#Rebecca Mitchell Narration

[ulkaralakbarova]

A teen winds up in over his head while dealing drugs with a rebellious partner in Cape Cod, Mass. Credits: TheMovieDb. Film Cast: Daniel Middleton: Timothée Chalamet McKayla Strawberry: Maika Monroe Hunter Strawberry: Alex Roe Amy Calhoun: Maia Mitchell Sergeant Calhoun: Thomas Jane Dex: Emory Cohen Shep: William Fichtner Ponytail: Jack Kesy Taylor: Thomas Blake Jr. Vice Principle Finney: Kimberly Battista Football Player: Christian James Wife at Beach House: Catherine Dyer Beach House Girl: Caroline Arapoglou Aunt Barb: Rebecca Koon Daniel’s Mom: Jeanine Serralles Summerbird Dad: Fred Galle Summerbird Brother: Flynn McHugh McKayla’s Father: Brian Kurlander Boss Man’s Lady: Kate Forbes Amy’s Friend #3: Rebecca Ray Amy’s Friend #2: Rebecca Weil Amy’s Friend #1: Hannah Kraar Blair: Alexander Biglane Okie: Reece Ennis Kendall: Holly Wingler Rollerskating Waitress: Kristina Arjona Teenage Girl #1: Sara Antonio Summerbird Sister: Lia McHugh Police Officer: Chris Hlozek Teenage Boy #1: Myles Moore Summerbird Wife: Sandra Elise Williams Preppy Summerbird: James Robinson Jr. Summerbird Girl: Anniston Howell Drunk College Guy: Josh Weikel Chester: Ezra Bynum Dishwashing Boy #1: Zack Shires Weather Reporter: Rick Chambers Stoner Guy: Cody Pressley Beach House Guy: Michael Steedley Annoying College Guy: Tyler Carden Young Boy: Rawann Gracie Dishwashing Boy #2: Logan McHugh Daniel’s Father: John Herkenrath BBQ Neighbor: Chris J. Beatrice Narrator: Shane Epstein Petrullo Trashy Girl: Lisa Marie Kart Ice Cream Parlor Girl: Raegan-Alexis Santucci Partier: David London Stoner Girl: Julaine Tackett Drive-In Attendant: Tyler Bilyeu Lobster Shack Patron: Augie Buttinelli Blair Buddy: Adrian Papa Sketchy Guy: Jonathan Robert Martin Daisy: Jessie Andrews Film Crew: Writer: Elijah Bynum Cinematography: Javier Julia Production Design: Kay Lee Hair Department Head: Carol Cutshall Original Music Composer: Will Bates Producer: Bradley Thomas Producer: Ryan Friedkin Producer: Dan Friedkin Casting: Courtney Bright Casting: Nicole Daniels Executive Producer: Jasmine Daghighian Unit Production Manager: Nathan Kelly Executive Producer: Casey Wilder Mott Art Direction: Evan Maddalena Set Decoration: Kim Leoleis Makeup Department Head: Sheila Trujillo-Gomez Production Supervisor: Erin Charles Executive Producer: Peter Farrelly Executive Producer: Allyn Stewart Executive Producer: Kipp Nelson Editor: Jeff Castelluccio Editor: Dan Zimmerman Co-Producer: Tom Costantino Music Supervisor: Liz Gallacher Visual Effects Supervisor: Chris Wells First Assistant Director: Rip Murray Second Assistant Director: Stephen W. Moore Stunt Coordinator: Jennifer Badger Stunt Coordinator: Johnny Cooper Stunt Coordinator: David Brian Martin Stunt Double: Niko Dalman Stunt Double: Jeremy Conner Stunt Double: Noah Bain Garret Stunt Double: T. Ryan Mooney Leadman: Nelson Hagood Construction Coordinator: Jay Womer “A” Camera Operator: Matías Mesa First Assistant “A” Camera: Jackson McDonald Second Assistant “A” Camera: Aaron Willis “B” Camera Operator: Danny Eckler First Assistant “B” Camera: Ryan Weisen First Assistant “B” Camera: Dan Turek Still Photographer: Curtis Bonds Baker Still Photographer: Guy D’Alema Boom Operator: Thomas Doolittle Costume Supervisor: Caryn Frankenfield Makeup Artist: Micah Laine Makeup Artist: Donna Martin Makeup Artist: Ashley Pleger Makeup Artist: Tracy Ewell Hairstylist: Jennifer Santiago Gaffer: Mike Pearce Production Coordinator: Shanti Delsarte Post Production Supervisor: Todd Gilbert Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Craig Mann Supervising Sound Editor: Bruce Barris Sound Effects Editor: Bruce Tanis Sound Effects Editor: Bill R. Dean Dialogue Editor: Chase Keehn Foley Mixer: Randy Wilson Foley Mixer: Ron Mellegers Foley Artist: John Sievert Foley Artist: Stefan Fraticelli Foley Artist: Jason Charbonneau Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Laura Wiest Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Adam Sawelson Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Kurt Kassulke Movie Reviews: Jacob: (79/100) There should be more films made that take place in ...

[frontlistmedia]

5 Books to Read in Monsoon with the Loved Ones | Frontlist

As the monsoon season arrives, it is a perfect opportunity to cozy up with your loved ones and embark on literary adventures. Rain-soaked days create an enchanting ambiance, and what better way to cherish these moments than by delving into captivating stories together? Here are five extraordinary books ideal companions for the monsoon season, offering a delightful reading experience for you and your loved ones.

1. "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy:

Set against the backdrop of the lush Kerala landscape, Roy's masterpiece beautifully captures the essence of the monsoon season. Through its intricate storytelling, the book explores love, loss, social hierarchies, and the complexities of human relationships. Its evocative prose and vivid descriptions will transport you and your loved ones to a world filled with emotions and hidden secrets.

2. "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez:

Step into the enchanting realm of Macondo, a town suspended between reality and myth. Marquez's magnum opus is a mesmerizing tale spanning generations, brimming with magical realism, memorable characters, and intricate familial connections. With lush imagery and evocative storytelling, this book is perfect for rainy days spent engrossed in a multi-layered narrative.

