Having met my Cannonball 9 goal, I decided to re-read The Name of the Wind using the 10th anniversary edition. Initially, I wasn’t going to buy this special edition. There are already two copies, one trade paper and one hardcover, in the house. I even told my husband that I wasn’t going to get it. Then Rothfuss blogged details about the anniversary edition. Maps with more detail, explanation of the currency and exchange rates, the calendar, and back history of the empire (and why there is a […]
A mystery for music nerds :)
This book is the most recent addition to my collection that I have purchased based solely on CBR reviews. I’ve learned that when a book keeps popping up here, it’s for good reason and y’all can be trusted to recommend some good stuff! Bellweather Rhapsody is set in an aging hotel in upstate New York during an annual high school music festival. Fifteen years ago there was a murder-suicide in room 712, and this year a girl has gone missing from that same room. It’s […]
“I don’t believe anyone who is legitimately interesting can be popular as a teenager” Mel went on. “Or ever, maybe. Popularity rewards the uninteresting.”
3.5 stars Elise Dembowski has always been painfully uncool at school, and spends an entire summer pretty much studying up on how to become popular, spending much of her savings in the process on a new wardrobe, without any success at all. Things may in fact have gotten even worse for her. In a moment of despair, she cuts herself pretty deeply, and while bleeding, calls a school mate, who naturally freaks out and has paramedics sent to Elise’s house. After this event, Elise’s divorced […]
Sid is a Jerk
As a person of mixed race (White mother, Black father) who loves the blues, I thought that a book like Half-Blood Blues (featuring several mixed race characters and blues) would be right up my alley. It was not. In fact, it took me nearly a week to read the first 50 pages and I was bored to death almost the whole time. On page 54 things finally (finally!) got interesting from a story standpoint, but I still had to contend with the writing, which never […]
Both Sides…or at least his side
Not Dead Yet is a memoir of my favorite musical artist. I will be honest that I am not much of a memoir/biography guy and have avoided reading them unless cornered into doing so. However, Not Dead Yet is actually a pretty entertaining read. Phil Collin’s delivery of his memories can be a little jarring at first. I would liken it to talking with an older relative who is both verbose and perhaps boiling over with memories to share. Often during the course of the memoir […]
Semisonic’s drummer on life in the ’90s music biz
Semisonic’s Feeling Strangely Fine came out in 1998. I was a slouchy eighth-grader who was battling severe nodular acne, braces, and a wildly inappropriate volume of palm sweat. Lucky for me, I also played guitar. Conversations with anyone were hard, but rocking out was natural. Music is where I felt comfortable and found myself. It’s how I made friends and a life. In So You Wanna Be a Rock & Roll Star, Semisonic drummer Jake Slichter tells a similar story. He wasn’t a particularly cool teenager, but he […]
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