The Arm of the Starfish by Madeleine L’Engle

Synopsis: A summer job turns into a game of strategy with potentially deadly consequences for a young aspiring scientist hoping to learn more about the implications of the regenerative powers of starfish. Review: Of course I had to read a L’Engle as soon as humanly possible, and I wanted to read one I hadn’t read before. I was unaware that The Arm of the Starfish featured some of the characters from the Wrinkle in Time books, most notably, Polyhymnia O’Keefe from An Acceptable Time. I…

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Sign Up for the Read-a-Thon

SATURDAY OCTOBER 20TH, starting at 2pm GMT, hosted by Hidden Side of a Leaf. Here are the different ways to get involved: Sign up to spend 24 hours reading and blogging. Sign up as an official cheerleader and host a mini challenge for participants on your blog. Promote the Read-a-Thon on your blog. Save the date and follow along with all the readers. You can find all the details here. I will definitely be following along and commenting on the entrants’ blogs.

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Extras by Scott Westerfeld

Synopsis: Aya’s city runs on fame, and she’s desperate to find a story to send out over her personal feed in order to crack the top 1,000 and get all her heart desires. Review: Extras is a follow up to Scott Westerfeld’s acclaimed trilogy: Uglies, Pretties, and Specials, which follow Tally Youngblood through a series of escalating body and mind modifications that basically turn her into a superhero.

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Unhooked by Laura Sessions Stepp

Synopsis: A dissection of hook-up culture on college campuses and in high schools, including anecdotal accounts. Review: More hand-wringing than Last Night in Paradise, less high-minded than Unprotected, Unhooked is more likely than either to provoke fear and consternation in the hearts of parents of teenagers across America–particularly if they’ve read I Am Charlotte Simmons and their daughter is looking at Duke University.

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Private Demons: The Life of Shirley Jackson by Judy Oppenheimer

Synopsis: A biography of Shirley Jackson, author of the short story “The Lottery,” and one of my favorite authors. Review: I was inspired to read this thanks to an email I got from Chaucerian Girl. She expressed an appreciation for Private Demons, Judy Oppenheimer’s biography of the woman I believe to be one of the greatest American writers of the mid-20th century.

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Comfort Food (Booking Through Thursday)

Be sure to visit the original post at Booking Through Thursday for links to all the other entries–they are really fun to read. Okay . . . picture this (really) worst-case scenario: It’s cold and raining, your boyfriend/girlfriend has just dumped you, you’ve just been fired, the pile of unpaid bills is sky-high, your beloved pet has recently died, and you think you’re coming down with a cold. All you want to do (other than hiding under the covers) is to curl up with a…

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5 Tips for Crafting Effective Criticism

As you may be aware, I currently have a part-time job analyzing books and screenplays for a production company. I read the material, provide a detailed synopsis, and then offer my opinion as to whether the material has promise as a feature film. Last night’s work read was an especially challenging one, offering a strong premise but weak-to-infuriating execution, and as I had just given some notes to a writer friend of mine on how to improve her (already-wonderful) work, I got to thinking about…

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Auralia’s Colors by Jeffrey Overstreet

Synopsis: In a world where color has been banished, a young woman defies the king with a cloak woven from all the hues of nature, throwing the fabric of society into chaos and turmoil. Review: I became a fan of Jeffrey Overstreet after reading his book on film, Through a Screen Darkly, and subsequently become a reader of his blog, Looking Closer. Auralia’s Colors is the first in a proposed series of four, to which I say, “Bring it.”

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