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30 in 30: Day 16 (democracy has miles to go before we can sleep)
Favourite Poem or Collection of Poetry This is a difficult one. I don’t have many favourite poems as I have favourite poets, and when I look at their works there are a few poems that jump out at me. So I have two. The first is by Langston Hughes. Democracy Democracy will not come Today,…
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30 in 30: Day 15 (in which I am fairly whimsical about the Rootabaga Country)
Your “comfort” book Rootabaga Stories by Carl Sandberg. I first read this book when I was fairly young. The stories ‘were born of Sandburg’s desire for “American fairy tales” to match American childhood. He felt that the European stories involving royalty and knights were inappropriate, and so set his stories in a fictionalized American Midwest called “the…
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Graduation from Hogwarts: the end of Harry Potter and my adolescence
Unless you live under a rock, you’re aware that the final Harry Potter film was recently released. If you know any fans of the series (statistically speaking, you probably do), you have somewhat of an inkling just how big a fucking deal this is. For me, Harry Potter ending represents the ending of my childhood.…
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30 in 30: Day 14 (in which I briefly talk about the Chaotic Canine, as portrayed by Thomas King)
Favorite character in a book (of any sex or gender) This is kind of a difficult question. I mean, I’ve read like a thousand books (I wish life had achievement trackers like WoW does) so choosing one character out of all those stories is sort of a monumental task. But, eh, what the hell. Coyote…
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30 in 30: Day 12 (in which I pick apart Anne McCaffrey’s “feminism” and tell you why ten year olds really should not read her books (or my posts, truthfully))
A book or series of books you’ve read more than five times Ugh. I really really really wish I could say The Black Jewels Trilogy for this one, but unfortunately I keep on losing my copy of that one and haven’t replaced enough times to have read it more than five times (I have read…
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30 in 30: Day 11 (where I talk about the Duke’s flat soda)
A book that disappointed you The Duke’s Ballad, by Andre Norton. It was just fucking crap is what it was. I started reading it and it seemed to be starting a bit slow, but I persevered. I was on vacation after all, and it was one of the three books I had. I wasn’t going…
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30 in 30: Day 10 (in which I ramble off into existential bullshit about the nature of writing)
A book you thought you wouldn’t like but ended up loving Writing Down the Bones, by Natalie Goldberg. The book was assigned for a Creative Writing class I had back in 2004 (Hi, Vinnie). I took one look at it and rolled my eyes, thinking Whatever, I’ve been writing for years. What can this book…
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30 in 30: Day 09 (in which I hold back a rant and finish quickly — really, this is the first time that’s happened!)
Best scene ever WARNING: MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR SPOILERS FOR KUSHIEL’S DART AHEAD. (You’ve been warned.) (Seriously, don’t read any further if you don’t want the ending of Kushiel’s Dart spoiled for you.) And again, we explore my hopeless romanticism.