3. "Cloud Atlas" by David Mitchell:

Dive into Mitchell's intricate literary tapestry that spans time, genres, and continents. This mind-bending novel weaves together interconnected stories with its distinct setting and voice. Exploring themes of destiny, interconnectedness, and the cyclical nature of life, "Cloud Atlas" offers a thought-provoking reading experience that will captivate you and your loved ones during rainy afternoons.

4. "Norwegian Wood" by Haruki Murakami:

Murakami's introspective and melancholic storytelling shines in this poignant coming-of-age novel set in Tokyo. Against rain-soaked streets, the story delves into love, loss, and personal growth themes. The book's lyrical prose and emotional depth make it perfect for reflection and shared discussions with your loved ones.

5. "Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier:

In this Gothic masterpiece, du Maurier spins a tale of mystery, romance, and haunting secrets. Set in a rainy coastal mansion in Cornwall, England, the book exudes an atmosphere of suspense and tension. As you delve into the story of the unnamed narrator and the enigmatic Rebecca, the rain outside will only heighten the eerie and atmospheric experience shared with your loved ones.

The monsoon season provides a fantastic opportunity to indulge in the pleasure of reading alongside your loved ones. These remarkable books offer captivating narratives, rich imagery, and thought-provoking themes. So, gather your loved ones, brew a warm cup of tea, and lose yourselves in these literary treasures as you create cherished memories and engage in meaningful discussions during the rainy season.

[elliepassmore]

A Phoenix First Must Burn review

When Life Hands You a Lemon Fruitbomb: Amerie 4.5/5 stars This story didn’t take me in the direction I expected it to. It starts off a quasi-sci-fi/fantasy about aliens called orcs who land in NYC and quickly wage war. Mitchell was an interesting character and I thought her role as a translator was interesting. I also like how Amerie made it so that, while the ending was somewhat like I expected, it was different too. I liked the air of mystery around certain things, though I was a bit confused as to how Mitchell didn’t figure out the issue/answer a bit sooner. Gilded: Elizabeth Acevedo 5/5 stars This story takes a more historical fantasy approach and is set in Latin America during Spain’s colonial and slavery period there. The protagonist has the ability to manipulate metal and uses it to help herself and those around her. I liked all the small details Acevedo included in the story, and the whole thing was rich with imagery and backstory. Eula is in an interesting predicament in the story since she wants her freedom and believes she can help those around her by obtaining it, but is also faced with someone else who thinks open rebellion would be more helpful, despite the additional risks. I’d like to read more by Acevedo, though I’m not entirely sold on poetry-prose, so we’ll see. Wherein Abigail Fields Recalls Her First Death and, Subsequently, Her Best Life: Rebecca Roanhorse 5/5 stars I love me some gunslinging girls, and Abby falls right into this category. I liked the concept of the story and thought the way Roanhorse wrote about Abby’s deal was neat. I liked the Wild West setting and it was, naturally considering the theme of this anthology, actually historically accurate ethnicity-wise. Abby was an enjoyable character to read about and I’m hoping Roanhorse has something else written about her. I also wouldn’t mind seeing more of Mo or Aunt Mary. Regardless, Roanhorse is definitely someone I’d read again. This was definitely my favorite story of the collection. The Rules of the Land: Alaya Dawn Johnson 3/5 stars I thought this story had an interesting premise, but I’m not really sure how I feel about the execution. It’s told in narrative format and does a good job spanning the period it needs to without being too wordy. However, I’m not sure how I felt about anyone other than the narrator, which, considering this was a character-driven story, is kind of important. The narrator’s parents were kind of eh, though I obviously understand why they’re important to her. But without that emotional connection on my part, it was hard to get into the story. Aside from that, I thought the magical element and hints of worldbuilding were cool. A Hagiography of Starlight: Somaiya Daud 5/5 stars I enjoyed the use of song and dance magic in this story. It’s an interesting yet seemingly intrinsic way to call down the divine. The story was rich with imagery and I liked that even though the story was short, Daud gave readers a number of different settings. Likewise, I enjoyed the narrative style employed in this story and thought the narrator did a good job of explaining things while still staying within a believable 1st POV narrative. Melie: Justina Ireland 3/5 stars This story felt much younger than the other ones in the collection. Melie comes across as fairly young and the MG-esque narrative style doesn’t help this point much. I liked seeing different magical creatures in the story, particularly dragons, but I feel like there was a lot going on in the story for the number of pages it was. I just don’t think this one was my cup of tea. The Goddess Proverbs: L. L. McKinney 5/5 stars I wasn’t entirely certain what this story would be about, even after reading the opening pages, but I really enjoyed it. It seems like it’s going to be doom-and-gloom and bad news from the beginning, but McKinney worked an interesting angle in there and I actually think the way the story worked out wasn’t…well, it’s perhaps still sad in some ways, but I think it’s a satisfying ending at least and I liked that the character got what she wanted. I also liked the author’s play on how people interpret faith differently. Hearts Turned to Ash: Dhonielle Clayton 5/5 stars I liked the casual fantasy aspect of this one. The idea of a witch in another dimension and the ability to create beating hearts of other materials was really interesting and something I think the author explored well. It’s an interesting story and details both how fate/destiny isn’t always what you expect and the dangers of giving yourself too much to someone. I liked the main character and I thought the ending was sweet. Letting the Right One In: Patrice Caldwell 4/5 stars I liked the story and all of the little literary hints that were dropped. There was a little too much ‘telling’ at the beginning of the story, which made it feel like it was geared toward a younger audience. It gets better as the story goes on, though, and I liked the characters, which made up for it. Tender-Headed: Danny Lore ? I’m still not totally sure how I rate this one. Auntie is definitely a character, but Akilah also has things of her own to work on. Jayleen is the only one I liked 100% from the beginning. I definitely like the story, but I feel like I’m missing some things that could’ve benefited from more page time, especially regarding Akilah’s other relationships and what happens after the ending, which is kind of left hanging. Kiss the Sun: Ibi Zoboi 5/5 stars I like the focus on Soucouyant in this story. They’re not often the focus in YA fantasy, so it was refreshing to see a different fantasy ‘creature’ in the mix. I also enjoyed how the characters weren’t good or bad, they kind of just were (with a heavy morally gray tint, of course). I would definitely read a whole book about this group. The Actress: Danielle Paige 3/5 stars This one wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t my cup of tea. I think it touches on some really important aspects of life and celebrity/Hollywood/fan culture, but the fantasy element felt a little thrown in. Also, the character read a little young. The Curse of Love: Ashley Woodfolk 3/5 stars This one was also ‘eh’ for me. I liked the concept and the POV switches a lot. The mystery of the Dunn women was certainly something that kept me interested in what was going to happen. The ending, however, felt off and I’m not sold on the way things played out. All the Time in the World: Charlotte Nicole Davis 5/5 stars I was a little put off at first by the use of 2nd person POV, but I think the stylistic choice makes sense and I got used to it as the story went on. I’m a sucker for mutants and magical powers, so this was right up my alley. I liked that we got to see Jordan experiment with her powers a little bit as she learned to use them. I also liked the general premise re: the Contaminant as well. The Witch’s Skin: Karen Strong 4/5 stars I liked the take on the witch in this one too. It’s an interesting multi-layered revenge story and, despite her wrongdoings, I did kind of like the Boo Hag. I felt bad for Nalah, but am glad that she was able to accomplish what she wanted and that she and her baby seem to have a good life coming. The worldbuilding was interesting too and I would’ve liked to follow Nalah (or the baby) past the end of the story to see how the rest of the world is or isn’t doing. Sequence: J. Marcelle Corrie 5/5 stars This story is a neat take on the sci-fi theme of having your life predicted for you. I like that we get to see the A and B sequences of Eden’s question and how each of them would play out. It was particularly interesting to see how Eden’s thoughts and emotions changed in the two scenes but that everything else stayed relatively the same. I’ll admit the ending of A story was a bit confusing for me, but overall I enjoyed Corrie’s twist on the ‘future prediction’ theme/trope.

