Melissa Wiley's Blog, page 170

Three Things Bookish

• Word Play: Healing voices – latimes.com. Discussion of books containing characters with autism or Asperger's, including Kathy Erskine's excellent middle-grade novel, Mockingbird.

• Some time back I pondered to what degree my reaction to a book was influenced by reading it on an e-reader—a book I downloaded via the Kindle for iPhone app ended (for me) abruptly, jarringly, unsatisfyingly, and I wondered how much that had to do with the e-reader's lack of physical cues to let me know, subtly...

I Guess I Didn't Need to Look Under the Seats

Rose: Well, what happened to it? You had it when you got into the van.

Beanie: I don't know! I lost it!

Rose: I don't understand how it could just disappear like that.

Beanie: I know. But it's gone.

***

And what, pray tell, did Beanie lose so mysteriously, causing her sister so much consternation?

Her accent. Apparently they were playing a game, and Beanie was supposed to be English. I sure do wish I'd heard it before the pesky thing went missing.

Elgaria multicarinata webbii

The San Diego alligator lizard, who has been known to scare the pants off certain members of my family.

Saturday in These Parts

Book-posts That Caught My Eye

Sick with longing for it – "it took about 7 pages to realize I was reading something not lofty and poetic but actually beautiful, but about 70 pages to realize that this book was just what I needed. It's The Winter Vault, by Anne Michaels. And in it I found a much-needed oasis of stillness amid my otherwise chaotic life and frenzied reading habits of late. "

Russian Lit – "All because of The Possessed: Adventures with Russian Books and the People Who Read Them, by Elif Batuman. "

Times two –...

Graffiti for Butterflies

Another tidbit from The Dangerous World of Butterflies:

[Elliot Malkin of Brooklyn, NY:] worries that migrating Monarch butterflies, in search of their plant food milkweed, will find a dearth of the needed vegetation in the urban reaches of New York City. Intent to do what he can to help, he placed potted milkweed plants on the balcony of his apartment. Concerned that it might be difficult for the butterflies to locate his few plants in the asphalt jungle, two ideas came to him: paint giant...

Nonfiction for Teens

Books my 14-year-old has enjoyed in recent months (and me, too, many of them):

The Dangerous World of Butterflies: The Startling Subculture of Criminals, Collectors, and Conservationists by Peter Laufer. My first-half-of-the-book notes here.

Fruitless Fall: The Collapse of the Honey Bee and the Coming Agricultural Crisis by Rowan Jacobsen. Posts here and here.

Also by Rowan Jacobsen, Chocolate Unwrapped: The Surprising Health Benefits of America's Favorite Passion. My MFA classmate was ahead ...

Booknotes: The Dangerous World of Butterflies

The Dangerous World of Butterflies: The Startling Subculture of Criminals, Collectors, and Conservationists by Peter Laufer. Lyons Press, 2009.

We heard about it from our friend Sarah (this Sarah), who correctly supposed it might be interesting to Jane and me. Jane read it first and loved it. Of course, her fascination with butterflies goes way back. I'm about a third of the way through the book and had to stop and jot down some notes. It's that kind of read. (My favorite kind.)

Peter Laufer i...

Advice Taken

After I read Steve Bragaw's review of Prince of Thieves by Chuck Hogan, I went straight to the library website to reserve a copy. And got a big fat REQUEST DENIED message, which befuddled me until I saw the fine print: "A copy has already been reserved for this account."

But of course. Scott beat me to it.

Here's how Steve hooked me (and, evidently, my husband):

…an amazing read. One of those books where you pick it up and say to yourself you'll read a bit, and the next thing you know it's...

From the archives: Helixes

Originally posted October 8th, 2007

This time last year, I was driving through Kansas. It was our fifth day on the road en route from Virginia to California: the five kids and me. If you'd like to read about our trip, I've pulled all the posts together into one big page, here.

It's hard to believe it has been a year. Hard to believe we are West Coasters now, decorating for autumn by plopping pumpkins alongside our rainbow of moss roses. (This year I'll know to keep watch against pumpkin mush.) ...