Here are some of my favorite books read in 2013. As usual, I devoured a lot of fantasy, with Neil Gaiman’s darkly beautiful fictionalized memoir The Ocean at the End of the Lane at the top of my list. I loved Rachel Hartman’s dragon-themed Seraphina and seriously cannot wait for the sequel. Holly Black’s much-anticipated […]
Tag Archives: reading
Her Smoke Rose Up Forever
In January, when we were driving across the swamps of the Yucatan, I found myself thinking about James Tiptree Jr.’s delightful story “The Women Men Don’t See.” (Spoiler: the women in question are a nondescript mother and daughter who hide in the swamps of the Yucatan, waiting for the arrival of aliens who will free […]
The Fault in Our Stars
This is just a short post to say that I have read John Green’s exquisite and heartbreaking novel The Fault in Our Stars, and I am now completely gutted. Seriously, I have not wept so hard over a fictional character since the time my disbelieving sister found me surrounded by dirty Kleenex, clutching a dog-eared […]
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 […]
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, […]
CONvergence 2012
I’ve just returned from CONvergence, one of my favorite science fiction and fantasy conventions. The heat index in Minneapolis was 104 degrees, so I didn’t bother with my steampunky costume. But I did serve on two panels: “New Roles for Female Characters in YA Fantasy,” with Penguin editor Sharyn November, my friend Mike Levy, and […]