Early in 2011 (or maybe late in 2010?) my friend Arla sidled up to me and started asking a few not-very-innocent questions. “You’re in library school now, right?” I assented to the factuality of the statement. “How would you like to get a bunch of free books?” After a bit of back-and-forth, I agreed to [...]
Archive for the 'reading' Category
what a writer can learn from reading 100 books and serving on an ALA committee
terry brooks on writing
Why didn’t someone tell me Terry Brooks wrote a book on writing? Just starting to read it, but it looks promising (and way more fun than that Norman Mailer book on writing). Here’s a little tidbit: The writer Walter Mosley wrote a few years ago in an article that appeared in the New York Times that [...]
Review: Smoketown by Tenea D. Johnson
I just finished reading Smoketown by Tenea D. Johnson (Blind Eye Books, 2011), and recommend it. It’s set in a somewhat dystopian future America in which climate change has drastically changed the landscape and therefore the people and culture, especially in the city of Leiodare (built into a crater in the middle of a lush [...]
review: black blade blues
I just read Black Blade Blues, the debut urban fantasy novel by J. A. Pitts and first of a series of three from Tor, and it was a LOT of fun. The the book features left-handed lesbian blacksmith and martial arts expert Sarah Beauhall, who inadvertently reforges a magic sword, befriends a six-foot tall dwarf [...]
and then I got ticked off (updated!)
A friend asked if I’d seen this op-ed by David Alpaugh in the Chronicle of Higher Ed. I responded to her directly, then figured, why waste a good rant? (Thanks for the nudge, Gretchen.) Yes I did see this, and it ticked me off because it’s insipid. There’s too much poetry! The good stuff gets [...]