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Posts Tagged ‘books’

Don’t Be Afraid

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , on September 24, 2022| Leave a Comment »

“Don’t join the book burners. Don’t think you’re going to conceal faults by concealing evidence that they ever existed. Don’t be afraid to go in your library and read every book…”

― Dwight D. Eisenhower

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Photo by Susan Q Yin on Unsplash

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Book Women

Posted in Likes, tagged , , , , , , , on July 5, 2022| Leave a Comment »

I love a lot of things, including the Works Progress Administration, kick-ass ladies, secret histories, and libraries. This story combines all of the above and more. How cool is it that?

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Kentucky’s Horse-Riding Librarians | The Kid Should See This

Between 1935 and 1943, the initiative employed around 1,000 book women as mobile librarians. Paid less than a dollar a day, they traveled up to 120 miles a week on mule or horseback over rugged mountains and through fast-flowing creeks in all types of weather… In just one year they reached 50,000 families and 155 rural schools. But book women did more than just leave books on people’s porches…

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Photo by Nik Shuliahin 💛💙 on Unsplash

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Treasure, Lost & Found

Posted in Writing, tagged , , on May 24, 2021| Leave a Comment »

It can be fun when your own life becomes something of a treasure hunt. There I was, looking for Thing A when I stumbled across Thing 2. I went through a book binding phase and one of my experiments was with leather and copper. It’s been buried in my book collection ever since.

I’d be more precise now, but I still like the little leather map on the fastener.

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made with glove leather, copper sheeting, and cotton paper

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Book Magic

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , on April 18, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Does this happen to you? Sometimes I read a book and it’s bad. Maybe I learn a few things about what not to do, but the characters are too stupid to live or the author wants me to root for an ass, the story ends too early or too late, or some essential plot point is broken. This drives me a little bit nuts.

I finish the book and am left not with the happy satisfying end of story feeling, but with bad book juju. Is that a thing? It should be.

I’m left a little cranky, and nothing is as it should be.

My drink is too hot or too cold. Lunch tastes weird. My clothes fit funny. Even cookies don’t have their usual delicious snap.

Until I find a new book, a good book, and all is right again:)

Just me?*

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Photo by Keenan Constance on Unsplash

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* Of course it’s not just me:) This is why authors work so hard to provide a satisfying reader experience. This is also why I reread books I know I love.

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Precious Things

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , on April 5, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Books are precious things, but more than that, they are the strong backbone of civilization. They are the thread upon which it all hangs, and they can save us when all else is lost.

— Louis L’Amour

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Photo by nappy on Pexels.com

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Things I Know for Sure

Posted in Likes, Writing, tagged , , , , , , on March 27, 2021| Leave a Comment »

For today, I give you this highly-personalized, certainly particular list of #ThingsIKnowForSure:

  • Creativity is what’s important, not how or why or when you do it.
  • I eat less when I can taste more.
  • My garden deserves better.
  • Summer is a montage of awkwardly-placed mosquito bites. Still worth it.
  • The world needs a better brand of catnip.
  • Sometimes figuring things out is a matter of a good book and a long afternoon. If that doesn’t work, try a walk. Or a stiff drink.
  • That thing you don’t want to do is probably exactly what you should do (sorry!)
  • Sometimes a day just needs a thunderstorm.
  • Tonic and lemonade are good together. Also gin.
  • Some days there are just too many choices.
  • Touch ID hates me.
  • Sometimes you actually do need that ancient laptop you stashed in the closet.
  • A good book makes any day better.
  • I’m pretty much done letting other people define what’s “good” 🙂
  • Star Wars is the best movie ever (#1, now renamed #4 like a child whose parents changed their mind when she was ten years old. Who does that?)
  • Lord of the Rings is the best book ever. Even though I don’t read it every year (anymore), the effect it had on my life means that it will remain The Best Book Ever for always and ever and ever.
  • Kittens are hard to catch.

