I have reopened to new book reviews, and will be publishing a new book review within the week. Many thanks to readers who have visited during the time we were closed.
If you are interested in having a book reviewed, please email me and we can discuss the possibility.
Happy Reading!
Book and product reviews are on hold for the time being.
I am sorry for the inconvenience, but hope you will find a wonderful book to read from the selection in our archives! Happy reading!
If you are looking for more from us, we are updating A Gaggle of Girls main blog and Rachel’s Recipe box
My grandmother and I share a lot of interests – food and books would be on both of our top 5 lists of favorites. I’ve shared many of the books I’ve reviewed here with her, and a lot of our interests overlap. I have so many wonderful memories of our chats about books we both loved.
This week marks my first trip away from my daughters. I have come to stay with my grandmother and her husband to help them as she starts recovering from her recent stroke. Her prognosis looks good, but every difference between “before” and “after” is difficult.
Being here feels very right, as I sit in rooms filled to the brim with books. My heart is full.
Internet connectivity is spotty, as is email, but I’ll be back on Monday with some book reviews, reviews of some new Gluten-Free/Dairy-Free products, recipes, a review of a Solar Science lab, and more random musings.
Right now at Amazon, Sci-Fi Network shows are 50% off! (I don’t see when the special ends, so act quickly!)
Go stock up on the Buffy collector’s set, or the Angel complete set! Half price. Wow. Think of it, in the long run, you’re saving money to buy more fantasy and paranormal books books!
My longtime friend Ms. Pope commented recently, “What do you think of the recent memoirs that were found to be fabricated?” I had been thinking and reading columns about the bogus memoirs, and her question spurred on me to write more. My brain was percolating last night as I listened to On Point discuss the topic as I drove home alone. On Point is an NPR show recorded in Boston; they were hoaxed on Friday by the most recent false memoirist (Margaret B. Jones, aka Margaret Seltzer), and they focused Wednesday’s show on the repercussions.
As a book reviewer, I’m on the fringes of the publishing world, but I see the sheer quantity of memoirs and novels published; the information in Wednesday’s On Point helped me understand how a bogus memoir could make its way into print, as most publishers don’t do in-depth fact checks, they trust the author. Copy-editing is performed to ensure accuracy enough to avoid libel, but one would think the publisher could double check that the author’s basic identity and story is accurate as well. I wish Margaret Seltzer/Jones had written her “memoir” as fiction, as it sounds like an engrossing book that would fit beside the wonderful novels of fictionalized reality, True to the Game I & II. But because she lied and cheated, we won’t have the opportunity to read the book as a novel. As I was looking into falsified memoirs, nothing has explained my burning question: why would someone write fiction and publish it as if it was a factual memoir?
I am disappointed and appalled that an author would do this, and it boggles my mind that anyone would try to sell a false memoir as fact. I can completely understand why someone would want to be published, and that if the memoir market is hot, authors aim for publication in the hot market. However, I can’t understand why someone would risk everything by lying so profoundly about their lives, with the hubris of believing they wouldn’t get caught, when in truth it was relatively easy to disprove their story. Read more
Leave a comment on my review of The Woman Who Is Always Tan And Has a Flat Stomach: And Other Annoying People- I’ll be giving away one copy on 3/3, and it will definitely give you a well deserved laugh during the bleak times at the end of winter. Keep your eyes on the this site, as the authors agreed to do an email interview! Don’t miss our interview with Lisa and Lauren! So leave a comment!
Check out this video of the authors – they are hysterical!
Scroll down for lots of great reviews!
Yay! February 26 – the day Kim Harrison’s newest book is released! If you haven’t already bought The Outlaw Demon Wails (Rachel Morgan, Book 6), click on that link and order it. If you’re impatient and own a Kindle, then you can buy it and have it downloaded in moments. The rest of us will need to wait for shipping or drive to a store.
While you’re awaiting your copy of The Outlaw Demon Wails, be sure to read our (spoiler free) book review, as well as our (also spoiler free) interview with Kim Harrison.
Don’t forget to pick up the mass market paperback of For a Few Demons More, it has a Rachel & Kisten short story at the end that is absolutely worth the price of the book!
