Sometimes as a parent you get those moments when you feel like you must be doing something right, and having my 5-year-old ask me to reread her The BFG and The Witches was definitely one of those moments. We enjoyed them just as much the 2nd time through, and now she’s eager to have me read The BFG a third time so that her big sister can get why we think snozzcumbers are so funny. Burn Baby Burn by Meg Medina hooked me right away…
This week I finished a unit on The Pushcart War by Jean Merrill, a classic that my 4th/5th graders found as fresh as I did when I was their age. It’s a small class in a homeschool coop, so to end the book I had them each take 6 chapters and make their own graphic novel adaptation. The results were simply wonderful, showcasing their engagement with the book along with letting them use their own creative gifts. They were so nervous to present them in…
Synopsis: New York City in 1938 is all martinis and heartbreak for smart girl Katey Kontent and her impossibly sexy best friend Evie Ross, as they navigate the tricky waters of the uptown social scene. Review: I was utterly captivated by The Rules of Civility, from the tone to the characters to the plot to everything. It’s a pretty perfect book, as if Edith Wharton were resurrected to write a pre-Code Billy Wilder movie where the smart one got to be the lead. It makes…
Synopsis: The death of a society girl in 1899 New York City isn’t quite what it seems, thanks to an impossibly complex snarl of love triangles. Review: I guess you would call The Luxe “Gossip Girl” set in Edith Wharton territory, but that makes it sound dreadful when in fact it’s pretty enjoyable. I don’t think I’ll continue on in the series but it was a fun read.
Synopsis: Plucked from Brooklyn to attend an elite college for magicians, Quentin hopes that his life will be an adventure like those he read about as a kid, but the drama of real life and his own penchant for melancholia keep getting in the way. Review: The Magicians was almost crazy-making thanks to Lev Grossman’s unmatched talent for letting emotional suspense simmer behind the already awesome plot. I was so caught up in the drama of Quentin’s love life and friendships that I wanted as…
Synopsis: MILFs in Brooklyn! Review: Amy Sohn is a writer who’s been on my radar since I first moved to New York City in 1995, and it’s like she’s lived the public, more successful version of my life. Her single girl escapades got published in the New York Press; I was an escapading single girl who read the Press every week. She wrote a novel loosely based on her own life that got turned into a movie; I do movie adaptations of books whose writers…
Synopsis: A teenage girl discovers that she comes from a lineage of demon hunters, and finds herself drawn into the ongoing battle between good and evil. Review: I picked up City of Bones after reading a rave review of the next book in the series on the Queens Public Library’s email newsletter for YA picks. It sounded like a fun read, and I was not disappointed. I just got a book light so I can read in bed while Superfast Baby snoozes in her crib…
My friendly neighborhood humor writer Jen LiMarzi has published her first novel, Making Dead Ends Meet. I had a chance to read the manuscript & I’m really proud of her!