Rachel Kovaciny's Blog, page 68

"Life Beyond Measure" by Sidney Poitier

I've been a fan of Sidney Poitier for many years, beginning with the first time I saw the movie Blackboard Jungle  (1955).  I've seen him in so many amazing movies since then -- In the Heat of the Night (1967), To Sir, With Love (1967), Buck and the Preacher (1972), and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967), to name a few.  But I had no idea until a couple weeks ago that he'd written any books!  I saw this on a display of books for Black History Month at m...

"Five Poisoned Apples" edited by Anne Elisabeth Stengl

Yes, it's true.  I have finally finished reading all five stories in Five Poisoned Apples.  Yes, it took me months.  Let me 'splain.

I started reading it immediately on my Kindle the night it was released in early December.  When my paperback copy arrived, I finished reading "Falling Snow" by Skye Hoffert, the first story in the collection.  And then I got busy, and Christmas happened, and so on, and when I picked the book back up again in January... well, the trouble,...

Top Ten Tuesday: Underloved Favorites

Today's Top Ten Tuesday prompt from That Artsy Reader Girl is "Top Ten Books I LOVED with Fewer than 2,000 Ratings on Goodreads."

Turns out I love a lot of books with fewer than 2,000 ratings there.  So narrowing it down was tricky, but here we go!  Please note that I'm putting them in alphabetical order by title because I didn't have time to suss out which ones I loved more than others.  I love all ten of these so much that I own my own copies.  Can't bear to rely on the l...

"Cloaked in Red" by Vivian Vande Velde

Someone recommended Vivian Vande Velde's fairy tale retellings to me not long ago, and I discovered my library had a few of them, so I got this one to try.

Oh, my Elvis.  This book made me laugh so hard!  It's actually a collection of eight different retellings of Little Red Riding Hood, and since I retold that myself as a western called Cloaked, I was really excited to read some very different variations on the story.  Some of these were exciting or thrilling, and some were jus...

"Words of Wisdom: Quotes from Shakespeare" Coloring Poster Book

One of  my blogging goals for 2019 is to start reviewing adult coloring books again.  So today I'm reviewing the Words of Wisdom: Quotes from Shakespeare book of posters to color.  These are big sheets -- 9 1/2" x 12" and can be framed -- I love the bigger format!  I got this book from Usborne/Kane Miller here, and I'm not sure if it's available elsewhere or not.

The pages are thick like cardstock, so they're perfect for gel pens, which is what I've been using with it....

The We Love Shakespeare Tag

It's We Love Shakespeare Week over on my other blog, Hamlette's Soliloquy!  I'm doing my bit to celebrate by filling out the official tag, and I'll be reviewing a version of Hamlet later this week, reviewing a Shakespeare coloring book... and I've posted two games over on my other blog too.  You can read everyone else's tags and other posts right here.  Come join the fun!  There's a giveaway too, which is open world-wide.

1. When and how did you first encounter Shakesp...

"The Four-Story Mistake" by Elizabeth Enright

I know I read this as a kid, but I really didn't remember much of it, except that they had a cupola on their house.  I was kinda obsessed with cupolas as a kid, mostly thanks to the Samantha books from American Girl.  Truth be told, I'd still like one. 

Anyway, this is an utterly charming book.  I chose it for my 3rd-6th graders to read for our homeschool co-op this month, so of course, I had to reread it myself.  And I'm so happy I did.  I read one of the later M...

Top Ten Tuesday: An Addition Problem

I think we can all agree that the biggest problem with being a book addict is the endless list of books we want to read, but which haven't crossed our paths yet for one reason or another.  Today's prompt from That Artsy Reader Girl asks us to list the ten books we've added to our TBR list most recently.  So I've pulled ten books from my Goodreads, Amazon, library, and Instagram accounts that I've added to my wishlists over the past month or so.  Here they be.
  
 &...

"Miss Kopp's Midnight Confessions" by Amy Stewart

I loved Girl Waits with Gun .  I adored Lady Cop Makes Trouble .  But I only enjoyed Miss Kopp's Midnight Confessions.  And I think the main reason is that it was not told in the first person by Constance Kopp!  Instead, it was third-person.  And it delved into the point of view of not just Constance, but also Fleurette Kopp and a variety of other characters.  And those characters were central to the story, but they weren't wonderful like Constance.  I'm happy...

"Grateful American" by Gary Sinise

I'm fumbling around for words to describe or explain or praise this book.  I want to do all three, but it's such a thoroughly good book -- and I enjoyed it so much -- that it's hard for me to write about it without descending into what will sound like sentimental hyperbole.

But I'll try.

I became a fan of Gary Sinise in 1995, when my parents took my brother and I to see Apollo 13 in the theater.  He played astronaut Ken Mattingly, and my brother and I glommed onto him as someone...