I used to work in oncology, so cancer is nothing new to me. When I was in grad school at a medical school, I read through the entire oncology (surgical, medical, and radiation) section of the library to try and get a handle on my anxiety about a mentor being diagnosed with breast cancer. It’s almost as if…if I could just read enough about something, any anxiety about it would go away....
As we all know, Doctor Who‘s companions are just as important as the Doctor. The dynamic between them can make or break a season. They need to be smart. They need to be honest. And most of all, they need to be unique and hold their own against the giant personality of the Doctor. Of course such personalities would also be readers. Of course. And if there’s no TV show I enjoy more and my favorite activity is reading, then of course I needed to figure out what my favorite Doctor Who companions are reading, and why....
Part of what made me start to fall out of love with the series was my frustration at what the girl characters didn’t get to do. I remember being so excited when Mariel of Redwall came out (the first of the books I bought in hardcover) because she looked like a proper badass lady from the outset. I was then intensely disappointed when Mariel wasn’t entrusted with Martin’s sword and it went to one of the male mouse characters....
When performed by the author, it can feel almost cathartic to those watching: we carry our own feelings into the venue, and they are washed away and replaced by the feelings of those declaiming on stage. Our grief and love and life become suddenly more vivid, more worthy of attention. That’s the beauty of poetry in itself: for a moment we become what we are reading, even if we have never felt those emotions before....
As with the previous post, I tried to pick covers that are recognizable, though some of these have multiple well-known covers. The books below are a mix of all-time classics of the genre and new releases, adult titles as well as YA and even middle grade. If you’re a hardcore fantasy fan, you’ve definitely heard of all of these, though, even if you haven’t read them all. I used a few different Book Riot posts for inspiration, including the Most Influential Fantasy Books, the Top Fantasy Books on Goodreads, and the Best Fantasy Book Series of All Time....
Discover Clockwork Angel, the first book in Cassandra Clare’s Infernal Devices trilogy, now in a limited edition paperback. This edition features a sneak peek at Chain of Gold—the first in a brand new Shadowhunters trilogy, available March 3, 2020. When Tessa Gray crosses the ocean to find her brother, her destination is England, the time is the reign of Queen Victoria, and something terrifying is waiting for her in London’s Downworld, where vampires, warlocks, and other supernatural folk stalk the gaslit streets....
When Josh’s longtime partner, Grace, dies in a tragic accident, he is left with a mess of grief—and full custody of her seven-year-old son, Logan. While not his biological father, Josh has been a dad to Logan in every way that counts. Wanting to do right by Logan, Josh begins the process of becoming his legal guardian, something that Grace always brushed off as an unnecessary formality. But now, as Josh struggles to find the paperwork associated with Logan’s birth, he begins to wonder whether there were more troubling reasons for Grace’s reluctance to make their family official....
These finds are for cat lovers, as well as those who appreciate cute animals atop books. I’ve found an array of fun items, with a range of different familiars, to satisfy that desire to see two excellent things of life together in one place. Grab your wallets (or maybe hide them!) and snag some of these sweet cats on book stacks goods for your home or office. Just…keep some of them away from your own cats if yours are anything like mine....
The History of Gingerbread Cookies From frosted gingerbread houses to crispy gingersnaps to soft and chewy ginger cookies, delightfully ginger spiced treats are an iconic part of any winter holiday dessert spread. But did you know they have a history going back as far as 2400 BCE, when the first known gingerbread recipe was recorded in ancient Greece? Ginger, first cultivated in China, has long been used for medicinal purposes and is still used today to calm upset stomachs....
Gracie sees a chance of fitting in at her South Carolina private school, until a “white trash”–themed Halloween party has her steering clear of the rich kids. Samuel’s Tejano family has both stood up to oppression and been a source of it, but now he’s ready to own his true sexual identity. A Puerto Rican teen in Utah discovers that being a rodeo queen means embracing her heritage, not shedding it....
