Author Archives: chick

Let It Die

Just the other night, I was reading along happily, lost in the magic place that exists between the words on the page and the visions in my head, when a jarring word knocked me back to the real world. The … Continue reading

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A Gate to a Strange Land

The Gate to Women’s Country by Sheri S. Tepper Grade: B The Gate to Women’s Country takes place in a postapocalyptic world. Forced to eke out a rough living in the lands between “desolations” (vast radioactive areas where nothing will … Continue reading

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Unexpected Beauty

I am grateful for the unexpected. I was waiting for Faithful Reader to finish work so that we could go out to dinner. I looked outside and noticed that the ground was wet, and yet there was blue sky overhead. … Continue reading

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Great Library Binge

It wasn’t my fault! They were selling books at the library, so what was I to do? Just ignore a whole roomful of cheap books? I’ve heard that some people have that ability, but not I. And so yesterday I … Continue reading

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Mystery Flower #2

There’s a shrub growing near the corner of our driveway. It’s not an attention grabber most of the time, but during the spring it decks itself out with these stunning coral-colored flowers. Can you guess what kind of shrub it … Continue reading

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Of Flying Peppermint Sticks

Mary Poppins Opens the Door by P.L. Travers Grade: B Mary Poppins Opens the Door feels a little too formulaic after the other Mary Poppins books, but it still retains some of the magic from the original idea. I love … Continue reading

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Say It Ain’t So!

I just don’t feel like I have much creativity these days. It makes me worry. And then I worry more when I read quotes like this one by Doris Lessing, recent winner of the Novel Prize in Literature. I keep … Continue reading

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From Ordinary to Extraordinary

The Ordinary Princess by M.M. Kaye Grade: A- The Ordinary Princess is M.M. Kaye’s only children’s book. It is the story of a baby princess who is given the gift of ordinariness by a fairy. When she grows up, she … Continue reading

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Strikerious!

Listening to the mourning doves singing in the rain this evening made me think of that famous song by Prince, “When Doves Cry.” As I mentally replayed the song in my head, I paused at this line from the lyrics: … Continue reading

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The Very Last

It is with both sadness and relief that I write about the last book from the Vonnegut Marathon. Timequake by Kurt Vonnegut Grade: A- In Timequake, a hiccup in the expansion of the universe sets time back by ten years. … Continue reading

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