Monthly Archives: January 2014

A Review of Orson Scott Card’s Enchantment (by Bethany)

Posted on January 16, 2014 by lfpbe

I read Enchantment on the recommendation of a friend. It is the first Orson Scott Card novel I’ve read that is not part of the Ender series. This novel is about Ivan, a late-Cold-War era Russian boy whose family emigrates … Continue reading →

Posted in Authors, Fiction - Fantasy, Fiction - general, Fiction - SciFi, Fiction - Young Adult, Orson Scott Card, Reviews by Bethany, TIME TRAVEL | 2 Comments

Happy birthday, Bethany!!

Posted on January 16, 2014 by badkitty1016

Here we are in line for possibly It’s a Small World at Disneyland in June, 1993, a mere months away from the beginning of our senior year of high school and the beginning of AP English.  We went with our … Continue reading →

Posted in autobiographical photo montages | 12 Comments

Thirty Years Ago Today (by Bethany)

Posted on January 16, 2014 by lfpbe

Life was rough back in 1984, what with Big Brother and all. Not to mention those drapes.

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Yarn Along (by Bethany)

Posted on January 15, 2014 by lfpbe

This boldly colored scarf has more than quadrupled in length since I photographed it last week – although you can’t really tell from this photo. I felt lousy last weekend and spent a lot of time knitting in front of … Continue reading →

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A Review of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah (by Bethany)

Posted on January 10, 2014 by lfpbe

The cover of Americanah is designed to look like the “plain brown wrapper” of a couple of generations ago, which to me suggests one of two things: either a textbook wrapped in a paper grocery bag to preserve the cover … Continue reading →

Posted in Authors, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Fiction - general, Fiction - literary, Reviews by Bethany | 10 Comments

Yarn Along (by Bethany)

Posted on January 8, 2014 by lfpbe

I had two and a half weeks off work for the holidays, and guess how many books I finished? I’ll tell you: NONE. I finished exactly NO books. Very out of character, I know. It’s not that I didn’t read. … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized, Yarn Along | 4 Comments

Book II of Paradise Lost, Part II (by Bethany)

Posted on January 7, 2014 by lfpbe

After they conclude their parliamentary debate about whether or not to wage another war against God, the rebel angels make plans to scout the cosmos out to see if the rumor they’ve heard about the creation of mankind is true. … Continue reading →

Posted in AP English - 18 Years Later, Authors, John Milton, Mornings with Milton, Poetry - Epic, Poetry - General, Reviews by Bethany | 18 Comments

Mornings with Milton, Day 2: Book II of Paradise Lost (first part only) – by Bethany

Posted on January 4, 2014 by lfpbe

Death is not – as Wallace Stevens supposes – the mother of beauty. In fact, Death is the father of the hell hounds. What? Yes, I’m serious. I’ve read Book II of Paradise Lost, and I know these things. Book … Continue reading →

Posted in AP English - 18 Years Later, Authors, John Milton, Mornings with Milton, Poetry - Epic, Poetry - General, Reviews by Bethany | 11 Comments

My First Christmas in Domestic Servitude (by Bethany)

Posted on January 3, 2014 by lfpbe

McDonald’s received some bad press in the weeks before Christmas for the callous way it treats its minimum-wage employees. First, workers reported that McDonald’s handed out brochures advertising a financial counseling “hotline” that connected callers not with a human being … Continue reading →

Posted in Authors, Book-related personal narratives, Essays about literature, Fiction - general, Fiction - literary, Henry David Thoreau, Nonfiction - General, Nonfiction - Memoir/Biography, Reviews by Bethany, Toni Morrison | 4 Comments

Taking care of some unfinished 2013 business: Jill’s thoughts on Pat Conroy’s The Great Santini

Posted on January 2, 2014 by badkitty1016

I read this one in September.  Oh, September.  Three months and forty degrees ago.  The Great Santini was the last of the Pat Conroy’s canon as it existed in the early 1990’s that I read.  I don’t know why, exactly, … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction - general, Pat Conroy, PAT CONROY MONTH!, Reviews by Jill | Leave a comment