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Showing posts from 2012

Books in Review: What I Enjoyed in '12

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2012 was a great year for books, and not just because adults got their own summer book club. (Although that was a bonus, I agree!) I read some great books for Fall for the Book (FFTB) this year, including (but not limited to ) The Submission and Age of Miracles . I was able to meet Amy Waldman, Michael Chabon, Eleanor Brown, Karen Thompson Walker and Alice Walker.  I missed Katherine Boo, but I just finished her book Behind the Beautiful Forevers — and I encourage you to read it, too. Next on my FFTB list: Weird Sisters . I met authors outside of the festival, including Tom Perotta, whose book The Leftovers made me appreciate how well he can create a story that can end but still carry on. I read quite a few worthy biographies, including Let's Pretend This Never Happened and How to Be a Woman . I laughed, I cried, I celebrated their lives and foibles. What great tales! I'm sorry I was so light on my reviews, but I'll try to be better next year — and maybe even

Blast from the Past: I'm Reading a Book!

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This video offers excellent lifesaving advice. Watch it and learn. Then catch some of his other videos on YouTube . You're welcome.

Listing Book Piles, 2012 Edition

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This year, I changed a few ways I do things: a new house, new technology — why not? But now I haven't the foggiest what I have read this year. It's true: I used to record them in the monthly pages of my organizer, which I affectionately called "my brick." (It was that heavy.) Then I got a Kindle Fire and started using Google Calendar (which, I realize, in the end will lack the permanence and reference of my Franklin Covey pages). This streamlining encouraged me to stop recording my books as I finished them. Now I have multiple sources, none of them easily organized and quick to provide information. Sigh. I thought I was being so clever. Now, I shall record on this page, in no particular order, all of the books I have read this year. That I can remember. Feel free to let me know how wrong I am, for that is the only thing of which I am certain. My 2012 Reading List (I think; subject to change when I remember another one or realize I read it last year ins

Movie vs. Book Harry Potter

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Courtesy Book Riot

Poetry Wednesday: What's in My Journal

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What's in My Journal Odd things, like a button drawer. Mean Thing, fishhooks, barbs in your hand. But marbles too. A genius for being agreeable. Junkyard crucifixes, voluptuous discards. Space for knickknacks, and for Alaska. Evidence to hang me, or to beatify. Clues that lead nowhere, that never connected anyway. Deliberate obfuscation, the kind that takes genius. Chasms in character. Loud omissions. Mornings that yawn above a new grave. Pages you know exist but you can't find them. Someone's terribly inevitable life story, maybe mine. by William Stafford from Crossing Unmarked Snow © Harper Collins , 1981.

The Winter Solstice: The Longest Night Leads to Longer Days!

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Fire and Ice  Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice. From what I've tasted of desire I hold with those who favor fire. But if it had to perish twice, I think I know enough of hate To know that for destruction ice Is also great And would suffice. by Robert Frost   Poem courtesy poets.org Image by Alice Mason

Poetry Wednesday: Toward the Winter Solstice

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Toward the Winter Solstice Although the roof is just a story high, It dizzies me a little to look down. I lariat-twirl the rope of Christmas lights And cast it to the weeping birch's crown; A dowel into which I've screwed a hook Enables me to reach, lift, drape, and twine The cord among the boughs so that the bulbs Will accent the tree's elegant design. Friends, passing home from work or shopping, pause And call up commendations or critiques. I make adjustments. Though a potpourri Of Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Jews, and Sikhs, We all are conscious of the time of year; We all enjoy its colorful displays And keep some festival that mitigates The dwindling warmth and compass of the days. Some say that L.A. doesn't suit the Yule, But UPS vans now like magi make Their present-laden rounds, while fallen leaves Are gaily resurrected in their wake; The desert lifts a full moon from the east And issues a dry Santa Ana breeze, And valet

Never Forget: Where The Hobbit Began

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Today, Tomorrow and Tomorrow

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Poetry Wednesday: The Feast of Lights