[bighousela]

Kiss the Ground (Official Movie Trailer 2020)

www.kissthegroundmovie.com

directed by

JOSH TICKELL REBECCA TICKELL

narrated by

WOODY HARRELSON

produced by

REBECCA TICKELL

JOSH TICKELL

BILL BENENSON

RYLAND ENGELHART

DARIUS FISHER

executive produced by

LAURIE BENENSON

GISELE BÜNDCHEN

BILL CAMERON

JOHN PAUL DEJORIA

PEDRO DINIZ

ANNA GETTY

GEORGE HAGERMAN

RJ JAIN

JENA KING

JULIAN LENNON

MICHELLE LERACH

MELONY & ADAM LEWIS

CRAIG MCCAW

ANGUS MITCHELL

ELIZABETH MOORE

STEPHEN NEMETH

LARRY O’CONNER

JOHN ROULAC

REGINA K. SCULLY

NICOLE SHANAHAN

JON & SUSAN SHEINBERG

MARK SIMS

IRIS SMITH

IAN SOMERHALDER

TARA & BRIAN SWIBEL

cinematography by

SIMON BALDERAS

written by

JOHNNY O’HARA

JOSH TICKELL

REBECCA TICKELL

editors

ANTHONY ELLISON

DARIUS FISHER

SEAN P. KEENAN

MOMENT LU

RYAN A. NICHOLS

composer

RYAN DEMAREE

music supervisor

MIKE MEEKER

co-produced by

CENTER FOR FOOD SAFETY

ALEXA COUGHLIN

PAMELA GREEN

SUSAN ROCKEFELLER

AMY SMART

[sicilyjoywrites]

The Worst Best Man by Mia Sosa

I was in a serious reading slump. I keep putting down books and forgetting to return to them. I thought mysteries would hold my attention. Other people’s fictional problems have made me feel better about my world. But none of the fictional world could compete with what’s happening in 2020. And even though I am an introvert and love reading, the problems of the world kept distracting me until… Shelf Love (a romance book podcast) tempted me with their recommendation of The Worst Best Man by Mia Sosa.

A romance audiobook was exactly what I needed. For the first time in months, I was excited to read and keep reading. It surprised me that a romance did the trick. After all, the dating, kissing and lovemaking is unrealistic in the time of Covid-19. But surprise, surprise, I needed a simpler time and a sappier read.

The Worst Best by Mia Sosa is about Brazilian American, Carolina Santos, a wedding planner, who was stood up at her own wedding three years ago. Andrew, her fiancee, being too cowardly to tell her himself, sends his younger brother Max to deliver the news. Max makes the mistake of informing Carolina about the text message he received from Andrew. The message implied that it was Max’s words of wisdom during the bachelor party that convinced Andrew that he didn’t want to get married. Needlessly to say, Carolina is not a fan of Max from that moment on.

Three years pass before they all meet again. Carolina is up for a job being the lead wedding planner at a luxury hotel. Unfortunately, she learns too late that Andrew and Max are in charge of the hotel’s marketing. RomCom magic and happenstance, she ends up having to work with Max to perfect her pitch for the job. Sparks fly from there.

I love diverse women in RomComs, especially Women of Color. Sosa does an excellent job showing Carolina’s culture, family, and community. As Carolina’s character develops through the story, the reader is showed the complicacies of being a Woman of Color trying to thrive in the professional world. Carolina struggles with how to express herself without becoming too emotional in the eyes of a white patriarchy world.

Max struggles with getting out of his brother’s shadow and feeling like second best. They both have relatable baggage that through their growing relationship, they learn to navigate their various issues. The two have a great enemy to lovers’ chemistry. The romance plot is very sexy and realistic. Though, sometimes the story gets overboard with cheesiness. Max’s conversations with his friend, Dean isn’t very realistic. For example, Max is well too direct about his masturbatory fantasies with Dean. It was weird.

This novel is in first person with Max and Carolina as the point of view characters. Most of the first person narration was great, but there was some awkward monologuing. I liked the audio narrator (with Rebecca Mozo and Wayne Mitchell) except for Wayne’s female voices, which weren’t very good. But Wayne as Max’s voice was deep and sexy asf.

