. And I have to wonder whether Miss Piper, who not only makes the figures of the family but puts them in a dollhouse, isn't Hilary McKay come to literary life....more
Growing up I ran from the room every time the monkeys dive bombed Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. As an adult I had to sleep with the light on after readGrowing up I ran from the room every time the monkeys dive bombed Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. As an adult I had to sleep with the light on after reading The Exorcist. I didn’t read another horror story for twenty years. So why am I such a fan of Jonathan Stroud’s adolescent ghostbusters? Partly because the agents and the ghosts they hunt live across The Pond inEngland. And because the sheer number of ghosts makes the goings-on less realistic and I don’t feel as though they’re coming after me in the dark. If there is such a thing as a cosy horror story series, Stroud has written it.
The Creeping Shadow, the fourth in the Lockwood & Co. series, brings Lucy Carlyle, with her talent for hearing ghosts, back to her former agency to aid them in incinerating the spirit of a loud, large and loathsome cannibal. She’s been freelancing since altruistically leaving her friends and colleagues, convinced that if she stays she’ll cause the death of her boss and secret crush, Anthony Lockwood. But the morning after they complete the job, her most prized possession, a talking skull-in-a-jar, whom only she can hear, is stolen. And when in her attempt to steal it back, she almost loses her life, she takes sanctuary in her old attic room with the people who can protect her.
There are a few threads that twine together in every book. First, the jobs and how they’re handled—in this case, the agency is clearing out a haunted village with the usual rapiers, magnesium bombs, iron chains and something new--spirit capes. Second, the relationships between the characters—and this includes the spirit skull, who is getting more Bartimaeus-like all the time. Third, the speculation about why and how these ghosts suddenly appeared. Each book comes a little closer to the Big Reveal but I am in no hurry to find out. So draw it out, Mr. Stroud, you’ve got a good thing going. ...more
Unlike Harper Lee’s Go Set a Watchman, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child does not betray us. Instead, it treats us to a nostalgic walk down alternate Unlike Harper Lee’s Go Set a Watchman, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child does not betray us. Instead, it treats us to a nostalgic walk down alternate reality lane, where we get to revisit some dead characters and sample various career and marital paths of some live ones after Draco’s son Scorpius and Harry’s son Albus go back and forth in time to right a wrong. If Albus had read Ray Bradbury he would have known this seldom turns out well.
I’m glad I read it, but I’m sure I’ll forget it. ...more
Children who open this little red book will read about ladybug opening a smaller green book to read about frog opening an even smaller orange book...uChildren who open this little red book will read about ladybug opening a smaller green book to read about frog opening an even smaller orange book...until we get to the giant, whose fingers are too big to open an extremely tiny purple book and needs her fellow readers to help her turn the pages.
A perfect book to use with a beginning reader. The vocabulary is repetitive, the art is wonderfully imaginative, and yes, the pages (and fonts) do get smaller and smaller and then bigger and bigger, a picture book riff on the photos you see of infinitely reflecting mirrors. I had my tutee turn the pages as they got too small for my big hands....more
One of the drawbacks of listening to a book is that there's no way to peek a few pages ahead to make sure that something really bad doesn't happen to One of the drawbacks of listening to a book is that there's no way to peek a few pages ahead to make sure that something really bad doesn't happen to my character, who is currently uneasy about the family friend who's volunteered to look after her while her parents are out of the country. So I've been reading goodreads reviews and have drawn my own conclusions. Soldiering on!...more
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