From One Book Lover

National Poetry Month Includes  A Poem From the Cat Makes you tingle, doesn't it? Enjoy a new poem daily in April at my other blog, Hedgehog Lover . If you have suggestions, be sure to  share them ! Thanks to  Delaware Humanities Forum  for the great poetry graphic at the top of the page. The cat poet is anonymous (which isn't unexpected — just ask T.S. Eliot about cat names.)

I have shelves and shelves of books. Nearly two dozen shelves alone are dedicated to fiction. A couple of these books already have been read, but most are waiting for the tender caress of this reader's eyes. The same holds true for my bursting-at-the-seams Kindle. Many of these books are ones I have been promising myself to read. These were lovingly snatched out of the bookstore on Publishing Day or pre-ordered online. I couldn't wait to read them. So, what happened? Time. Energy. A massive, towering, intimidating to-read stack on my nightstand and desk. Life. You name it, that pushes it down the to-read list. From time to time, I jump the line (John Connolly and Night Music: Nocturnes 2 , I am looking at you!) but certainly not often enough if The Map of the Sky is not yet read (let alone The Map of Chaos ) and Beastly Bones remained "new" on my Kindle for months. What is the answer to reading what I want when my sole task is to read what I want...

Critics think they are doing Jessica Knoll a favor by comparing her debut novel to Gillian Flynn's books. They are not.  I, as a reader, was led to expect an entirely different book than I got. Is Luckiest Girl Alive suspenseful? Sure.  Does it tease out the story with plenty of foreboding and dangling clues and teasers? You bet.  Are there some surprises in there? A few.  In fact, it's one of the best-written books I've read in a while. However, the hype around the book influenced my reading of it, which wasn't fair to me, Knoll or poor TifAni.   As the book opens, Ani FaNelli is living the life of her dreams. She works not at just any magazine, but The Women's Magazine . She isn't just engaged, but engaged to a blue-blood, Old Money bachelor with an obscenely wealthy family. Her address, her clothes, even her friends are Just Right — rich in all the right ways, and all because of fiancé Luke. She is starving herself into...

National Poetry Month begins in April, so here's a tasty morsel to help you get ready! Chocolate Velvet fruit, exquisite square I hold up to sniff between finger and thumb - how you numb me with your rich attentions! If I don't eat you quickly, you'll melt in my palm. Pleasure seeker, if i let you you'd liquefy everywhere. Knotted smoke, dark punch of earth and night and leaf, for a taste of you any woman would gladly crumble to ruin. Enough chatter: I am ready to fall in love!  by Rita Dove courtesy Poem Hunter

In Beastly Bones , William Ritter has created another delightful tale with the astute R.F. Jackaby and clever Abigail Rook, who are on the case of shapeshifters, dinosaur bones and a few more otherworldly creatures (including humans). This tale may begin with kittens, but don't let that lull you into a false sense of security. This is a fast-paced story, a mystery wrapped in a riddle with lots of excitement and revelations. It is funny and poignant, clever and revealing. Jackaby is a detective who specializes in the supernatural. Abigail fled England to find opportunity beyond the boundaries enforced by her family. It's 1892, and her options are limited — until she meets Jackaby and joins one of the most unique and delightful detective agencies on this side of the Atlantic. Beastly Bones jumps right into the thick of things with shapeshifters who, for the time being, are adorable kittens (mostly). Their owner soon meets an unfortunate end, and Jackaby and Miss Rook...

Do you think classic books (even modern classics) are best left to students? Or do you indulge throughout your life? I am in the latter camp. I read some great books in school, but there are too many good books to simply stop because no grades are involved. As a result, I have begun "Filling in the Gaps" of my reading. The original challenge was to make a list of 100 books to read in five years. My list was originally published in 2010 , was ambitious — and one that was destined to change. I realized some books were not worth reading after all, and others I discovered I already had read. Additionally, the list was influenced by an interactive project with my friend Carole: Weighty Reads, in which we chose 20 books to read together in the next decade, with a few related books tucked into our repertoire along the way. Frankly, one should adjust one's list as time goes on. Is Asimov as important as Bradbury? Should I keep three Dickens at the cost of...

Not to brag, but I managed to put quite a few new books (and more than a couple of re-reads) on my "read" list in 2015. Some were great. Others... well, let's just "live and learn," shall we? Let's start on a positive note, with my favorites. I won't bother with the synopsis, but I will link to the ones for which I wrote a review. The Martian — If you haven't read the book, stop what you're doing right now and read it. Seriously. Seeing the movie won't help. There are some things that a book can do that movies have to leave out. When Mark, who's been in his own head for weeks, is told to tone down his messages to Earth because they are being read in real time, his response made me want to be him. I've never loved an inappropriate word more than I did in that moment. More importantly, The Martian reminded me just how precious our planet is: it sustains us, despite what we do to foil that effort. I truly fear that we will make...