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Can’t go wrong with a kitten, right?
Photo by Henda Watani on Pexels.com

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The 2019 Hugo Award Winners

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 19, 2019| Leave a Comment »

The folks over at Boing Boing have listed last night’s 2019 Hugo award winners, complete with links:

Best Novel: The Calculating Stars, by Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor)
Best Novella: Artificial Condition, by Martha Wells (Tor.com publishing)
Best Novelette: “If at First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again,” by Zen Cho (B&N Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blog, 29 November 2018)
Best Short Story: “A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies,” by Alix E. Harrow (Apex Magazine, February 2018)
Best Series: Wayfarers, by Becky Chambers (Hodder & Stoughton / Harper Voyager)
Best Related Work: Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Best Graphic Story: Monstress, Volume 3: Haven, written by Marjorie Liu, art by Sana Takeda (Image Comics)
Best Professional Editor (Short Form): Gardner Dozois
Best Professional Editor, Long Form: Navah Wolfe
Best Professional Artist: Charles Vess
Best Semiprozine: Uncanny Magazine
Best Fanzine: Lady Business
Best Fancast: Our Opinions Are Correct
Best Fan Writer: Foz Meadows
Best Fan Artist: Likhain (Mia Sereno)
Best Art Book: The Books of Earthsea: The Complete Illustrated Edition, illustrated by Charles Vess, written by Ursula K. Le Guin (Saga Press / Gollancz)
Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book: Children of Blood and Bone, by Tomi Adeyemi (Henry Holt / Macmillan Children’s Books)
John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer: Jeannette Ng
Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, screenplay by Phil Lord and Rodney Rothman, directed by Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey and Rodney Rothman (Sony)
Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form: The Good Place: “Janet(s),” written by Josh Siegal & Dylan Morgan, directed by Morgan Sackett (NBC)

So excited to see my favorite Murderbot and the Wayfarers series get some love, and I’m looking forward to checking out some of the others on the roster. For more reading material, check out Tor.com’s full list of nominees. Enjoy!

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Real-Life Superhero

Posted in Likes, Other, Science!, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on February 7, 2019| Leave a Comment »

From the Library of Congress:

Today in History – February 7
On February 7, 1867, Laura Elizabeth Ingalls, the author of the beloved semi-autobiographical Little House series, was born in Wisconsin, the second daughter of Charles and Caroline Ingalls.

Little House on the Prairie etc. were some of the first real books I read.* They were also where I learned (among many other things) to make candy from maple syrup and snow, twist straw into logs, cast bullets, make candles, that nails were once a precious commodity, and that life before modern medicine was often hard and sometimes deadly.
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Speaking of modern medicine, I’ve been following the new measles outbreaks. Here’s a little public service announcement:

“Are you feeling all right?” I asked her.
“I feel all sleepy,” she said.
In an hour, she was unconscious. In twelve hours she was dead.
— Roald Dahl, on his daughter Olivia and Measles

 

Now, some people can’t be vaccinated.** That’s why the rest of us should. “You are a human shield”! (I love that, and I love being a real-life superhero and all-around good neighbor.) Thank you to the researchers who made vaccines possible, to the public policies making it a requirement, and to my parental units for helping me be part of a healthy community by keeping my vaccinations up to date!

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* Ok, Hop on Pop and other such books are real too, but these had chapters and everything! Also Little House was only semi-autobiographical and had some race issues, but acknowledging that lets us know how far we’ve come.

** For more on the “don’t” rather than the “can’t,” check out this TED Talk: Why (Some) Parents Don’t Vaccinate.

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Here’s to November!

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 6, 2017| Leave a Comment »

It’s November. Days are cold and nights are frosty. The cat wants in. And out. And back in again. It’s also the time of year for NaNoWriMo.

Yep, I’m doing it! My plan is to win (because of course) but most importantly, my goal is to get back on the regular-everyday-seriously-stop messing around writing train, and to practice a select number of specific writing skills. I haven’t gotten around to updating my official NaNo information, but I am working industriously away, so double handful of yay there.

Right now it looks as though the story I’m working on will involve superheroes and science fiction, but you just never know when a story will take a left turn. Will there be elves in the closet? Magic cotton candy machines? Or a secret bio lab planning to doom us all?!? One never knows:)

As I’ve mentioned in years past, I tend to be a pantser who heads to the keyboard and tackles the project head on, but I’m mixing it up this year.

Now I’m off to do some planning, some pantsing, and lots of writing:)

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2016 Hugo Award Winners

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 22, 2016| Leave a Comment »

The good folks over at The Verge have the list of 2016’s Hugo award winners, complete with links and the complete list of nominees. Lots of women and authors of color this round. All in all, this year’s award race largely shrugged off reactionaries and controversy, a real win for diversity and innovative speculative fiction. Enjoy!

Winner: Best Novel

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