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Showing posts from May, 2007

Assistant Pig-Keeper's Lament

Lloyd Alexander is dead. He passed away on Thursday. Two weeks after his wife of 61 years went. Events like that never fail to make me shiver. Was it the cancer? Or did he just decide, now that she was gone, to go too? I've spent the past few days grieving, floating from website to website, blog to blog, reading memorials and tributes, soaking up the fellow-feeling out there in the ether. Not that I should have been surprised, but there were so many of us out there whose lives were literally shaped by his work. I lost count of how many of you said, "My sixth grade teacher read every one of the Chronicles of Prydain aloud to us after lunch. He did all the different voices, from Gurgi to Gwystl. I'd never fallen into books like that before. But thanks to them, I have many times since. I think I've read them all 8 times, 9 times, 10? They are among the books of my life." And I think, surely I must know you. Surely you were in my class. For that's exactly the ex

A Month of Reading: April

Best reads of the past month: Such a Pretty Girl by Laura Wiess I finished The Book Thief and looked around morosely for what I could possibly follow it up with. In my search, I ran across a review of Such a Pretty Girl and thought, hey, Slim Incest/Abuse Novel=perfect chaser for Mammoth Holocaust Novel! How unexpected that I was right. I thought Wiess struck the perfect balance between moments when Meredith is supported by a desperately needed group of truly good people (a cop, a cripple, a zealot), and moments when she is left utterly alone to stand up to her demons. This one is also tied for the Best Last Line Award of the month. Debut novel for Ms. Wiess: A+. Can't wait for Leftovers. Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan I had heard a lot about this book before I picked it up. The Cybils picked it as their favorite YA novel of the year. I just loved the title. And the concept. Cohn and Levithan took Norah and Nick (respectively) and wro