So, I rated The Worst Best Friend 4 out of 5 stars. Great plot, very sexy, relatable characters, but some of the dialogue was over the top.

Many virtual hugs to the Mia Sosa for pushing me out of my reading slump. I recommend this book to all romance readers and those who just need a light read with a guaranteed happy ending. I will definitely read her other books.

[herwitchinesss]

if you’re looking for a super hilarious and sweet romcom novel, check out “The Best Worst Man” by Mia Sosa! The audiobook is narrated by Rebecca Mozo & Wayne Mitchell and they make a great duo. From the Publisher’s Summary: “A wedding planner left at the altar? Yeah, the irony isn't lost on Carolina Santos, either. But despite that embarrassing blip from her past, Lina's offered an opportunity that could change her life. There's just one hitch...she has to collaborate with the best (make that worst) man from her own failed nuptials. Marketing expert Max Hartley is determined to make his mark with a coveted hotel client looking to expand its brand. Then he learns he'll be working with his brother's whip-smart, stunning - absolutely off-limits - ex-fiancée. And she loathes him. If they can nail their presentation without killing each other, they'll both come out ahead. Except Max has been public enemy number one ever since he encouraged his brother to jilt the bride, and Lina's ready to dish out a little payback of her own. Soon Lina and Max discover animosity may not be the only emotion creating sparks between them. Still, this star-crossed couple can never be more than temporary playmates because Lina isn't interested in falling in love and Max refuses to play runner-up to his brother ever again....” #booklr #bookstagram #books #audiobookstagram #audiobooks #audible #amreadingromance #bookrecommendation #romancebooks #romcom #nailsofinstagram #diynails #femme #quarantinereads #ownvoices https://www.instagram.com/p/B-_zd9-gx6s/?igshid=jz239rb9xth6

[gaeleatiamindeed]

The Coloring Crook: Pen & Ink Mysteries #2 by Krista Davis

The Coloring Crook: Pen & Ink Mysteries #2 by Krista Davis @AudioBok_Comm @TantorAudio @KensingtonBooks #KLover @KristaDavis

Krista Davis comes to the blog today with the second in her Pen & Ink mysteries, this one narrated by Rebecca Mitchell

The Coloring Crook

Florrie Fox manages a bookstore in Georgetown, Color Me Read, and is an artist that designs coloring books for adults. An interesting premise that brings a plethora of characters together, many of whom are members of the ‘coloring club’ that meets at the shop.…

[weirdletter]

The Modern Stephen King Canon: Beyond Horror, edited by Philip L. Simpson and Patrick McAleer, Lexington Books, 2018. Info: rowman.com.

The Modern Stephen King Canon: Beyond Horror is a collection of essays focused on the more recent writings of Stephen King, including Revival, 11/22/63, and a selection of short stories by the “Master of the Macabre.” The authors write about King works that have received little critical attention and aim to open up doorways of analysis and insight that will help readers gain a stronger appreciation for the depth and detail within King’s fiction. Indeed, while King is often relegated to the role of a genre writer (horror), the essays in this collection consider the merits of King’s writing beyond the basics of horror for which he is primarily known. Recommended for scholars of literature, horror, and popular culture.

Contents: Introduction: Beyond Horror by Philip L. Simpson and Patrick McAleer   PART I: Snapshots of King’s Craft The Rehabilitation of Stephen King by Tony Magistrale Storytelling and a Story Told: Stephen King’s narrators in From a Buick 8, The Colorado Kid, and Blaze by Michael Perry Stephen King’s “Fair Extension:” Of Contemporary America by Clotilde Landais The Bazaar of Bad Choices: What it is to be Female in King’s New World by Mary Findley   PART II: Ubiquitous Violence Monsters At Home: Representations of Domestic and Sexual Abuse in Gerald’s Game, Dolores Claiborne, and Rose Madder by Kimberly Beal Razors, Bumper Stickers, and Wheelchairs: Male Violence and Madness in Rose Madder and Mr. Mercedes by Rebecca Frost Horrific Sympathies: The Comingling of Violence and Mental Illness in Stephen King’s Mr. Mercedes by Hayley Mitchell Haugen From Meat World to Cyberspace: The Psychopath’s Journey in Mr. Mercedes and End of Watch by Philip L. Simpson   PART III: Reviving the Gothic Gothic Recall: Stephen King’s Uncanny Revival of the Frankenstein Myth by Alexandra Reuber Travelling before the Storm: Shades of the Lightning Rod Salesman in Stephen King’s Gothic by Conny L. Lippert From Wonder to Horror: Stephen King’s Revival and Robertson Davies’s Deptford Trilogy by Dominick Grace   PART IV: Contemporary Cornerstones Time Ravel: History, Metafiction, and Immersion in Stephen King’s 11/22/63 by Stefan L. Brandt In the Shadow of the Dark Tower: Stephen King’s Fantasy Epic as 9/11 Literature by Jennifer L. Miller Untangling the True Knot: Stephen King's (Accidental) Vegan Manifesto in Doctor Sleep by Patrick McAleer Bibliography About the Editors About the Contributors

[finishinglinepress]

FINISHING LINE PRESS BOOK OF THE DAY:

Romantic Portrait of a Natural Disaster by Hannah Cajandig-Taylor

TO ORDER ONLINE GO TO: https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/romantic-portrait-of-a-natural-disaster-by-hannah-cajandig-taylor/

ADVANCE PRAISE FOR Romantic Portrait of a Natural Disaster by Hannah Cajandig-Taylor

“Upon first reading the poems in Hannah Cajandig-Taylor’s Romantic Portrait of a Natural Disaster, I was tempted to think of them as nocturnes, as night music, but Cajandig-Taylor’s poems aren’t quiet. Rather, these poems are sky music—cosmos music—the explosions of solar flares and big bangs that expand and compress with every heartbeat. Throughout, Cajandig-Taylor balances the human experience as both deeply rooted in the body and the earth, and also wondrously entangled in an infinite celestial mystery; black holes and Auroras are just as close to us as ragdolls and tea leaves. The poet delicately navigates interior and exterior landscapes to grapple with our place in the universe. “We were made,” she writes in her first poem, “for the process of unearthing.” The narrators engage with the “unearthing” of vulnerability and self-discovery while also being literally un-Earthed—projected into the atmosphere and beyond the limits of our world, which is, perhaps, a space big enough for the heart to reach its full potential. Yet these poems are also deeply aware of our tenuous position, with the Earth as our only tether and sanctuary. A timely and thoughtful work, Romantic Portrait of a Natural Disaster grapples with what it means to be a human on Earth in the twenty-first century.”

