Lately, I’ve found myself immersed in children’s literature. I primarily write Young Adult fiction, so I’m never too far from books with a youthful slant, but I’m talking about even younger than that. As discussed in this post, the cool folks at Read Aloud West Virginia are all about such books right now, and I was excited when their mission spilled over into my day job. Then, I started shopping for a couple of good friends who were expecting their…
The folks at Read Aloud West Virginia have taken to social media to spread the word about their important mission of creating a state full of readers. They do great things to encourage reading by and to school-age youth, like providing reading packets and books to schools and organizing volunteer reading programs. Their latest venture to raise awareness about reading is to encourage people to share their favorite children's book with a #bookie – a spin on the ever-popular selfie,…
‘Tis the season for “Best of 2014” lists! From The Washington Post to Publishers Weekly, it’s easy to find groupings of the year’s best works scattered all across the Internet. Far be it from me not to join in the fun. So, in random order, here are my 10 favorite books I read this year. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel: Nominated for the National Book Award in fiction and a fixture on several Best Of lists this year, this spellbinding…
[I wrote this piece in mid-December of last year, saved it as a draft, and completely forgot to publish it. Dummy. So despite being well into 2014 at this point, here are my favorite books of 2013.] I rather enjoy a good year-end “best of” list (even if NPR Books is tired of them). So when I started compiling my practically obligatory Best Books of 2013 list, it dawned on me that very few of the books I read this…
It can't be December already, can it? I started looking through my Kindle and bookshelf to create my Top 10 Books of 2013 list (coming soon to the blog) when I realized that several of the books I read this year came out well before the last 365ish days. That’s what I get for letting my book queue get so backlogged I’ll never catch up! So while I continue working on my list of favorite books I read this year, here are…
"[I] read books because I love them, not because I think I should read them." – Simon Van Booy While on a recent bargain table binge at a local bookstore, a certain cover jumped out at me: shades of blue, the Eiffel Tower, the name Christopher Moore. I’m a fan of Moore’s Lamb, so I grabbed one of the multiple copies of his Sacre Bleu that lined the table. The fact that Vincent Van Gogh factored into the plot of…
A book is a gift you can open again and again – Garrison Keillor Today I read the sad news that screenwriter Syd Field died over the weekend. I learned the techniques of writing for the screen from some of Field’s books while in college and have carried the skills into future projects, including novel writing. It got me thinking about the various books throughout my life that have taught me and inspired me. The books that encouraged my love of…
I’m not a very fast reader. I really admire people like this guy, who can not only manage to take in hundreds of books a year, but also seem to remember a little something about them. I tend to consume and inadvertently forget. I was asked today what I’m currently reading, followed up by a comment that this person plans to read a book a week in 2013. I love the thought, but know better than to add that to…
Earlier this week I received an intriguing Twitter follow from @WVReads150, a movement of which I was unaware. Turns out that my home state is turning 150 in 2013, and the West Virginia Library Commission, the West Virginia Center for the Book and libraries across the state are launching the “West Virginia Reads 150” challenge in celebration. Here’s a blurb from the initiative’s website: The yearlong reading initiative encourages West Virginians to read 150 books in any format (printed book,…