Two or three years ago, while we were on vacation in The Berkshires, we spent a day at the Norman Rockwell museum. It was great. We learned a ton about Rockwell and his life and walked around the gorgeous property where he painted. As an added bonus, there was a special exhibit on display, featuring all (or at least a lot) of Edward Hopper’s Cape Cod paintings. This was particularly eye-opening, as I really didn’t know much about Hopper other than that he painted Nighthawks. […]
Reviews 7 and 8
You Will Know Me The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Probably more like 3.5 stars, but I’ll round up in Bernie’s honor
I’ve been reading and rereading Lawrence Block’s Bernie Rhodenbarr series for years (like, probably close to 20 years — they were on the shelf above Lillian Jackson Braun’s books at my library and I picked them up at some point in middle school when I’d exhausted The Cat Who…) but I’ve never really read anything else by him — although he’s published quite a bit. I saw his name on this story collection, along with some other favorites (Stephen King, Jeffery Deaver, Lee Child, and Craig Ferguson, […]
You’ll Be Accepting My Apology For Sucking At Life and Not Posting
So yeah, I’ve been away for a long time. So long in fact that I can’t even remember what review I’m on…but I KNOW that I have to be really close to a Cannonball based on what I’ve read, just not on what I’ve reviewed (edit: I looked back I think my last one was 35…let’s see how much closer I can get to a cannonball). I’m breaking the rules and reviewing all the books that I’ve neglected over the past few months…right now. Who’s […]
The dark side of the vault.
In the last year or so, I became hooked on Megan Abbott’s novels. The Fever is my favorite, though Dare Me was also excellent. Abbott examines the dark underbelly of female adolescence in a way that is both complex and sympathetic. She looks at individuals versus the collective and questions the way we create homosocial female societies. I had high expectations for You Will Know Me, and she did not disappoint. Read my full review to find out why.
Bring It On was never like this….
I have mentioned before how I’ll happily read books where I am FULLY aware I am really not said book’s target market. It’s been a while since I wandered so far outside of my demographic as I have here with this story of cheerleaders, rivalry and Generally Bad Goings-On. But Abbott has garnered acclaim for her YA as well her non-YA novels, a few of which I’m also interested in reading. And who among us watched Bring It On and thought “yeah, I bet it’s not really […]