When Catherine Madison falls in love with a boy named Thomas, the love is so complete and all encompassing that when he nicknames her Moonie it sticks so well that everyone takes to calling her Moonie. As is often the case in small midwestern towns, this one located in Nebraska, Moonie and Thomas marry soon [...]
Books
8
Mar 10
Do not be hushed
Today is International Women’s Day. To celebrate we should all point out sexism when we see it and not be hushed when people tell us we’re always pointing out things that are sexist. Do not be hushed. Never be hushed.
I’ve been listening to The Feminine Mystique in the bathtub the past few weeks. While it [...]
2
Mar 10
Yuck
Here’s my advice to you, if you ever find yourself in the vicinity of Ball Peen Hammer, slowly back away and then when you are a safe distance run for your life. Don’t let this confusing, dreary, dreck suck you into it’s whirling vortex of confusion like I was. Let my pointless waste of time [...]
28
Feb 10
Every minute is pure joy
Last night at Rock & Roll Bookclub somewhere between the homemade chili with chorizo and three different peppers and the divine butter cream chocolate dessert, I decided it would be a good idea to drink an entire bottle of wine. Ouch.
Waking up this morning was not fun. About half a cup of coffee into the [...]
16
Feb 10
Choral reading & the scariest book ever
Mrs. Mullins had thin, curly white hair. She looked like she had dandelion fluff on her head. If we blew on her, she would have probably gone bald.
She was a tiny woman who taught the highest reading class when I was in sixth grade. Our reading classes were divided into highest, middle, and lowest. I [...]
11
Feb 10
Unfriended
The problem with building a book around a big reveal in the latter third of a novel is that inevitably readers are going to be disappointed. When a character refuses to discuss what is bugging them the most you begin to think it’s something heinous, when it turns out to be not so heinous it’s [...]
3
Feb 10
I love the Emo Family Robinson
When we last left The Umbrella Academy the gang were saving the world from their sister, The White Violin, run amok. Now the Emo Family Robinson is back in The Umbrella Academy: Dallas trying to recover from the fallout of their shattered family and saving the world, again. Damn world, why can’t it just stay [...]
21
Jan 10
Two resolutions: One for me & one for the Internet
I’m a little cranky because I just read an awful graphic novel and bad books make me angry. There might be extra vitriol in tonight’s rant when normally there would just be the regular amount of vitriol. You’ve been warned.
Actually, graphic novels have something to do with my resolution. Long about yesterday I decided I [...]
14
Jan 10
Like an unfunny episode of That 70s Show
When I finished reading all 368 pages of Charles Burns’ graphic novel Black Hole the first thing I thought was, well that three hours would have been better spent listening to Black Hole Sun on repeat.
One again one of the High Holies of the graphic novel realm has left me disappointed. The High Holies, [...]
10
Jan 10
Winkletoe, Sparkletoe, Wushy, D.T. & Blackhole Sun Blanket
Max calls his Winkletoe and Jaycie’s is Sparkletoe. Cade called his Wushy. Liam calls his D.T., because that’s what Nolan called his. Mine’s called Blackhole Sun, a nickname given to it by my college roommate F.R. Chicken because of its resemblance to an afghan that can be seen in the Soundgarden video.
The blanket doesn’t [...]
3
Jan 10
Wrapped up in Books 09: Confessions of a lowly book blogger
I just missed making my goal of reading 56 books in 2009. If you check the Booknerd page, you’ll see I came in at 53 books. Not too shabby. I’d feel worse about failing if, while pondering RP2010, I didn’t take into account the seven books that I’ve read over 50 pages of and never [...]
29
Dec 09
I still can’t talk about Stitches without crying
It’s not a good idea to write a review of a book when your eyes are still wet with the tears it caused you to shed. So I waited an entire day to see if the raw emotion evoked by David Small’s graphic memoir Stitches would abate a little before I told you about this [...]
