Jan 7 - The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Jan 15 - How to be Useful by Megan Hustad
Jan 22 - The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz*
Jan 23 - Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson
Jan 27 - How to Say Goodbye in Robot by Natalie Standiford
Jan 29 - How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff
Feb 4 - The Giver by Lois Lowry
Feb 8 - Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman*
Feb 12 ( Read more... )

"I mean, we live in this irreparably broken world and I don't wish to deny reality, but the amazing thing to me is not that we refuse to relinquish hope as a species -- the amazing thing is that we're right to hold on to hope. The world may be broken, but hope is not crazy... Obviously not all stories end happily. We don't always have good fortune ( Read more... )

"Speculative fiction offers us human beings something different: not 'common sense' but a sense we have in common that the world is larger and more filled with possibility than we might be able to imagine, a sense that enlarging the opportunities of other people's lives does not have to mean making our own lives smaller. In fact, quite the ( Read more... )

Frightful and I went to the meadow when the meal was done, and I flopped in the grass. The stars came up, the ground smelled sweet, and I closed my eyes. I heard, "Pip, pop, pop, pop."

"Who's making that noise?" I said sleepily to Frightful. She ruffled her feathers.

I listened. "Pop, pop." I rolled over and stuck my face in the grass. Something ( Read more... )

If you want to believe in something, then believe in it. Just because something isn’t true, there’s no reason you can’t believe in it. Sometimes the things that may or may not be true are the things that a man needs to believe in the most: that people are basically good; that honor, courage and virtue mean everything; that ( Read more... )

or a quote from a book, rather:

For those poor souls who can only think of the terrible fear and danger of a runaway horse, think of this: a speed like water flowing over stone, a skimming sensation that hovers and dips while the world spins around and the wind drags your skin taught across your bones. You can close your eyes and lose yourself in ( Read more... )

I have realized that I was a much better writer before college. here's a piece I found from eleventh grade -- don't know what I meant for it to lead into, but darn, I like it.

Astrid Lindgren (don't expect me to have any idea what this title's all about.)

Every day she would go to work in the Royal Automobile Club, and every night she would go home ( Read more... )

you know, New York was a whole lot of trouble. but I'm glad I did it. I feel like I've gained something -- and like I don't even know all of what I've gained yet, but I will over time. and I like that there a people up there giving a darn about me now.

I got the job in Baltimore! I am accepting it! I am psyched to be working in my field, even during a recession, within six months of graduation, and in the city in which I want to live!

I will be home on the 23rd and I can't wait to see you all!

more updates when my sinus pressure goes away and my head feels less like exploding!

When I was a child I wanted to live in trees ( Read more... )