When I’m not reading or writing fiction, or taking my dog for epic walks, I’m knitting. My knitting queue over at Ravelry is currently filled with unfinished objects, in part because Dulcinea is obsessed with yarn. It’s hard to knit when a Golden Retriever thinks you’re playing an interactive game. But now I have two […]
Author Archives: Jonna
Rachel Hartman’s Seraphina
One cannot fly in two directions at once. I cannot perch among those who think that I am broken. A lyrical novel about music, art, philosophy, and prejudice, Rachel Hartman’s Seraphina has got to be one of the most ambitious YA fantasies I’ve recently read. Seraphina‘s protagonist is a brilliant young musician who must conceal […]
Chichén Itzá
When I found myself within striking distance of the Yucatan Peninsula, I knew I had to go to Chichén Itzá. I got up before dawn and took a ferry through rough waters from Cozumel, then climbed on a bus and headed across the swamplands to the Mayan ruins. Exhausted but happy, I arrived at noon […]
Coast of Haiti
On the way home from my holiday, I met a group of men in bright yellow shirts at the Miami airport. They’d been in Haiti, building shelters. We chatted about their work, and I asked one of them if he had a background in construction. “No, ma’am,” he said. “We’re just a bunch of knuckleheads […]
To the sea I went
To the sea I went, my heart full sore For the Norns, whose wrath I would now escape; But the lofty billows bore me undrowned, Till to land I came, so I longer must live. –from Guðrúnarhvöt (Bellows 1923 translation) One of my favorite passages about the sea, Gudrun’s Lament is from The Poetic Edda. […]
Rereading The Hobbit
I’ve loved J.R.R. Tolkien fiercely for many years. When I finally got to see The Hobbit on the big screen, I was simultaneously entranced, delighted, and dismayed. Very mixed feelings. I think I’ll have to see the film at least three more times before I’ll know how I REALLY feel. I got home from the […]
2012, The Year in Reading: Part 2
I’m back with Part 2 of my 2012 Year in Reading review. In my last post, I discussed some of the YA I loved most in 2012, and naturally I forgot to mention one of the best YA fantasies of the year: Laini Taylor’s Daughter of Smoke and Bone. Such a great story! Though not […]
2012, A Year in Reading: Part 1
For a few years now, I’ve been living a semi-nomadic life, making my home in Wisconsin, in Scotland, in Colorado–wherever life and work has taken me. But 2012 was a year of stability. I didn’t travel much. I didn’t divide my time between two homes. I stayed in Colorado long enough to raise a puppy, […]
