I had had Alaska writer Dan Walker’s YA novel SECONDHAND SUMMER on my list for a long time, and two weeks ago finally had the chance to dive in. I wasn’t disappointed. Walker’s book, geared for middle school readers (but still immensely enjoyable for adults), follows 14-year-old Sam’s move to Anchorage from the small fishing… Read More Book review: Secondhand Summer by Dan Walker
I love getting packages in the mail, don’t you? I love the mystery of not knowing what’s inside, and even if I know what’s inside, I still love the opening part. Maybe it reminds me of Christmas and that wonder, that thrill. Whatever the case, a few weeks ago, I received a small package in… Read More Work included in The Best of Brilliant Flash Fiction anthology
Oh, Daniel James Brown, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love the way you write. I love the way you write. I love the way you research. I love the way you pace your books. I love the gentle yet firm way you handle characters (are they called characters in… Read More I love how you write, Daniel James Brown
I seem to be on a YA kick lately. Maybe I’m trying to recapture my own childhood or maybe I’m looking for a less complex way of looking at the world. Whatever the case, it’s refreshing to read YA novels, refreshing to sink down into a world where adulthood is still foreign, where the days… Read More Book Review: Blooming at the Texas Sunrise Motel by Kimberly Willis Holt
The Book of Joe, by Jonathan Tropper, Bantam Books, 368 pages I don’t often read books by men. I don’t go out of my way to avoid them. It’s just that I seem drawn to women’s voice, women’s stories. Too many male authors seem to write too much on the surface. What I like, and… Read More Book review: The Book of Joe by Jonathan Tropper
In No Particular Order, by Kevin Brennan, self-published, 178 pages Even though I’m a huge introvert, I’m also hugely curious about other people’s lives. I glance into people’s windows when we walk the dog at night, wondering about their daily routines. Are they happy? Lonely? Do they ever wake up with their hearts pounding, worried… Read More Book review: In No Particular Order by Kevin Brennan
All the Wind in the World, by Samatha Mabry, Algonquin Young Readers, 273 pages I love YA novels and try to read a least one a month. I find them refreshing and without the cynicism that populates too many adult novels. Plus I enjoy the pacing, the characters, and the action. Mostly, I enjoy the… Read More Book review: All the Wind in the World by Samantha Mabry
The Girls, by Emma Cline, Random House, 346 pages I didn’t think I’d like this book, mostly due to the hype it received when it first came out two years ago. Yet, I surprised myself by staying up late in order to finish. I couldn’t stop reading, though not always for the right reason. I’ll… Read More Book review: The Girls, by Emma Cline
Swimming Lessons, by Clare Fuller, Tin House Books, 354 pages You know how sometimes you find a book that clicks with you so that you have no choice but to suspend your life in order to cozy down with it? Swimming Lessons is like that. It’s not a perfect book but it has some damn… Read More Book review: Swimming lessons by Clare Fuller
I was lucky enough to snag an interview with Simon Fitzmaurice, author of the the beautifully written memoir It‘s Not Yet Dark and filmmaker of The Sound of People and My Name is Emily, and my only regret is that I wasn’t able to publish it before he died in October of last year. (You can read the review… Read More Simon Fitzmaurice interview
Cinthia Ritchie 