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What I’m Reading Wednesday: Close to the Broken Hearted
We’ve had some really lovely early summer weather, perfect for curling up on the screened porch with a glass of ice tea and a good book. This week’s recommendation is the soon-to-be-released novel Close to the Broken Hearted by Michael Hiebert. I really loved Close to the Broken Hearted. Michael Hiebert’s second book did not disappoint. Twenty-two year old Sylvie was deeply traumatized as a child when she saw her baby brother shot to death in her father’s arms. The man who killed him, Preacher Eli, was sent to jail for the crime…but he has just been released. She is now a single mother with a three-month old yet-unnamed baby girl,…
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Silent Sunday
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What I’m Reading Wednesday: Shadow of Night
I’ve just finished “Shadow of Night” by Deborah Harkness and already I’m impatient for the third book in the All Souls Trilogy to be released – I want to know what happens next with historian Diana and scientist (and vampire) Matthew. I’m impatient like that. Shadow of Night picks up right where “A Discovery of Witches” leaves off (and if you haven’t read the first book, stop right here and go read it – I don’t want to spoil anything for you) with Diana and Matthew ready to time walk elsewhere in history so that Diana can find a witch to teach her (she’s avoided using her powers and so…
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What I’m Reading Wednesday: Angelmaker
I’ve just finished reading Nick Harkaway’s second novel, Angelmaker, and I don’t know how to begin to describe it. Let’s start by saying it was a fantastically entertaining read. Normally, I’m a bit hesitant when I see a book described as “absurdist” as quite often this is a misnomer, and what you actually get is something a bit surreal. This is not true for this book, albeit the cast of characters includes an octogenarian secret agent (retired), an evil dictator (who surely must be older than dirt), a serial killer, a community of Undertakers, a monastic society of former-creator/inventors-now-turned-evil-bodyguards (or something) called the “Ruskinites”, and a gnarly, near-toothless pug with…
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At Hay Festival – Joanne Harris on Writing and Voodoo
To me, books are their own type of magic, transporting us to someplace else. When I hear an author talk about formulas, and how books just don’t happen, write themselves, open themselves to you, I find myself a bit disappointment. Joanne Harris does not disappoint. She was at the Hay Festival to talk about her newest book, “Peaches for Monsieur le Curé”, the third book in the “Chocolat” series. She was funny and personable, and a delight to listen to. Talking with Paul Blezard, he commented that Vianne was a character that has always haunted him and wondered if she visits Harris as well. “The difference between writing and madness….is…
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Hay Festival – Cressida Cowell on Imagination and Dragons
One of my current favorite children’s authors is Cressida Cowell; I’d say she probably tops Boo’s list, too, as he has powered through most of the books in her “How to Train Your Dragon” series. We were pretty chuffed that she returned to Hay Festival this year. With her typical uncontainable energy and thoughts flying off on tangents about as quickly as the words could tumble out of her mouth, she practically bounced around the stage as she talked about the importance of imagination, her sources of inspiration…and lying. Similar to her talk in 2010, she started off describing her summer holidays as a child on a remote island off…
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Hay Festival…Off and Raining…erm…Running!
As the 25th anniversary of the Hay Festival arrived, so did the rain. I’m not surprised, and I wonder why everyone else is. It is as much a part of the tradition as the Telegraph bags (even if they aren’t the Guardian – they are MUCH nicer than last years, thankyouverymuch), sitting on the lawn with a book (or at the edge of the walkway, given the weather), craning for a glimpse of the famous and infamous (and maybe even sitting behind one at supper) and cleaning glitter off the back of your jacket from where some child (likely mine) bumped into you after joyfully creating a masterpiece in an event…