I spent my birthday sitting on my couch, eating popcorn and streaming a horror film. It was a comedy horror, because let’s not get too carried away, but it’s still enough of a head scratcher that this is what I’ve been gravitating towards. While it was not scary to me as a whole at all, it was filled with jump scares, and every time my popcorn bounced up in the air I thought, “Who am I?...
What is virtue signaling? Why is it an issue? Virtue signaling is when a person or company does something just to show that they are virtuous. The term has become a pejorative in recent years because it describes giving these signals, but not doing anything substantial to back them up or keep the message going. While hundreds of companies will bring out rainbow variants of their company logos during Pride Month, they keep donating money to anti- LGBTQIA+ politicians and don’t do anything to support the LGBTQIA+ community....
In 1999, now defunct Vision Forum published an adapted Elsie series and republished the originals. Elsie became hugely popular within Evangelical and Fundamental Christian circles, prompting a doll line, activity books, and Bible study curriculums. The Elsie books are still being handed to young girls as recreational literature. I was given a set as a child, but thankfully I found Elsie too insufferable to continue the series. For a quick refresher on the plot, I listened to Kitchen Table Cult Podcast’s episode on Elsie Dinsmore....
The famous Fabio romance covers of the 1980s and ’90s were glorious, embarrassing, corny, sexy, or off putting, depending on whom you ask. Because of their prominence, Fabio is shorthand for a man with flowing locks, gripping a comely woman against his glossy, hairless chest in a pose known as a clinch. He’s something of a bad penny to romance readers, forever coming back to haunt us. Or maybe he’s a joke we played on ourselves....
19 Of the best Fahrenheit 451 quotes Ray Bradbury packs so much into each of his words, each of his lines. You’ve got quotes about fire and censorship, but just as many quotes about knowledge and its transcendent power. From one-liners that make your breath catch, to paragraphs that race, here are the Fahrenheit 451 quotes that struck me the hardest: “It was a pleasure to burn.” from Etsy “‘Bet I know something else you don’t....
I initially wanted to stick to fall floral bookmarks for this roundup, to correspond to the pressed flower bookmarks perfect for spring. There were surprisingly few, though, but they’re included. Also included among this selection of fall bookmarks are gourds and pumpkins, leaves, and all of the autumnal vibes in oranges, yellows, reds, and deep blues and purples. I haven’t included much in terms of spooky bookmarks because you can find them linked....
WARNING: Mercury will be in retrograde February 17 through March 10. That means lots of technological problems, miscommunications, travel issues, and general mayhem. As I always say, the best way to avoid Mercury Retrograde disaster is by staying inside with a good book. Aries (March 21–April 19) February promises to be a bit chaotic for Aries, but a positive attitude can help turn that chaos into big wins. Your busy social calendar offers many business opportunities, as well as a potential new love connection....
Brevard Public School teachers were told to pull their classroom libraries entirely until every book in every classroom could be vetted by a library technician. The average elementary school classroom has several hundred books. If a school has a full-time librarian — which is hardly a guarantee in most of the country — and assuming a conservative 20 teachers per school, that would require each school librarian to vet thousands of books before classroom libraries can be returned....
But that was the point, right? Humor can break the tension when things become unbearably heavy. Sadness and deeper understanding can sneak in after a few good snorts have won you over and opened you up. I read her debut memoir, The Clancys of Queens, soon after. About growing up in working class Queens, it was the literary embodiment of the woman herself and I thought: Of course! This is how I want every book to be!...
(Aside: I HATE the phrase “graphic memoir” because it makes me think I’m talking about extremely violent or memoirs with a lot of explicit sex, which I am not. But you can’t call them “comic books” or “graphic novels” and the phase “memoirs in comic book form” is so clumsy… I just don’t know. Does someone have a better description?) The first graphic memoir I remember reading is Blankets by Craig Thompson, a coming-of-age story about Thompson’s childhood, first love, and struggle with his faith....
