“Nounou,” inquired Angelique, “Why did Giles de Retz kill so many children? With these words, one of the world’s greatest series of historical fiction begins. It is a translation from French. I have been told that much was lost in… Read More ›
Books
DOOMSDAY BOOK BY CONNIE WILLIS
I read this for the first time when it was first published in 2008. It wasn’t available as an audible book yet, though it would be soon. So my first reading was words on paper. It’s the story of the… Read More ›
FROM THE EARTH ABIDES PROJECT: YEAR 71 — BY RANGERDON
The Year 71 – EARTH ABIDES By George R. Stewart Posted on July 20, 2020 This is certainly the Year of Earth Abides, Year 71 to carve on Indian Rock, and there will a new printing of Earth Abides in October to celebrate. It… Read More ›
THE ROOM WHERE IT HAPPENED By JOHN BOLTON – Marilyn Armstrong
I expected it to be dull, but it wasn’t dull. I think I’d describe it as “dry.” Not unlike the material I wrote for many years. I wasn’t going to read it, but I decided my curiosity was stronger than… Read More ›
NEW PRINTING OF AN 1896 COOKBOOK – Marilyn Armstrong
FANNIE FARMER 1896 COOK BOOK: The Boston Cooking School The predecessor to all the great Fannie Farmer cookbooks that would be printed over the next 50 years, this was the one I really wanted most. It was out of print… Read More ›
NEWS AND NONSENSE: June 2020 from LAURIE R. KING
Source: News & Nonsense: June 2020 From Laurie R. King whose next book is about to appear: Dear friends, the world is exploding—and here comes Laurie with cheery news about her novel? That is so wrong, I can’t even begin… Read More ›
THREE IN THE MORNING AND THE PAGE NUMBERS WON’T WORK – MARILYN ARMSTRONG
I was up until very late last night because Garry got a new computer. Setting it up was easy because these days, everything is automated. And he didn’t have a lot of documents or photographs to move. They are all… Read More ›
WORLD OF STRANGE – Marilyn Armstrong
On some level or other, I’ve been waiting for my world to come crashing down since I was a kid. Call it one of the many fragmented outcomes of a dysfunctional childhood. And reading too many complicated books when I… Read More ›
FOR INSOMNIACS AND OWNERS OF BARKING DOGS – Marilyn Armstrong
Come Sleep, O Sleep … Come, Sleep! O Sleep, the certain knot of peace, The baiting-place of wit, the balm of woe, The poor man’s wealth, the prisoner’s release, The indifferent judge between the high and low; With shield of… Read More ›
IS LISTENING TO AUDIOBOOKS THE SAME AS READING? – Marilyn Armstrong
Responding to: Open Book Blog Hop – Are audiobooks considered reading? I got addicted to audiobooks while I was commuting to work. There were periods when I was driving as much as 5 hours a day — just to get back… Read More ›
BRAIN SNOBS – Marilyn Armstrong
It isn’t just culture that divides us into classes. What we watch on television, see in the movies, and read also puts us into a category, often unfairly by people who don’t “get” why we like what we like. I read… Read More ›
TIMING, TIME TRAVEL, AND THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT – ELLIN CURLEY
I am fascinated with the concepts of time travel, parallel universes and the Butterfly Effect. Fortunately for me, there are several TV shows today that deal with these things. One is Timeless and another is The Flash. The Flash is… Read More ›
BYE BYE GAME OF THRONES. THE PARTY’S OVER – Marilyn Armstrong
Again, I tried reading “A Dance With Dragons” by George R.R. Martin. It is book five of an interminable series called “A Game of Thrones,” the most violent, grim, and repetitive — and long — series ever written. It makes… Read More ›
TOO MANY BOOKS TO READ BEFORE I SLEEP – Marilyn Armstrong
Half a dozen times during the past few months, I’ve seen the sunrise and heard the birds wake and sing the morning in. I have sometimes gotten up very early to see the sunrise and take pictures. It is the… Read More ›
THE BOOK WORLD AND MEMORIES THEREOF – Marilyn Armstrong
I usually say I wouldn’t want to ever work again, but I got to thinking about that. I realized if I could get back my job as an editor at Doubleday? I’d do it in a heartbeat. How many jobs… Read More ›
THE END OF MIDDLE EARTH – Marilyn Armstrong
I don’t know how many times I’ve read these books. I know the first time was in 1967. I read it in the hospital after my spine was fused and after I decided not to die. I was in the… Read More ›
