In November while in upstate New York, we took a small afternoon trip to Saratoga Springs, a small, relatively affluent college town near where @seanbala grew up. We made two stops. One was Lyrical Ballad Bookstore. It was an amazing warren of shelves and lots of old books, maps, newspapers, and pictures. Funny thing is that even though he grew up here, this was Sean's first time going!
@seanbala@bookstodon Afterwards, we went to Uncommon Ground, a local coffee shop that makes its own bagels and roasts its own coffee. We got one of the best mochas we've had in a long time and a bagel with some schmear. Worth checking out if you ever visit!
@seanbala read a book while @dohappybelove did some painting. A good afternoon that we needed at that moment.
I re-read Nicola Griffith's Hild a couple of weeks ago and edited that review. I made even more edits today, then added comments about the second book, Menewood. Both get my highest of recommendation. This link is for the full page.
Readers and Friends of readers!
If you like witty wordplay, endearing characters, and a sense of fun with your mystery: PJ Fitzsimmons is your man. His Anty Boisjoly Mystery series is SO delightful; I read the seven books this year, most twice! It’s the kind of book you have to read bits out loud to whomever else is in the room. Or, if you’re feeling shy, just laugh outloud (to yourself).
@MardraS@bookstodon
You've made my day, Mardra. I'm sorry that I'm here so rarely and only just now saw your kind messages — I think I have to either commit to Mastodon or not.
Either way, I hope you know how motivational this kind of support is as I'm writing book number eight. Thank you.
@jillrhudy@bookstodon those are all terrific! Extra Yarn, Dragons Love Tacos, and The Day the Crayons Quit were also faves around that reading level in our house
@jillrhudy@bookstodon Agreed! Part the bookstores’ fault, part the publishers’ fault. But I was able to find some reprints of books I enjoyed as a kid at the Purple House Press to my delight. The books about Gus the ghost and Mr. Pine’s Mixed up Signs, for example. Just opened their page to grab the link to share and saw they are also reprinting We Were Tired of Living in a House! https://www.purplehousepress.com/
"As soon as we die, we enter into fiction. Just ask two different family members to tell you about someone recently gone and you will see what I mean. Once we can no longer speak for ourselves, we are interpreted" (Hilary Mantel).
Sitting weird on a book that I enjoyed and it was fine. But also not sure how I feel about finding the author has used exclusively AI art to promote it. I'm not trying to be a Luddite here. Sincerely. My daytime career is in tech. AI is a tool, but used in this way? Feels weird? Curious what @smutstodon and @bookstodon thinks
If I've written a novella set a "high school" level academy, but the character is older than her classmates due to health issues keeping her out of school (so she's 17 and her classmates are 14/15)
Oh, I so love it when one of my (often exercised prejudices) is offered some validation by research... this time its the boost in comprehension a reader gets from reading on paper rather than via a screen.
For years this is what I told my students (based on my own experience), to be often told it was an age thing... well looks like I was right. Hurrah!
[No doubt this will re-open the e-book vs. paper book debates in my timeline, but so be it]
@ChrisMayLA6@bookstodon I rend to read ebooks as no more space for paper but notice that I often use the search function when encountering a character I can't remember being included before
"I especially enjoyed this title as it approaches the popular topic of dinosaurs from an unusual angle and successfully mixes fact with genuine humour. The illustrations are really amusing too and perfectly complement the flavour of the text. It made me chuckle!"