I listened to Stranger on the Beach on audio, and the fact that this book is narrated by January Lavoy affected how good I think it is. Lavoy narrates lots of books and she’s excellent – so good, that she made Sweet Valley Confidential sound like quality writing. And for that reason, I couldn’t tell if Stranger on the Beach was a decent book with some notable plot holes and several flaws, or if was just really, really bad. The story is about Caroline Stark, who …
Five Object Poem
This warm up idea came from the Creative Writing: Daily Warm-Ups, Level II. Years ago I made a slide show with my objects and examples, but I thought I'd update it into a video for distance learning. While my Creative Writing class is studying poetry, I find it fun to start class with a concrete task about something so abstract. …
Anatomy of a Scandal
Anatomy of a Scandal by Sarah Vaughn format = Kindle Anatomy of a Scandal by Sarah Vaughn is all about politics, and the politics plus everything else about the book is 100% British. I say 100%, because I feel like a lot of the books I read by British authors, which are often set in London, are still somehow written for an American audience in mind. Not this book. I had to re-read many passages to understand the terms or slang I wasn’t familiar with. Much of the novel is set at Oxford, and …
The Guest List
The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley Format: Kindle Reading The Guest List, by Lucy Foley, seemed like a no-brainer. First, I read The Hunting Party and I got super-involved in the suspense and atmospheric what will happen next vibe Foley is so good at. The book description for this one read like an Agatha Christie novel, and after reading Kate Weinberg’s The Truants (which featured an Agatha Christie fetish), I was ready. I was ready and I was not …
The Safe Place by Anna Downes
The Safe Place by Anna Downes seems like the perfect book for socially distancing amid a pandemic. It takes place at a beautiful French chateau, a mammoth home by the sea with a pool, stable, and outdoor kitchen. The main characters sit by the pool and drink wine, and if they're trapped, at least they're trapped in paradise. Of course, nothing is as simple as it seems, and underneath its ideal facade, this beautiful French chateau harbors not just a rank, rotting odor, but sinister …