Video Verite is a selection of short stories that explores our connection to the media. Our lives are filled with images, but not all of them are real. In a culture overrun with advertising, reality shows and celebrities famous for getting their faces on tv, how do we know what is truth and what is fiction? William Petrick’s stories touch… Read more
The Lost and Forgotten Languages of Shanghai by Ruiyan Xu is all about isolation and communication. Li Jing is a Chinese businessman with a beautiful wife and son, a successful investment company, family and friends. But in one tragic instant, he finds himself cut off from everything. A gas leak, an explosion, and a flying sheet of glass change his… Read more
It’s Wednesday, and I have some new words for you! These are from my current book, Under the Poppy by Kathe Koja. It’s about the goings-on at a brothel in Brussels in the 1870s, so you can imagine it has some interesting and obscure words. 1. Chary – characterized by great caution and wariness “…but he is chary of much… Read more
A friend of mine posted a link to a site that has had me drooling…the Bookshelf Porn archive! Now, I have often complained about my lack of bookshelves. I don’t know anyone who loves books who thinks they have enough room for them all. But these folks? They have got this under control. Amazing bookshelves, awesome reading rooms, like… Read more
Yesterday, I walked through a fabulous book fair! Rows after row of little tents full of a wide assortment of books, all sorted by subject. Books! And more books! On a lovely, if slightly rainy, Saturday afternoon. So why the sad face? I’m in Amsterdam. They were all in Dutch. Read more
I have to admit that I requested this book based on the title. Angels, Vampires and Douche Bags is a title with a lot of potential. Unfortunately, it did not live up to my expectations. The book separates the people in our lives into three categories. Angels are the people who love you and take care of you. Vampires are… Read more
This book really took me back to my heavy metal roots. I was a fan in high-school and college, saw a lot of head-banging bands play live, and still have the hard rock/alternative stations programmed in the car radio. Mustaine: A Heavy Metal Memoir is a look behind the scenes at how a scrawny kid from La Mesa, California became… Read more
Tired of hearing how eBooks are going to destroy the publishing industry? So am I. It’s a ridiculous idea to me – why would buying something that you use to read books be a bad thing? I think it opens huge opportunities for interactive books (kids would love this), textbooks, plus quick and easy access. So I was pleased to… Read more
It’s Wednesday and I have some words! One of the problems with biographies and comedy books is that they don’t have a lot of new vocabulary for me. I have a list that I still need to post from The World Without Us, but I don’t have the book with me here in Amsterdam, so that list will have to… Read more
It’s been a while since I had something I wanted to share on a Tuesday! It’s funny, I complain about how hard it is to keep up with the blog when I’m traveling, but when I take a little time off, my schedule really falls apart and it gets even harder. Anyway, today’s Teaser is from a book I finished… Read more