Space Station Mir

3. Three Parts Dead by Max Gladstone I received this book, unsolicited, for review from Tor back in 2012. At the time, I dutifully started reading, but was overwhelmed by work, school, and medical issues, so I DNF-d and haven't gone back to it till this January. Honestly, I remembered it being of interest, but that the effort required to figure out what the heck was going on in the world wasn't worth it to me at the time. This time, I did a quick review scan of the book, and picked up where I left off. At first, the world remained equally confusing, but it became more clear as I read on ( Here's Max Gladstone explaining the origins of the idea for his world ). Remember when I said that The Inheritance Series were the first books I'd read that I remembered gods featuring prominently? That's still kinda true. Three Parts Dead 's plot literally hinges on the death of a god, but the prominent characters are still human (and not-so-human). Tara Abernathy i...

While planning the bookstore tour of the DC/Baltimore area, I learned that the warehouse for an online bookstore was surprisingly nearby. We decided to stop in and see what we could see. I was expecting something like the warehouse that is Second Story Books in Rockville. Out-of-the-way, hard-to-find, and a real treasure hunt, just a big room full of overstuffed shelves and boxes and not a little dust. I was way off. First of all, Daedalus Books IS a little out of the way, on a side street, but it makes up for it with clear signage that is easily visible from the road. Second of all, it may be a warehouse, but it's not a used bookstore. Instead, it's a remaindered bookstore. The books are brand spanking new, but they're discounted because they weren't big sellers (don't be dissuaded, it makes for a fantastic eclectic/indie selection). And third of all, this is no overstuffed hodgepodge treasure hunt. Books are laid out neatly on tables and on shelves with envi...

Once upon a time, when Top Ten Tuesday had a similar topic, I invented the idea of a nerdy Tolkien book club. If they actually existed, here's what I'd want to read with them today. I've read many of these before, but I'd like to read them again with discussion and focus. The following is the order I'm thinking of, but I could imagine switching it up. Top Ten Several Books I'd Like to Read With My Imaginary Nerdy Tolkien Book Club 1. The Prose and Poetic Eddas (Icelandic sagas) 2. The Kalevala (Finnish myths) 3. The Silmarillion 4. Splintered Light and Interrupted Music by Verlyn Flieger 5. Beowulf (Tolkien translation) 6. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Tolkien translation) 7. The Tolkien Reader: Farmer Giles of Ham, The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, etc. 8. The Hobbit 9. The Lord of the Rings 10. The Road to Middle Earth by Tom Shippey 12. Songs and Poems: Bilbo's Last Song, The Road Goes Ever On etc. 13. The History of Middle...

I've received a couple new reads lately, hopefully reviews will be soon! Against the Country: A Novel by Ben Metcalf, through LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program Sisterland by Curtis Sittenfeld, via Bookmooch

Since today's Top Ten Tuesday is a freebie, I thought I'd write about something I think about a lot-readings and books that will interest today's college students. These are mostly a collection of readings I've actually used and found successful, as well as those I'd like to try. 1. "The Sun, the Moon, the Stars" from This Is How You Lose Her by Junot Diaz I've taught this story in every class I could, with almost universally successful results (there's always the odd student offended by the cursing). If I could, I'd teach the whole book. 2. "Shitty First Drafts" by Ann Lamott I tried this out in my classes this semester, and it went over really well. It was one of the readings that many students mentioned in their final reflection, even though we read it at the beginning of the semester. 3. Tripmaster Monkey by Maxine Hong Kingston I read this in college and loved it. It speaks to the Asian-American experience as well a...

My friend came in from Boston last weekend, so we naturally went to explore all the bookstores around my newish domicile. I'd noticed Gramp's Attic Books before, but never had occasion to venture inside. What a treat I was missing! Gramp's Attic Books is an apt name, if your grandfather was the sort to value really fine editions of classic novels, or the type to gather vast collections on rifles, American history (emphasis on the Civil War and World War II), bookbinding, and London, respectively. Although relatively small, Gramp's Attic Books boasts an extremely well-curated stock. Most of the books in the store itself (there's a couple shelves of mere paperbacks in the anteroom) are hard covers, and all are in excellent condition. I would not be surprised if there were a majority of first and second editions. If your tastes run to classics and the aforementioned collections, you might never want to leave. There are handsome caches of Fitzgerald, Hemingway, ...

2. The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant My mom got me this book for Hanukkah, and we went to hear Anita Diamant talk about it this week. Diamant's comments really brought into focus what I thought about the book. She affirmed that her "MO" is to write about hidden women's stories-specifically, in this case, the stories of the women of Rockport Lodge. The book she said, began with the title "Rockport Lodge," though it came to be more about the protagonist Addie Baum, the type of grandmother Diamant says she wants to be, whose sharp wit and humor came in during later revisions of the book. As an aspiring writer, I was interested in Diamant's hints about the writing process. She confirms what I teach my students when we read Anne Lamott's "Shitty First Drafts," --it takes a lot of revision to get to the final product! For me, the final product was a compulsively easy read. I slipped into the skin of the character, a young Jewish woman growin...

Happy Top Ten Tuesday! 1. Steles of the Sky by Elizabeth Bear 2. The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison 3. Exodus by Deborah Feldman 4. The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd 5. The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski 6. The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen 7. China Dolls by Lisa See 8. The Republic of Imagination: America in Three Books by Azar Nafisi 9. Yes Please by Amy Poehler 10. Bombay Blues by Tanuja Desai Hidier