Historical fiction, with cyborgs
As a historian, I’m a sucker for time travel novels. To go back in time and observe is a historian’s dream. (We’ll never know, though, even if we were there, exactly what people were thinking and feeling at any given time in history. People are unfathomable. Some things will always be guesses.) In some time … Continue reading
Reread quest
The book you reread is different from the book you read the time before. You change. Your reading strategies change. The book expands to fill more of your life. I’ve been writing about books I love, that I reread because I love both the experience of reading them and the experience of having read them … Continue reading
Stories for all your various summer needs
While summer reading lists tend to put one in mind of trashy paperbacks stashed away in canvas bags for beach reading, not many of us will spend the entire summer in a folding chair. Thus, a good set of summer reading suggestions will include options suitable for a variety of situations and pursuits. Whether you’re … Continue reading
Quit cooking, start reading
Even as a nonfiction writer, I’ve already managed to lie to you before I even start. Quit cooking, start reading is not quite true — I pretty much never stop reading. Not to eat, brush my teeth, not even when cleaning the kitchen or taking a walk. I read my way through the winter hibernation … Continue reading
Summer reads
Although it got cold and rainy for a few days here in Mid-Michigan, we are expecting temperatures in the 70s and 80s for the rest of June. That means it’s summer books time! I like my summer reading to match the summer movies, light, funny, and full of action. For the past several years Janet … Continue reading
TECT Knows Best
Once you’ve failed at everything, what next? **COURANE, Sandor: You are to be sent as a colonist to the agricultural world of Epsilon Eridani, Planet D. You will be part of an integrated farming community. Your future successes and failures will thus be of no consequence to the community at large here on Earth, yet … Continue reading
Getting closer, almost done
Today I finished a book. It really shouldn’t be that big of a deal. I work in a bookstore, I own books, and I’m trying to write one. Reading books goes hand in hand with all of those things. But lately it hasn’t been happening. I’ll start a book and then put it down and … Continue reading
Re-reading, stupid
A week or so ago I had a customer selling books at the used book counter. She had about a dozen mass market romances and a Jodi Picoult hardcover. Usually I don’t remember these details, but this customer stood out. After I took her name and other information and gave her the wait time she … Continue reading
Ambivalently anti-Amazon
Let’s talk about this whole Amazon thing. It’s difficult for booksellers to watch as online sales through Amazon take away from the profits of our stores. Music and movie stores already went through it, we know it’s not new. We know it’s not just us; Amazon sells everything. The recent coupon campaign wasn’t even available … Continue reading
Magic is real, if you want it
Ladies and gentlemen, witches and wizards, boys and girls, this, is a love fest. This is the story of a girl falling for a book. Never before has the world known such unabashed devotion. If Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone had a window I would have stood beneath it in the pouring rain tossing … Continue reading