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The Feast of Lights   Kindle the taper like the steadfast star Ablaze on evening's forehead o'er the earth, And add each night a lustre till afar An eightfold splendor shine above thy hearth. Clash, Israel, the cymbals, touch the lyre, Blow the brass trumpet and the harsh-tongued horn; Chant psalms of victory till the heart takes fire, The Maccabean spirit leap new-born. Remember how from wintry dawn till night, Such songs were sung in Zion, when again On the high altar flamed the sacred light, And, purified from every Syrian stain, The foam-white walls with golden shields were hung, With crowns and silken spoils, and at the shrine, Stood, midst their conqueror-tribe, five chieftains sprung From one heroic stock, one seed divine. Five branches grown from Mattathias' stem, The Blessed John, the Keen-Eyed Jonathan, Simon the fair, the Burst-of Spring, the Ge

Today: The Hobbit

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Tomorrow

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Two Days Until

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Three Days Until

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Four Days Until

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Five Days Until

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Poor Bilbo!

Six Days Until

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Antici— (say it!) — pation

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 Have you re-read the book yet? Will you do so before the movie?

Countdown to 'The Hobbit' Commences!

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From One Book Lover counts down to the release of the movie The Hobbit December 14 — and beyond! Visit this blog every day from December 7-16 and celebrate J.R.R. Tolkien's story brought to life on the big screen by Peter Jackson.

Poetry Wednesday: The Christmas Trees

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The Christmas Trees (A Christmas Circular Letter) The city had withdrawn into itself And left at last the country to the country; When between whirls of snow not come to lie And whirls of foliage not yet laid, there drove A stranger to our yard, who looked the city, Yet did in country fashion in that there He sat and waited till he drew us out A-buttoning coats to ask him who he was. He proved to be the city come again To look for something it had left behind And could not do without and keep its Christmas. He asked if I would sell my Christmas trees; My woods—the young fir balsams like a place Where houses all are churches and have spires. I hadn’t thought of them as Christmas Trees. I doubt if I was tempted for a moment To sell them off their feet to go in cars And leave the slope behind the house all

NaNoWriMo: Write On! Right On!

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Don't stop. Keep on writing — or being creative in a way that makes you happy. Carry On. Write On. Right on!

Poetry Wednesday: Noël

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Noël When snow is shaken From the balsam trees And they're cut down And brought into our houses When clustered sparks Of many-colored fire Appear at night In ordinary windows We hear and sing The customary carols They bring us ragged miracles And hay and candles And flowering weeds of poetry That are loved all the more Because they are so common But there are carols That carry phrases Of the haunting music Of the other world A music wild and dangerous As a prophet's message Or the fresh truth of children Who though they come to us From our own bodies Are altogether new With their small limbs And birdlike voices They look at us With their clear eyes And ask the piercing questions God alone can answer.  by Anne Porter from Living Things . © Zoland Books, 2006. Courtesy of The Writer's Almanac and poets.org

NaNoWriMo: Inspiration Works

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Poetry Wednesday: I Could Pee On This

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Chronicle Books has given true poets a voice: cats. Purchase the poetry book, I Could Pee On This: And Other Poems By Cats from Chronicle Books.

NaNoWriMo: Ten Steps to Becoming a Better Writer

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Well, what are you waiting for? Go write!

Poetry Wednesday: The Wound-Dresser

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  The Wound-Dresser 1 An old man bending I come among new faces, Years looking backward resuming in answer to children, Come tell us old man, as from young men and maidens that love me, (Arous'd and angry, I'd thought to beat the alarum, and urge relentless war, But soon my fingers fail'd me, my face droop'd and I resign'd myself, To sit by the wounded and soothe them, or silently watch the dead;) Years hence of these scenes, of these furious passions, these chances, Of unsurpass'd heroes, (was one side so brave? the other was equally brave;) Now be witness again, paint the mightiest armies of earth, Of those armies so rapid so wondrous what saw you to tell us? What stays with you latest and deepest? of curious panics, Of hard-fought engagements or sieges tremendous what de

NaNoWriMo: Lost in the Woods

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Fellow adventurers, I share with you a fantastic entry on Brain Pickings that hopefully will serve as inspiration as you venture into unfamiliar lands during NaNoWriMo. Click here to read the list kindly typed out by Maria Popova. Once you are done here, go to the Brain Pickings website . Support that incredible effort and all it brings you. You'll be glad you did. And find out more about NaNoWriMo — it's a fun challenge you'll be glad you did. Well, when it's over, you'll be glad. Like training for a marathon: it's often less painful in your rear-view mirror.

