The hardest part is trying to answer the questions Walker raises in my mind every time I pick him up. What is the value of a life like his – a life lived in the twilight, and often in pain? What is the cost of his life to those around him? “We spend a million [...]
Posts under ‘Five-Ten Star Books’
Unbroken – Book Review
All he could see, in every direction, was water. It was June 23, 1943. Somewhere on the endless expanse of the Pacific Ocean, Army Air Forces bombardier and Olympic runner Louie Zamperini lay across a small raft, drifting westward. – from Unbroken, preface – Louie Zamperini grew up in Torrence, California. He was an intrepid [...]
Armchair BEA Day 2: Best of 2011
Welcome to Day 2 of The Armchair BEA. Today there are giveaways galore being offered on individual blogs – check out this post to get links. I’m giving away books through the official Armchair BEA blog (ongoing), so today I decided to accept the prompt to write about my favorite books so far in 2011. [...]
The Paperbark Shoe – Book Review
The sky over Wyalkatchem is hotter and bluer than any other place, and the winds are stronger, the thermals rising tens of thousands of feet straight up, lifting the litter of the desert in its embrace: shards of quartz and shale and flakes of limestone, spinifex, the lost tails of geckoes, scraps of paperbark, the [...]
Benrali Art Books – Review Of Manni AND The Turtle’s Dream and Keys
All was quiet that night on Shell Beach, All but the turtles rushing to sea. That night the full moon spoke to me, “You will leave the forest of palm trees.” – from Manni – Manni, From A World Beyond Stars is written and illustrated by Aman Waseem Ben Ali (writing under the pen name [...]
Galore – Book Review
Watching Judah emerge from the whale’s guts, King-me felt the widow was birthing everything he despised in the country, laying it our before him like a taunt. Irish nor English, Jerseyman nor bushborn nor savage, not Roman or Episcopalian or apostate, Judah was the wilderness on two legs, mute and unknowable, a blankness that could [...]
Being With Animals – Book Review and Giveaway
To feel that mutual kinship with another creature is a special experience, one that brings us into attunement with the whole world. It’s a feeling deep in the chest, resonant in the heart: I share with all creatures a way of being in this world. All animals, in their own ways, struggle to live, and [...]
Every Last One – Book Review
Every day, with few variations – snow, minor illnesses, the failure of the paper to arrive, a lost backpack, a sleepover that’s left us one, or two, or sometimes even three kids shy of the usual full set – every day is like this. Average. Ordinary. More or less. – from Every Last One, page [...]
The Postmistress – Book Review and Giveaway
If there was a place on earth in which God walked, it was the workroom of any post office in the United States of America. Here was the thick chaos of humanity rendered into order. Here was a box for each and every family in the town. Letters, bills, newspapers, catalogs, packages might be sent [...]
Shadow Tag – Book Review and Giveaway
If Gil didn’t know that she knew about him reading her diary, she could write things there to manipulate him. Even hurt him. She thought she would start with a simple test, some irresistible hook. – from Shadow Tag, page 27 – A soul could be captured through a shadow. It was in the Ojibwe [...]
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