Fantasy and wish-fulfillment done well. You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you. — Eric Hoffer Each book, movie and television show, we love reveals some of our own desires, hopes and fears. Every story is a fantasy. We don’t read fantasy (just) to escape reality. Continue reading →
Laugh-out-loud funny and emotionally relatable. Most of the time when teenagers feel alienated, it’s because they haven’t found their niche: they’re running in that in-between zone that doesn’t fit the cliques or stereotypes of their school or culture or region. Cara, in contrast, is at the top of her game. She’s not driven by “the Continue reading →
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Five out of five stars. (Hmmm, I’ll have to make a legend for the ratings scale.) This is the second book I’ve read of Julie Klassen’s, and, in the (Christian, historical) romance genre, both novels encased pounding hearts and clasped hands in a well-shaped story with a bit of mystery Continue reading →
This is the second time I’ve seen this title (*On* Becoming a writer) on a blog, and both times I thought (admit I hoped) it was Becoming a Writer, by Dorthea Brand. That book is over 30 years old now (aka, there are really cheap used copies on Amazon), but as it was first published Continue reading →
Jay got home Friday after a month away. I’m starting to feel re-stablized, and ready to pick up whole books again. But this has been an interesting month of idea collecting (along with overwhelm…). Every now-and-then I think I might start an INFJ blog, but then I do a bit of Googling and see there’s Continue reading →
Leaving aside for the moment that I agree with the people who dismiss the left-brain/right-brain distinction of analysis/logic vs. creativity/innovation, the fact remains that brain scans do allow for observation of activity within the brain. One of the things Shadow Syndromes brings up is how brain activity changes as a person moves from sadness or Continue reading →
This is the first book in a Trilogy called Queen of the Orcs, the title which sounds rather Spoilery right there. This isn’t a book review, per se, but consider yourself spoiled (warned) if you choose to keep reading. King’s Property would have been a fascinating read at any time, but as I had just Continue reading →
Natasha has been reading for a long time now, and definitely prefers the series I consider “fluff.” Light reading that is not particularly meaningful, but harmless. The fairy books by “Daisy Meadows” are currently the Doritos books of choice for all three of my kids. And I’m pretty much okay with them as library books. Continue reading →
I am in the early chapters of a book called Shadow Syndromes, and currently am fascinated by the concept the authors put forward that they label Noise. In the same way, they say, as all sick people are going to have a baseline of feeling cruddy (tired, confused, unmotivated, general yuck) all brain issues also Continue reading →