Category: One-Liners
-
Saga by Brian K. Vaughn & Fiona Staples
I had no idea what I was going to read for our graphic novel category, but before I even had time to fret about it, the lovely Rosie came to my rescue—she sent me the first volume of Saga through the mail. Snail mail no less! And I’m going to tell you right now, I’m glad she…
-
Scrappy Little Nobody by Anna Kendrick
Hang on to your hats, folks. My first post in nearly three months just happens to be for a book that I adored and from which I scribbled down pages of notes and quotes, so this might take a while . . . If you’ve been paying attention, you probably know by now that I…
-
The Mortal Instruments+ by Cassandra Clare
So . . . it’s the end of March, officially spring already, and I’m just now diving into this year’s book challenge (and no—I still haven’t finished 2016). But boy, did I jump in with a vengeance. Now, you may remember that when we came up with this year’s challenge, Rosie and I decided that we…
-
The Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan
Yes, I’m still working on my 2016 book challenge. Since The Painted Girls fulfilled the “something your mom recommends” category, I present to you my genius mother’s review: “This book called my name from several places—bookstores, airports, discount chains—so I finally gave in and purchased it. Having a niece in the ballet industry, combined with my…
-
The Jungle Book
Bill Murray as Baloo is my life: “Come on, Mowgli. Let’s be on our way.” —Bagheera “But I’m helping Baloo get ready for hibernation.” —Mowgli “Bears don’t hibernate in the jungle.” —Bagheera “Not full hibernation, but I nap. A lot.” —Baloo In addition, I applaud Jon Favreau for taking this on and thank him for recreating…
-
Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol
You’re smart people, so by now you’ve probably figured out that I’m not the biggest fan of European classics. Dickens certainly did not meet my expectations, great or otherwise, I did not have a whale of a time reading Melville (heh!) and I’m sorry, but for all the fuss about Dorian Gray, his death was my favourite part…
-
Half Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan
This book is an award magnet. It won the Scotiabank Giller Prize (praise be!), was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the Orange Prize for Fiction (holla), and was a finalist for both the Governor General’s Award and the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize (hella impressive). So you can bet I was expecting it…
-
The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion
If you haven’t read The Rosie Project, you should go do that now. Because you can’t read The Rosie Effect without first reading its predecessor, and you should definitely read The Rosie Effect. It’s funny, it’s heartwarming, it’s hyper logical, and it’s disastrous in all the best possible ways. An easy read perfect for the bathtub (not where…
-
William Shakespeare’s Star Wars by Ian Doescher
When you’re a fan of the Bard and a fan of the Wars, there’s nothing to do but to read this book. Peppered with insightful asides, well-crafted Shakespearean insults, and elaborate illustrations (see below), this book/play/novelization, written in perfect iambic pentameter (the English major in me is whooping appreciatively), actually gave me a better understanding…
-
The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
On November 1, I had eight books to read and just over eight weeks to finish them if I’m to complete this year’s reading challenge by December 31. I have all eight of those books chosen—lined up nicely on a bookshelf separate from the one that holds my ever growing to-be-read pillar—in an effort not to be…