Reader, Writer, & Writing Teacher
Happy Tuesday! I hope everyone (in America) had a good Memorial Day weekend. I started four different books and am now trying to find time to finish them all. I can’t believe we are almost to June. Where is 2017 going? There are an overwhelming number of books coming out in the next months that I can’t wait to read. Here are ten of them! Continue reading “Top Ten Most Anticipated Book Releases for the Rest of the Year”
I fell in love with Nicola Yoon’s writing when I read her debut novel Everything, Everything. And I LOVE Amandla Stenber, who’s playing Madeline in the movie. So, now that my sister’s wedding craziness is over, I’m extremely pumped to see this adaptation. Depending on how much writing and lesson planning I get through this morning, I’m hoping to see it this afternoon or perhaps tomorrow. In anticipation and celebration, here are my favorite quotes from the book (you’ll notice a fair number of them contain the word everything): Continue reading “My Favorite Quotes from Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon”
Hi friends! After a late night flight back from California I’m a little sleepy today. Thanks to everyone who sent good vibes for my sister’s wedding in Big Sur over the weekend. The weather was unusually good for this time of year and everything was beautiful. Hope to get some pictures up soon. With my Maid of Honor duties behind me and Memorial Day coming up in a few days, it really feels like the beginning of summer. Crossing my fingers that I get a little beach time in this season. Here are ten books set at the beach that would be perfect to read lying in the sand, listening to the waves. Continue reading “Ten Beach Reads Actually Set at the Beach”
Hi friends! I wanted to get some posts prescheduled, but it didn’t happen! And in just 6 short hours I’m going to wake up, head to the airport, and go to the most beautiful place on earth (Big Sur!) to have lots of family time, be inspired by nature, and watch my sister get married. I better get packing/sleeping! Will be back blogging again next week.
xoxo
I met Laura Silverman at the end of my orientation at New School. I was a nervous and slightly overwhelmed new student who’d moved to New York City that week and was still scared of taking the subway. She was a confident and wise second year in my MFA program, who told me to check out my now-favorite bookstore Books of Wonder and gave advice about professors. Even though she was younger than me, I definitely looked up to her – and I still do. So it was lovely to lose myself in her debut novel Girl Out of Water this weekend. I started reading it on a sunny day in the park. After having to take a break for a friend’s dinner party, I finished the book late that night. As much as I like sleep, I liked Anise’s story better. Seventeen-year-old Anise loves surfing and is intensely connected to her California hometown. But when her aunt is injured, she and her Dad must spend the summer in Nebraska helping to take care of Anise’s three younger cousins. Anise expects a summer of boredom and wistfully checking up on her friends back home. But a cute, one-armed skateboarder named Lincoln (swoon!) and her growing connection to her cousins, cause her to lose touch with her friends and her surfer identity in Santa Cruz. Continue reading “Girl Out of Water, by Laura Silverman”
Happy Tuesday! I have more books that I want to read right now than time to read them, so adding to my reading list would be folly. However, if more of these kinds of these books hit the shelves, I don’t think I would be able to resist them.
Thanks to The Broke and the Bookish for hosting this weekly book meme!
I have major love for Lara Jean Covey and all the Song girls. I like that she is a shy, quiet, bookish girl who finds her confidence not by losing her shyness or a boy liking her – but through her own journey. I like her relationship with her sisters and the way Margot and Kitty have changed over the last three books. I like the cultural details of being half Korean American that are weaved in and out of the narrative. I’ve said this several times now, but reading To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before was formative to my interest in writing contemporary YA. Hearing Jenny Han speak at The National Book Festival in 2012 was formative to my decision to move to New York City and get my MFA in writing for children and teenagers. So yeah, I’ve been looking forward to reading the third and final Lara Jean book since I found out it was happening. And, as expected, it did not disappoint. Continue reading “Always and Forever, Lara Jean by Jenny Han”
Representation is important. Diversity is important in the stories that get told inside the book. But it’s also important on the covers – where for too long and too often girls of cover were not represented at all. Luckily, that’s beginning to change and these gorgeous covers are the result!
Thanks to The Broke and the Bookish for hosting this weekly book meme!
Alison Doherty 