Lauren Baratz-Logsted's Blog, page 3
February 1, 2010
Book of the Week: The Financial Lives of the Poets
THE FINANCIAL LIVES OF THE POETS, Jess Walter.From the jacket flap:A few years ago, small-time finance journalist Matthew Prior quit his day job to gamble everything on a quixotic notion: a Web site devoted to financial journalism in the form of blank verse. When his big idea—and his wife's eBay resale business— ends with a whimper (and a garage full of unwanted figurines), they borrow and ...
January 26, 2010
The Unsympathetic MC: Shifting the Mirrors
Last night I received an email from Nick Belardes asking if I'd write a few paragraphs for the Random Writers Workshop on character development. Nick is the author of "Random Obsessions" (2009) and "Lords" (2005). While the workshop is helping to build a literary arts scene in Bakersfield, California, its objective is also to inspire and teach writers how they can become ...
January 25, 2010
Book of the Week: Once was Lost
ONCE WAS LOST, Sarah Zarr. From the book jacket:Samara Taylor used to believe in miracles. She used to believe in a lot of things. As a pastor's kid, it's hard not to buy in to the idea of the perfect family, a loving God, and amazing grace. But lately, Sam has a lot of reason to doubt. Her mother lands in rehab after a DUI and her father seems more interested in his congregation than his family. ...
January 19, 2010
"The Disrespectful Interviewer III" + The Sisters 8 giveaway (link)
Over at BiblioBuffet I've got a new column up in "The Disrespectful Interviewer" series. This time, I'm Dissing Chris Cleave. If you scroll down, you'll see there's also a new contest to win the first four books in The Sisters 8 series. While you're there, be sure to check out all the terrific articles BiblioBuffet has to offer by other columnists.Be well. Don't forget to write.
January 18, 2010
Book of the Week: The Last Will of Moira Leahy
From the book jacket:Moira Leahy struggled growing up in her prodigious twin's shadow; Maeve was always more talented, more daring, more fun. In the autumn of the girls' sixteenth year, a secret love tempted Moira, allowing her to have her own taste of adventure, but it also damaged the intimate, intuitive relationship she'd always shared with her sister. Though Moira's adolescent struggles came ...
January 5, 2010
Best Books (Read in) 2009 + The Sisters 8 contest (link)
Of the 300 books I read in 2009, here is an annotated list of the 41 best. And if you scroll down, there's a contest to win a set of Sisters Eight books.How about you? What were your favorite books in 2009?Be well. Don't forget to write.
January 4, 2010
Book(s) of the Week
IN A PERFECT WORLD, Laura Kasischke. What do you get when you cross your basic "She married a widower with three kids and is now having trouble getting along with two of the kids" story with a Swine flu-like epidemic but on a much larger scale? You get Ms. Kasischke's fine dystopian novel, her seventh, about an airline hostess who marries the handsome man in the cockpit...which is just ...
December 22, 2009
"Ah, Dystopia!" + The Sisters 8 contest (link)
Over at BiblioBuffet, my column this week is a roundup of dystopian YA fiction: Ah, Dystopia! The books covered include Little Brother, by Cory Doctorow; Candor, by Pam Bachorz; Life as We Knew It, Susan Beth Pfeffer; The Forest of Hands and Teeth, Carrie Ryan; and, of course, The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins. If you scroll down to the bottom of the piece, you'll see a place to enter a contest ...
December 8, 2009
"The Disrespectful Interviewer II" + The Sisters 8 Giveaway (link)
Over at BiblioBuffet, where I have an every-other-week Writer-in-Residence column, there's a new entry up in my series The Disrespectful Interviewer, in which I ask rude questions of prominent writers of the day. This time I'm asking rude questions of YA novelist A.S. King and you can read it all here: Dissing A.S. King. Also, if you scroll down to the bottom you'll see a link where you can enter ...
December 7, 2009
Book of the Week: Compromised
COMPROMISED, Heidi Ayarbe. From the cover:With a con-man dad and a long-gone mom, the only thing that makes sense to Maya is science. In fact, every time her dad's cons go wrong, she has a scientific way to fix it to keep them both safe and together. Only this time Maya's scientific method doesn't work. She finds herself stuck in an orphanage and then living with two unlikely allies on the ...
