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2020 Reading Challenge

2020

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Joanne Zienty has read 17 of 150 books.

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Joanne E. Zienty

Goodreads Author

Born

The United States

Website

http://www.joannezienty.com/index.html

Genre

Literature & Fiction, Nonfiction, Children's Books

Member Since

November 2011

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Joanne Zienty was just named the winner of the Soon to Be Famous Illinois Author Project.

Born and raised on Chicago's South Side, Joanne Zienty vividly remembers the “glow of industry” that lit the night sky with an orange haze and can still summon the acrid odor of the fumes of coke ovens and blast furnaces, although the steel mills have been shuttered for decades.
Joanne's first success as a writer came in 5th grade, when she completed a 70 page novel, which was, admittedly, highly derivative of the Walter Farley Black Stallion series, and had her first play – a Thanksgiving drama – produced on the stage of her elementary school.
As an undergrad at the University of Chicago, Joanne had the pleasure of dropping, along with half of the Joanne Zienty was just named the winner of the Soon to Be Famous Illinois Author Project.

Born and raised on Chicago's South Side, Joanne Zienty vividly remembers the “glow of industry” that lit the night sky with an orange haze and can still summon the acrid odor of the fumes of coke ovens and blast furnaces, although the steel mills have been shuttered for decades.
Joanne's first success as a writer came in 5th grade, when she completed a 70 page novel, which was, admittedly, highly derivative of the Walter Farley Black Stallion series, and had her first play – a Thanksgiving drama – produced on the stage of her elementary school.
As an undergrad at the University of Chicago, Joanne had the pleasure of dropping, along with half of the other students in the class, a creative writing course taught by Richard Stern, after he threatened on the first day to rip everyone all a new one, metaphorically speaking, and woe unto students concerned about their GPAs. Well, who wasn’t?
Joanne did a stint as a department manager and network administrator for a downtown law firm, where she earned a reputation as a bit of a tech geek, then enjoyed a lovely sojourn as a stay-at-home mom. During this time, Joanne earned her teaching certificate from Roosevelt University and a Master’s in Library and Information Science from Dominican University. Joanne is now an elementary school library director, which allows her to combine three of her favorite things: reading, encouraging others to read and keeping up with her tech geek skills.
Oh, Joanne writes, too! She's honed her craft in writing classes offered by Molly Ramanujan Daniels through the University of Chicago’s Graham School and her Clothesline School of Fiction. Several pieces written and performed for these classes form the early chapters of her first novel.
Joanne lives in Wheaton, Illinois with her very supportive husband, two amazing daughters, and two naughty cats.

Here's a link to the Kirkus Review for her debut novel, The Things We Save:

http://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-rev...
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Joanne E. Zienty’s books

Average rating: 3.72 · 95 ratings · 31 reviews · 1 distinct work • Similar authors

The Things We Save

3.72 avg rating — 95 ratings — published 2011 — 3 editions

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Joanne E. Zienty's Blog

Join me at the Tamale Hut Cafe for a reading!

I'm blessed to appear at two events this Saturday, June 24th. The first is a private event connected to the ALA Conference in Chicago. THRIVE is a celebration of indie books and community reading sponsored by Biblioboard, the Soon to Be Famous Illinois Authors Project and RAILS Library System, among others. The second is a public event at the Tamale Hut Cafe in North Riverside. Good times! Here... Read more of this blog post »

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Published on June 23, 2017 17:12

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Joanne is Currently Reading

Joanne Zienty is currently reading

The Lion in the Living Room: How House Cats Tamed Us and Took Over the World

by Abigail Tucker

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Feb 12, 2020 05:54PM

Joanne Zienty is currently reading

Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age

by Sherry Turkle

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Mar 27, 2016 04:58PM

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Joanne Zienty rated a book it was amazing Bob Not Bob!: *to be read as though you have the worst cold ever by Audrey Vernick (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Joanne Zienty started reading The Lion in the Living Room: How House Cats Tamed Us and Took Over the World by Abigail Tucker	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Joanne Zienty rated a book liked it The Vanishing American Adult: Our Coming-of-Age Crisis—and How to Rebuild a Culture of Self-Reliance by Ben Sasse	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
While I found myself in agreement with many of the Senator's arguments, it is difficult to reconcile his points written here about character and the Constitution with his silence on the abomination currently occupying the White House.
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Joanne Zienty rated a book it was amazing Happy Pig Day! (Elephant & Piggie, #16) by Mo Willems	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Joanne Zienty rated a book it was amazing Can I Play Too? (Elephant & Piggie, #12) by Mo Willems	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Joanne Zienty rated a book it was amazing Running Against the Devil: A Plot to Save America from Trump - and Democrats from Themselves by Rick Wilson	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
While everything Trump touches dies, everything Rick Wilson writes about Trump is cool beans with awesome sauce. I laughed, I cried, I hoped. Growing up in Chicago, I understand the "Chicago Way," as elucidated by Sean Connery in The Untouchables: ...more
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The expressions on these characters' faces are just priceless!
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Joanne’s Quotes

“Be regular and orderly in your life, so that you may be violent and original in your work.”
― Gustav Flaubert

tags: writing-life

1640 likes

“If you are allergic to a thing, it is best not to put that thing in your mouth, particularly if the thing is cats.”
― Lemony Snicket, The Wide Window

tags: humor-cats-allergies

4280 likes

“After nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world.”
― Philip Pullman

tags: books, needs, stories, storytelling, writing

4422 likes

“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. Security does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than exposure.”
― Helen Keller

tags: inspirational, life-experience

35 likes

“The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.”
― Elie Wiesel

tags: activism, apathy, hate, indifference, inspirational, love, opposite, philosophy

39194 likes

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