It's almost the end of the year, which means it's superlatives time! d4ni posted recently about her favorite albums of the year, so I thought I'd start out with music. Just so you know, my favorites include music that was new to me in 2008 as well as newly released albums.

( 6 albums, in no particular order )

( Civil War )

I meant to post about Lauren Groff’s The Monsters of Templeton last week when I finished the book, but I just didn’t have time amid all my moving preparations. Better late than never, though ( Read more... )

Every once in awhile I pick a book at random from the library shelves and find an accidental treasure. Ellington Boulevard by Adam Langer was exactly that. I admit that I've become suspicious of any novel set in New York after run in's with too many supposed "clever satires" that weren't. I'm glad that didn't stop me from giving this book a chance ( Read more... )

When Sam Pulsifer was a child,his father left the family for three years. That was when his mother took to telling him stories about the Emily Dickinson house, located in their hometown of Amherst. Years later, Sam accidentally burned down the house, killing two people inside. He is tried convicted and sentenced to 10 years in a minimum security ( Read more... )

It's been a big reading week for me, so I'm combining everything into one big book post. There's lots of variety this week: contemporary fiction, sci-fi, graphic memoir, and non-fiction. I've been keeping a list of every book I've read this year, and this week brings the total up to forty-one!

The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood - Margaret Atwood ( Read more... )

Persepolis is a memoir of author Marjane Satrapi's childhood in Iran in the years surrounding the Islamic Revolution. I had heard good things about this book, but I was really blown away. The black and white art is simple but striking and add to the power of her story. The child's eye view Satrapi provides is insightful and authentic. The episodes ( Read more... )

I realized I hadn’t written any book reviews for a long time, in part because I spent so long reading Bleak House then didn’t feel like writing anything up, so today I’ve got a double dose. It’s even thematic! (The theme being gods, the end of the world, and humor.)

( Good Omens )

Prince Caspian on Friday was fantastic! The second Narnia story is much darker than it's predecessor The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, but just as magical.

There were some pretty significant changes to the narrative structure of Prince Caspian, which I think made for better film storytelling. (In the book, a major section of the action ( Read more... )

Happy National Library Week! Now go read a book. (Maybe this one ( Read more... )