While it might be a bit late for a “last year recap” (it is already spring by the calendar, even if the snow last week belied that), I thought I might as well do one for those folks hoping to get some recommendations for good reading. I did find some “gems” out of the 94 … Continue reading Rollicking Reads of 2017
Short Stories
‘Tis the season for many celebrations!
December. It's such a full month! There's Hanukkah, Winter Solstice, Christmas, Kwanzaa, New Year's Eve. And all of Advent, St. Nicholas Day, St. Lucia Day, Las Posadas, Pancha Ganapati, Yule, Boxing Day, Hogmanay, and even Hogswatch and Festivus! I cannot tell a lie. I'm a sucker for holidays. I love all the customs, ceremonies, symbols, decorations, … Continue reading ‘Tis the season for many celebrations!
Board Games — a great antidote to boredom!
August is National Anti-boredom Month. What better time to ponder the definitely un-boring world of board games, right? First of all, I have to confess, I am a board-gamer. An avid one. My husband and I have a collection of over 400 board games (more broadly referred to as tabletop games), ranging from 10 Days in … Continue reading Board Games — a great antidote to boredom!
Repeat Readings
Several months ago I wrote about movies that I had re-watched again and again; specifically, movies I had seen at least 5 times. I talked about why I’d ended up watching those films as much as I had, and about the movies themselves. I actually got a fairly big response to that blog posting – apparently lots … Continue reading Repeat Readings
Where’s My Flying Car? Science Fiction Predictions
It is always fun to read science fiction and see how the author predicts the future. This is especially true for older books. Not only was our technology not nearly as advanced back then, but we can also truly see how it all turned out. For instance, a lot of writers still had us using … Continue reading Where’s My Flying Car? Science Fiction Predictions
Random Book Day 2014, Featuring 15 Random Reads in 8 Categories
By Chris A lot of people shiver in anticipation waiting for Random Book Day. Sure, it is a day I made up last year, and no one knows when it happens, or even if it will happen. SPOILER ALERT! It is happening! Right now! So brace yourselves. Seriously, we are heading for 3000 words. This year … Continue reading Random Book Day 2014, Featuring 15 Random Reads in 8 Categories
They Ate My Brain: 15 Top Zombie Reads
By Chris Zombies! They just won’t go away, both in the stories featuring them and in popular culture. Now we could engage in a long discussion as to why zombies strike a chord with us, how they reach a primal part of our psyche, how an unrelenting, implacable, remorseless enemy that cannot be reasoned with … Continue reading They Ate My Brain: 15 Top Zombie Reads
It’s Random Book Day!
We just made this day up. Silk - Alessandro Baricco Chris - Our random books odyssey begins in Italy, with Alessandro Baricco’s Silk (translated from the Italian by Guido Waldman). A short book, it tells the story of a Frenchman who deals in silkworms. After a crop of worms are blighted by disease, he hazards … Continue reading It’s Random Book Day!
That Wasn’t What I Thought It Was Going To Be
Christina: Every so often you come across a book or a movie that doesn't exactly disappoint, but is not what you thought it might be. This might be due to a wrong classification, misleading book covers and/or marketing, or even outright lies, like fiction presented as truth. We thought we'd take a look at some of … Continue reading That Wasn’t What I Thought It Was Going To Be
For Short Story Lovers
By Jeff Here's a quick literary tidbit: the modern short story is an art form pretty much developed by American writers. This is not to say that the first short story was written by an American, far from it. However, the short (anywhere between 5 and 50 pages), carefully sculpted piece of fiction that we today call a "short … Continue reading For Short Story Lovers
Shelf Life in the Mountains 