–Rebecca Pelky, author of Horizon of the Dog Woman

“Within the first dozen pages of Romantic Portrait of a Natural Disaster, Hannah Cajandig-Taylor declares “we were forged by glaciers” in a soft, but confident and electric roar. In this book, the world ends beautifully and there is something gorgeous beneath every disaster. Before reading these poems, I believed the best poems were hungry. I know now the best poems are those that have already eaten. This collection, a collection that is forever meandering through a Groundhog Day of endings, teaches us that falling from grace is the first thing we learn to do, and what comes next is molded from these poems, from whatever ending we deem lovely enough to live in.”

–Matt Mitchell, author of Neon Hollywood Cowboy

“With one foot in the grim reality of our suffering planet and the other still lost in a childlike wonder for all its wild, mysterious offerings, Romantic Portrait of a Natural Disaster pulses, asking questions without ever demanding answers, as though the questions themselves are enough. Hannah Cajandig-Taylor writes ode after aching ode to the hurricane, to the night sky, to fire and rain and rock, exposing herself to the elements and then laying herself bare on the page. A stunning debut from Cajandig-Taylor. I will read this collection again and again.”

–Brenna Womer, author of honeypot

#poetry #booklovers #FLPauthor

#preorder

[appleblossomgirl0305]

BBC 100 Books meme

Yay books! That said, what a strange collection of books this is. I feel like it must have been compiled to create some sort of psychological assessment: classic children’s books + classically scandalized women + classic governmental paranoia (and Shakespeare for legitimization...) = ?? 

I might be the last person to do this. Thanks for the tags, @papofglencoe and @xerxia31​! I adore all opportunities to talk about books! If anyone else wants to do this, tag, you’re it!

BBC 100 Books Tag

BBC estimates that most people will only read 6 books out of the 100 listed below. Bold the ones you’ve read. (AND/OR ITALIC THE ONES ON YOUR READING LIST)

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen (re-reading this right now!) The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte Harry Potter series - JK Rowling To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee (one of my all-time most favorite books!) The Bible (some, but admittedly not all of the Old Testament) 
Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell   
His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman (planned re-read with my kids this summer) Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott (man, this book makes me salty to this day) Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy


Catch 22 - Joseph Heller

Complete Works of Shakespeare (I’ve seen a lot of plays, does that count?)

Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier 
The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger Middlemarch - George Eliot Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald Bleak House - Charles Dickens 
War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy  The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck (love all things Steinbeck) Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy David Copperfield - Charles Dickens Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis Emma - Jane Austen Persuasion - Jane Austen 
The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis (redundant from CON?) The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini (destroyed me) Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres 
Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne Animal Farm - George Orwell The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown 
One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez (sigh of happiness) A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving (my book club choice for August) 
The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery 
Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy 
The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood Lord of the Flies - William Golding Atonement - Ian McEwan (so, so good!) 
Life of Pi - Yann Martel   Dune - Frank Herbert Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen 
A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon 
A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens Brave New World - Aldous Huxley (summer before college I read Brave New World, Animal Farm, Catch 22 and 1984 - I was a paranoid mess) 
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov (incredible book) The Secret History - Donna Tartt (tried to listen to this, but Ms. Tartt self-narrates, and she writes far better than she narrates, will give it another try) The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas 
On The Road - Jack Kerouac Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie 
Moby Dick - Herman Melville 
Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens Dracula - Bram Stoker 
The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson Ulysses - James Joyce The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome Germinal - Emile Zola Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray Possession - AS Byatt A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell The Color Purple - Alice Walker The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro 
Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry Charlotte’s Web - EB White The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom  Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks Watership Down - Richard Adams A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole 
A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute 
The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas 
Hamlet - William Shakespeare 
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl 
Les Miserables - Victor Hugo 

[tartadirdu852767-blog]

history of audiobooks : Texas Bigger and Brighter by Donna Ingham | History

Listen to Texas Bigger and Brighter new releases history of audiobooks on your iPhone, iPad, or Android. Get any BOOKS by Donna Ingham History FREE during your Free Trial

Written By: Donna Ingham Narrated By: Rebecca Mitchell Publisher: Recorded Books Date: July 2017 Duration: 2 hours 32 minutes

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Top writers choose their perfect crime

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Top writers choose their perfect crime

Crime fiction is now the UKs bestselling genre. So which crime novels should everyone read? We asked the writers who know …

On Beulah Height by Reginald Hill Val McDermid

This is the perfect crime novel. Its beautifully written elegiac, emotionally intelligent, evocative of the landscape and history that holds its characters in thrall and its clever plotting delivers a genuine shock. Theres intellectual satisfaction in working out a plot involving disappearing children, whose counterpoint is Mahlers Kindertotenlieder. Theres darkness and light, fear and relief. And then theres the cross-grained pairing of Dalziel and Pascoe. Everything about this book is spot on.

Although Hills roots were firmly in the traditional English detective novel, he brought to it an ambivalence and ambiguity that allowed him to display the complexities of contemporary life. He created characters who changed and developed in response to their experiences. I urge you to read this with a glass of Andy Dalziels favourite Highland Park whisky.

Insidious Intent by Val McDermid is published by Sphere.

The Damned and the Destroyed by Kenneth Orvis Lee Child

My formative reading was before the internet, before fanzines, before also-boughts, so for me the best ever is inevitably influenced by the gloriously chanced-upon lucky finds, the greatest of which was a 60 cent Belmont US paperback, bought in an import record shop on a back street in Birmingham in 1969. It had a lurid purple cover, and an irresistible strapline: She was beautiful, young, blonde, and a junkie I had to help her! It turned out to be Canadian, set in Montreal. The hero was a solid stiff named Maxwell Dent. The villain was a dealer named The Back Man. The blonde had an older sister. Dents sidekicks were jazz pianists. The story was patient, suspenseful, educational and utterly superb. In many ways its the target I still aim at.