Poetry Wednesday: Getting out of Bed

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A Haiku About Gettin g Out of Bed No no no no no No no no no no no no No no no no no Photo by Dorit Salutskij via Pinterest

When Bookworms Rule the World— Soon...

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But take your book with you, if you must, on Election Day (U.S.: November 6). Power to the readers! Graphic courtesy Writers Relief

Poetry Wednesday: Spiders and E.B. White

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This isn't really a scary poem, but spiders have a rep to uphold. Therefore, I will glorify spiders and E.B. White today on this, the sixtieth year since Charlotte's Web was published ( listen t o th e NPR radio story about it ) . Happy Halloween. The Spider’s Web (A Natural History) The spider, dropping down from twig, Unfolds a plan of her devising, A thin premeditated rig To use in rising. And all that journey down through space, In cool descent and loyal hearted, She spins a ladder to the place From where she started. Thus I, gone forth as spiders do In spider’s web a truth discerning, Attach one silken thread to you For my returning. by E.B. White with thanks to Gregory Maguire , for reminding me about this gem

A Classic Question

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Get Ready: All Hallow's Read is Right Around the Corner!

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Neil Gaiman had a great idea: give a scary book for Halloween. Here, let me let him tell you himself: I fully support All Hallow's Read , but I'm a little different: I give poems with the candy.  This year, Halloween falls on Poetry Wednesday, so you can get your poetry fix right here. Feel free to print out the poem I post October 31 and give it to the trick-or-treaters who come to your door. (If you need the title early so you can better prepare, let me know .) Other poems I've shared in years past include "The Raven" by Edgar Allen Poe and " The Little Ghost " by Edna St. Vincent Millay. So, what are you reading this All Hallow's Read? If you're looking for a novel, I suggest John Dies at the End by David Wong. I just finished it and if I could explain it, I would get a medal. It was wild, freaky and very, very good. I also will be reading Shadow of Night (and re-reading A Discovery of Witches , which is totally worthy

Poetry Wednesday: When October Goes

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Late in his life, Johnny Mercer grew close to Barry Manilow — and asked his widow to give Manilow his unfinished lyrics. Manilow set at least one to music. The result is one of my favorite songs, When October Goes. A number of people have recorded the song, but Manilow's version seems the most haunted. When October Goes And when October goes   The snow begins to fly   Above the smokey roofs   I watch the planes go by The children running home   Beneath a twilight sky   Oh, for the fun of them   When I was one of them   And when October goes   The same old dream appears   And you are in my arms   To share the happy years I turn my head away   To hide the helpless tears   Oh, how I hate   To see October go   And when October goes   The same old dream appears   And you are in my arms   To share the happy years I turn my head away   To hide the helpless tears   Oh, how I hate   To see October go   I should be over it now  I kn

Review: Hunger Games Trilogy

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Note: this is a review of a trilogy — and, as a result, contains spoilers. If you haven't read all three books, proceed with caution. Dystopian literature can be tough to read, and Suzanne Collins doesn't sugar-coat the life of a hungry, angry teen in her very successful Hunger Games trilogy. I wasn't able to get past the first chapter the first time I tried to read it, but I was able to get through the entire trilogy after seeing the first movie. I emerged at the end, exhausted, wrung out — but glad I read it. Life is tough enough for teens without showing them a terrible, depressing world. And Panem is about as bad as it can get for people of any age: after an uprising that nearly destroyed the central government, rulers did the best they could to divide and conquer. After obliterating those in the area of the country that led the uprising, the rest of the country was divided into districts. To keep the districts at odds, the government created a competition, &qu