This was one of my favorite books as a kid — we read it for a book report in elementary school, and I reread it over and over for years after that. When I saw a copy at a book sale for a dollar — with the same cover I remembered! — I knew it was time to reread it again. It’s held up wonderfully. “I must say this now about that first fire. It was magic. Out of dead tinder and grass and sticks […]
I’ll remember this one for when my kids are a bit older
This was a fun, magical book (as books about circuses ought to be), and while I enjoyed it completely as a grown woman, I also can’t wait for my kids to get a bit older so we can reread it together. “[I]t was a ridiculous, amazing thing to do, and once in a while, it’s good to be ridiculous and amazing.” Micah Tuttle has lived with his grandpa since the death of his parents, and it’s been wonderful — his grandpa Ephraim tells him the […]
I cannot read the word “robot” without pronouncing it like Zoidberg — should I seek help for this?
This was, if nothing else, very entertaining. In a book full of robots and evil computers, the relationship between the two main characters seemed the most ridiculous to me. Maybe I should stop reading so much YA — the youths are starting to make me angry. Nevertheless, I still liked this one. So, sometime in the future, a group of scientists create an artificial intelligence named Charlotte, which (of course) eventually goes mad and kills people. Specifically, Lee Fisher’s mother. Now, Lee’s father is the president, and […]
Barbara from Blackpool
While it didn’t set my world on fire or anything, I think of the last few Nick Hornby books that I’ve read (Songbook, A Long Way Down, Fever Pitch), this was my favorite. It was sweet, light and enjoyable, mostly due to the very likable characters. “We wrote about whatever we wanted, and we ended up with eighteen million people watching us. That’s the thing about television comedy, isn’t it? It makes us all a part of something. That’s what I love about it.” Barbara wants […]