The Midnight Line by Lee Child is published by Bantam.

Bleak House by Charles Dickens Ian Rankin

Does this count as a crime novel? I think so. Dickens presents us with a mazey mystery, a shocking murder, a charismatic police detective, a slippery lawyer and a plethora of other memorable characters many of whom are suspects. The story has pace and humour, is bitingly satirical about the English legal process, and also touches on large moral and political themes. As in all great crime novels, the central mystery is a driver for a broad and deep investigation of society and culture. And theres a vibrant sense of place, too in this case, London, a city built on secret connections, a location Dickens knows right down to its dark, beating heart.

Rather Be the Devil by Ian Rankin is published by Orion. Siege Mentality by Chris Brookmyre is published by Little, Brown.

The Hollow by Agatha Christie Sophie Hannah

This is my current favourite, in its own way just as good as Murder on the Orient Express. As well as being a perfectly constructed mystery, its a gripping, acutely observed story about a group of people, their ambitions, loves and regrets. The characters are vividly alive, even the more minor ones, and the pace is expertly handled. The outdoor swimming pool scene in which Poirot discovers the murder is, I think, the most memorable discovery-of-the-body scene in all of crime fiction. Interestingly, Christie is said to have believed that the novel would have been better without Poirot. His presence here is handled differently he feels at one remove from the action for much of the time but it works brilliantly, since he is the stranger who must decipher the baffling goings on in the Angkatell family. The murderers reaction to being confronted by Poirot is pure genius. It would have been so easy to give that character, once exposed, the most obvious motivation, but the contents of this killers mind turn out to be much more interesting

Did You See Melody by Sophie Hannah is published by Hodder.

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier SJ Watson

SJ Watsno

I first came to Rebecca, published in 1938, with one of the most recognisable first lines in literature, not knowing exactly what to expect. That it was a classic I was in no doubt, but a classic what? I suspected a drama, possibly a romance, a book heavy on character but light on plot and one Id read and then forget. How wrong I was.

It is a dark, brooding psychological thriller, hauntingly beautiful, literature yes, but with a killer plot. I loved everything about it. The way Du Maurier slowly twists the screw until we have no idea who to trust, the fact that the title character never appears and exists only as an absence at the heart of the book, the fact that the narrator herself is unnamed throughout. But, more importantly, this thriller is an exploration of power, of the men who have it and the women who dont, and the secrets told to preserve it.

Second Life by SJ Watson is published by Black Swan.

Mystic River by Dennis Lehane James Lee Burke

To my mind this is the best crime novel written in the English language. Lehane describes horrible events with poetic lines that somehow heal the injury that his subject matter involves, not unlike Shakespeare or the creators of the King James Old Testament. Thats not a hyper-bolic statement. His use of metaphysical imagery is obviously influenced by Gerard Manley Hopkins. Mystic River is one for the ages.

Robicheaux by James Lee Burke is published by Orion.

The Expendable Man by Dorothy B Hughes Sara Paretsky

Author Sara Paretsky for Arts. Photo by Linda Nylind. 15/7/2015.

Today, Hughes is remembered for In a Lonely Place (1947) Bogart starred in the 1950 film version. My personal favourite is The Expendable Man (1963). Hughes lived in New Mexico and her love of its bleak landscape comes through in carefully painted details. She knows how to use the land sparingly, so it creates mood. The narrative shifts from the sandscape to the doctor, who reluctantly picks up a teen hitchhiker. When shes found dead a day later, hes the chief suspect, and the secrets we know hes harbouring from the first page are slowly revealed.

Hughess novels crackle with menace. Like a Bauhaus devotee, she understood that in creating suspense, less is more. Insinuation, not graphic detail, gives her books an edge of true terror. Shes the master we all could learn from.

Fallout by Sara Paretsky is published by Hodder.

Killing Floor by Lee Child Dreda Say Mitchell

What is it about any particular novel that means youre so engrossed that you miss your bus stop or stay up way past your bedtime? A spare, concise style that doesnt waste a word. A striking lead character who manages to be both traditional and original. A plot thats put together like a Swiss watch. Childs debut has all these things, but like all great crime novels it has the x-factor.

In the case of Killing Floor that factor is a righteous anger, rooted in personal experience, that makes the book shake in your hands. Its the story of a military policeman who loses his job and gets kicked to the kerb. Jack Reacher becomes a Clint Eastwood-style loner who rides into town and makes it his business to dish out justice and protect the underdog, but without the usual props of cynicism or alcohol. We can all identify with that anger and with that thirst for justice. We dont see much of the latter in real life. At least in Killing Floor we do.

Blood Daughter by Dreda Say Mitchell is published by Hodder.

The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler Benjamin Black (John Banville)

The Long Goodbye is not the most polished, and certainly not the most convincingly plotted, of Chandlers novels, but it is the most heartfelt. This may seem an odd epithet to apply to one of the great practitioners of hard-boiled crime fiction. The fact is, Chandler was not hard-boiled at all, but a late romantic artist exquisitely attuned to the bittersweet melancholy of post-Depression America. His closest literary cousin is F Scott Fitzgerald.

Philip Marlowes love and surely it is nothing less than love for the disreputable Terry Lennox is the core of the book, the rhapsodic theme that transcends and redeems the creaky storyline and the somewhat cliched characterisation. And if Lennox is a variant of Jay Gatsby, and Marlowe a stand in for Nick Carraway, Fitzgeralds self-effacing but ever-present narrator, then Roger Wade, the drink-soaked churner-out of potboilers that he despises, is an all too recognisable portrait of Chandler himself, and a vengefully caricatured one at that. However, be assured that any pot The Long Goodbye might boil is fashioned from hammered bronze.

Prague Nights by Benjamin Black is published by Viking.

