I’ve read a whole bunch of Kwame Alexander’s poetry stories — he writes for tweens and teens in verse, but it never feels boring or difficult. The plot moves quickly and easily and his topics are usually difficult ones. Divorce, death of a parent, unrequited crushes, adoption, the end of a friendship, etc. And it seems like his best books — for me, that would include The Crossover, Booked,and Rebound— revolve around sports. Basketball. Soccer. And now, baseball. Noah is in high school and is […]
Emma Thompson is a goddess and should always be treated as such. Oh, and BINGO.
I’ve read Emma a few times before, and have read several re-imaginings and retellings as well. I’ve seen at least four adaptations (Mark Strong as Mr. Knightley…Jonny Lee Miller as Mr. Knightely…the web series made by the folks who did The Lizzie Bennett Diaries…and of course, the GOOP version), and always thought I preferred the movie to the book. I mean, come on. Jeremy Northam gave so much beautiful side-eye to Goop in that movie. And then, low and behold, Audible gifted me with the Emma […]
One of these days, I’m definitely going to have to learn how to spell Marisha Pessl without looking.
Its become very clear that Marisha Pessl is now a MUST author for me. I loved her debut novel, Special Topics in Calamity Physics. And while I didn’t have the same immediate feelings for Night Film, that book crept up on me and ended up scaring me more than I thought possible. With Neverworld Wake, Pessl presents her first YA offering, and it offers a combination of the private school privileged world seen in Calamity Physics and a nightmarish view of human nature, similar to […]
“It’s a truth universally acknowledged that when rich people move into the hood, where it’s a little bit broken and a little bit forgotten, the first thing they want to do is clean it up.”
I like that Ibi Zoboi didn’t call this a “retelling” of Pride and Prejudice. She’s going with the term “remix.” That seems to fit a little better, because while the main plot is pretty similar, there are lots of little things that don’t quite fit into a strict retelling. What Zoboi did instead was take a story that most of us already know, flip parts of it around, and make it her own. And it really worked for me. Zuri Benitez was born and raised […]