Love in Amsterdam by Nicolas Freeling Ann Cleeves

Although Nicolas Freeling wrote in English he was a European by choice an itinerant chef who roamed between postwar France, Belgium and Holland, and who instilled in me a passion for crime set in foreign places. He detested the rules of the traditional British detective novel: stories in which plot seemed to be paramount. Love in Amsterdam (1962) is Freelings first novel and it breaks those rules both in terms of structure and of theme.

It is a tale of sexual obsession and much of the book is a conversation between the suspect, Martin, whos been accused of killing his former lover, and the cop. Van der Valk, Freelings detective, is a rule-breaker too, curious and compassionate, and although we see his investigative skills in later books, here his interrogation is almost that of a psychologist, teasing the truth from Martin, forcing him to confront his destructive relationship with the victim.

The Seagullby Ann Cleeves is published by Pan.

Laidlaw by William McIlvanney Chris Brookmyre

I first read Laidlaw in 1990, shortly after moving to London, when I was aching for something with the flavour of home, and what a gamey, pungent flavour McIlvanneys novel served up. A sense of place is crucial to crime fiction, and Laidlaw brought Glasgow to life more viscerally than any book I had read before: the good and the bad, the language and the humour, the violence and the drinking.

Laidlaws turf is a male hierarchy ruled by unwritten codes of honour, a milieu of pubs and hard men rendered so convincingly by McIlvanneys taut prose. His face looked like an argument you couldnt win, he writes of one character, encapsulating not only the mans appearance but his entire biography in a mere nine words.

This book made me realise that pacey, streetwise thrillers didnt have to be American: we had mean streets enough of our own. It emboldened me to write about the places I knew and in my own accent.

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov Laura Lippman

Im going to claim Lolita for crime fiction, something I never used to do. But it has kidnapping, murder and its important to use this term rape. It also has multiple allusions to Edgar Allan Poe and even hides an important clue well, not exactly in plain sight, but in the text of, yes, a purloined letter. And now we know, thanks to the dogged scholarship of Sarah Weinman, that it was based on a real case in the United States. (Weinmans book, The Real Lolita, will be published later this year.)

Dorothy Parker meant well when she said Lolita was a book about love, but, no its about the rape of a child by a solipsistic paedophile who rationalises his actions, another crime that is too often hidden in plain sight. Some think that calling Lolita a crime novel cheapens it, but I think it elevates the book, reminds us of the pedestrian ugliness that is always there, thrumming beneath the beautiful language.

Sunburn by Laura Lippman is published by Faber.

The Moving Target by Ross Macdonald Donna Leon

Ross Macdonald, an American who wrote in the 60s and 70s, has enchanted me since then with the beauty of his writing and the decency of his protagonist, Lew Archer. I envy him his prose: easy, elegant, at times poetically beautiful. I also admire the absence of violence in the novels, for he usually follows Aristotles admonition that gore be kept out of the view of the audience. When Archer discovers the various wicked things one person has done to another, he does not linger in describing it but makes it clear how his protagonist mourns not only the loss of human life but also the loss of humanity that leads to it.

Macdonalds plotting is elegant: often, as Archer searches for the motive for todays crime, he unearths a past injustice that has returned to haunt the present and provoke its violence. His sympathy for the victims is endless, as is his empathy for some of the killers.

The Temptation of Forgiveness by Donna Leon is published by William Heinemann.

The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins Nicci French

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BBC 100 books (with commentary)

thanks for the tag @thegreatorangedragon  As an English major I was compelled to read a lot of these, and I may only have skimmed/read chunks of some of them if I could get away with it....

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen: not my favorite Austen, actually (Persuasion and Sense and Sensibility are 1 & 2) The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien - OMG, SO many times. My siblings and I had rituals around the reading of LOTR.

Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte.  Yes - it’s OK Harry Potter series - JK Rowling - Yes!  My kids grew up to them and the experience was almost as good as the books.  But I also really enjoyed watching Rowling mature as a writer over the course of the series.  I don’t ask for perfection from my writers, but warmth and growth.  :-)  Also, they got my stubborn non-reader sons to READ. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee  - like probably every other person who went to MS/HS in the US. The Bible - yes, and twice all the way through.  once at about 10, and then more recently along with Slate’s Blogging the Bible (ok it was just the Old Testament).  That was a stage on my journey to my current fallen-catholicness 
Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte - yes, but prefer the Pat Benatar song :D Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell - yes and really need a re-read 
His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman - No, keep meaning to. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
.  Yes, and can I say I love Dickens - LOVE Dickens - but I hate this book.  I think it’s always assigned because it’s shortish.  I regularly reread the glorious messes that are Pickwick Papers, Bleak House, A Tale of Two Cities, and my fav, the insane Our Mutual Friend (but ONLY the Lizzie Hexam/Eugene Wrayburn segments). Little Women - Louisa M Alcott - and the sequels.  I think Jo’s Boys might actually be my favorite. Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
.  yes - I am pretty sure??? Catch 22 - Joseph Heller.  read enough of it to count Complete Works of Shakespeare - William Shakespeare; yes! my mom was a Zefferelli Romeo & Juliet junkie - we had the album of the film - and I must have heard it 3 dozen times before I was 7.  She bought a complete works and I read all of it over the years. Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier. No 
The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien - Yes.  My husband’s favorite book.  And I really liked the Rankin-Bass film, when I was young.  Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk  No Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger - yeah The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger  Realllly?  This is a good book but I’m not sure it belongs on this list.  First novel and feels fresh out of an MFA program.  My other complaints I won’t say here because I tend to get very snarky about this book. (Another book I read around the same time [mid-oughts] was Then We Came to the End, the debut novel of Joshua Ferris - much better, like DeLillo without the air of self-importance.) Middlemarch - George Eliot; love me some Eliot (but prefer Silas Marner, mainly because of a very good tv adaption). Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell - Again: really?  I read this book because I spent the summer between HS and college in a really small town with a teeny library and I basically read my way through the fiction stacks.  Won’t say more than that, because I would get political. The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald Yes, but not a favorite. Bleak House - Charles Dickens. A great, great book for which two amazing miniseries have been done in my lifetime.  But rightly criticized, IMO, for the annoying tone of its first-person narrator, Esther.  Dickens was dazzlingly, spectacularly wrong in writing about women.  Not to mention other groups.  But my god did he skewer institutions on behalf of the (British) poor - none better. This book wins for the Jo’s death scene and its sweeping, bitter, critique of church and state and society and everything - and so human.  “Dead!  And dying thus around us, everyday.”  I was 12 when I first read that, recovering from chicken pox, and I sat straight up in bed.  This is the book that made me a socialist. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy This is so horrible, but I haven’t! The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams.  Yes, fun, but not a favorite. Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh - No.  I started to and have a copy at work, for some reason I don’t even remember.  But not enough to county Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky  No :( Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck.  Yes, oh and my grandma’s family were Okies.  Everyone in my family has a copy of the Sacramento Bee front page story sneering about the dust bowl immigrants arriving in town and my great-grandmother is mentioned by name (though they mistakenly think she is her widowed father’s wife).  I love Cali, and Sactown, but we have a long history of being not-so-welcoming to everyone at certain times (was it in the 80s where the “Welcome to California, Now Go Home” bumper stickers were everywhere?).

Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll - yes The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame - yes but so long ago I don’t remember it at all Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy yes. David Copperfield - Charles Dickens.  Yes, not his best by far.  Another “easy” read like Great Expectations Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis - and many other of his works, when I was trying NOT to be an atheist - Mere Christianity, his sci-fi trilogy and Til We Have Faces, a retelling of my favorite myth, Psyche and Cupid.  I like the more obscure books in this series best - The Silver Chair and The Horse and his Boy. Emma - Jane Austen Persuasion - Jane Austen - oh, here it is!


The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis .... uh, yes The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini - was a group read at work a couple of years ago.  recommend. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres 
Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne - yes Animal Farm - George Orwell - another book I want to re-read. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown - nope 
One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez; YES A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving 
The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins ... did I?  I’m pretty sure. Or was it The Moonstone? Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery.  YES.  Anxiously awaiting the new adaption.  Why is it so hard to get Anne of Windy Poplars on kindle?  That is the funniest one.  And Rilla of Ingleside so heartbreaking 
Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy 
The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood, yes and ever so long ago.  Another book to re-read soon (haven’t started watching the series yet) Lord of the Flies - William Golding Atonement - Ian McEwan; LOVE this book and his writing in general.  He also wrote the screenplay, and the movie and the book are a perfect match in tone. 
Life of Pi - Yann Martel No, but on my list Dune - Frank Herbert - no Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons - yes, Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen - yay! 
A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon 
A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens - my intro to Dickens, though not his best Brave New World - Aldous Huxley - starting to get depressed at all this dystopian fiction that needs to be re-read as a primer for the present times 
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez - lives at my desk at work.  Not even a favorite book of mine, but I love diving into his words every once in a while Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov The Secret History - Donna Tartt The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold  - when I saw the movie it reminded me why I wasn’t into reading the book Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas - plot better than the story 
On The Road - Jack Kerouac Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy - yeah, I had to read so much Hardy Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie - no, want to though 
Moby Dick - Herman Melville; I can’t even think about this book without remembering our class discussion of the “circle jerk” chapter.  I remember literally nothing else. 
Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens - meh Dracula - Bram Stoker 
The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett  - an ALL-TIME favorite Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson Ulysses - James Joyce; all hail the master, and the bastard responsible for my sick dependence on the em-dash The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome Germinal - Emile Zola Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray - unfortunately, yes Possession - AS Byatt A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens; of course Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell The Color Purple - Alice Walker - excellent The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry Charlotte’s Web - EB White: yes The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Yes.  I prefer Dorothy Sayers’ Lord Peter series hands-down, but despite her association with Tolkien, Lewis, et al, she got squashed between Conan Doyle and Christie.  Her Gaudy Night is one of my top five books.

The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad - yeah The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery heck, yeah The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks Watership Down - Richard Adams yes A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole - my kids read this book in HS, so I have a copy lying around, but have never read it A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas Hamlet - William Shakespeare - yes, probably too many times.  What are my favorite Shakespeare dramas?  Maybe King Lear, Richard III? Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl. yes 
Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

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How to Claim an Undead Soul: Beginner's Guide to Necromancy #2 by Hailey Edwards

How to Claim an Undead Soul: Beginner's Guide to Necromancy #2 by Hailey Edwards #LoveAudioBooks @AudioBook_Comm @TantorAudio @HaileyEdwards

Hailey Edwards returns with the second book in her Beginner’s Guide to Necromancy series, narrated by Rebecca Mitchell.

How to Claim an Undead Soul

Jumping in with a full mix of characters, Grier has won her battle to train as a necromancer, even though she’s been housebound for her own protection. Enter ‘cousin’ Linus who is meant to teach Grier what she needs to know, and while he’s a good…

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How to Save an Undead Life: Beginner's Guide to Necromancy #1 by Hailey Edwards

How to Save an Undead Life: Beginner's Guide to Necromancy #1 by Hailey Edwards #LoveAudioBooks @AudioBook_Comm @TantorAudio @HaileyEdwards

Hailey Edwards comes to the blog with the first in a new series, the Beginner’s Guide to Necromancy, which is narrated by Rebecca Michell. Please read on for my review of

How to Save an Undead Life

I love Edwards’ style for Urban Fantasy, and in this one set in Savannah Georgia, she’s managed to get me both intrigued and cheering on the heroine here, Grier. Given her past and some serious…

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Witch Spells Trouble: Nightshade Paranormal Cozy #2 by Lori Woods

Witch Spells Trouble: Nightshade Paranormal Cozy #2 by Lori Woods #LoveAudioBooks @AudioBook_Comm @TantorAudio

Lori Woods comes to the blog today with the second in the Nightshade Paranormal Cozy mystery series, this one narrated by Rebecca Mitchell. Please read on for my review of

Witch Spells Trouble

I found the premise cute as Suzy seems to be a witch seriously in need of schooling in all things witchy, yet when she arrives, things are all confused. And yes – that is the best part of this story, one…