Isaiah Roby's Blog: MI Book Reviews, page 136
October 25, 2017
No Plot? No Problem!: A Low- Stress, High-Velocity Guide to Writing a Novel in 30 days
You’ve always wanted to write, but . . . just haven’t gotten around to it. No Plot? No Problem! is the kick in the pants you’ve been waiting for.
Let Chris Baty, founder of the rockin’ literary marathon National Novel Writing Month (a.k.a. NaNoWriMo), guide you through four exciting weeks of hard-core noveling. Baty’s pep talks and essential survival strategies cover the initial momentum and energy of Week One, the critical “plot flashes” of Week Two, the “Can I quit now?” impulses of Week Th...
October 23, 2017
Never Learn Anything from History
By Kate Beaton
A collection of historical comics by webcomics artist Kate Beaton. First pressing, limited to 1000.
From publisher Topatoco.com:
“When Kate Beaton was first asked to make a book, she said “ok, but I only have about five comics on my website, gimme a while.” Now the time has come! This is a collection of comics made between late 2007 and early 2009. It is 68 pages of the ones she likes the best! It should be noted that younger self comics aren’t there, but perhaps they will have...
October 21, 2017
Hard Times
By Charles Dickens
The ‘terrible mistake’ was the contemporary utilitarian philosophy, expounded in Hard Times (1854) as the Philosophy of Fact by the hard-headed disciplinarian Thomas Gradgrind. But the novel, Dickens’s shortest, is more than a polemical tract for the times; the tragic story of Louisa Gradgrind and her father is one of Dickens’s triumphs. When Louisa, trapped in a loveless marriage, falls prey to an idle seducer, the crisis forces her father to reconsider his cherished syste...
October 19, 2017
Girl Mans Up
by M-E Girard
All Pen wants is to be the kind of girl she’s always been. So why does everyone have a problem with it? They think the way she looks and acts means she’s trying to be a boy—that she should quit trying to be something she’s not. If she dresses like a girl, and does what her folks want, it will show respect. If she takes orders and does what her friend Colby wants, it will show her loyalty. But respect and loyalty, Pen discovers, are empty words. Old-world parents, disintegrating...
October 17, 2017
Queer: A Graphic History
By Meg-John Barker and Julia Schlee
“Activist-academic Meg-John Barker and cartoonist Julia Scheele illuminate the histories of queer thought and LGBTQ+ action in this groundbreaking non-fiction graphic novel.
From identity politics and gender roles to privilege and exclusion, Queer explores how we came to view sex, gender and sexuality in the ways that we do; how these ideas get tangled up with our culture and our understanding of biology, psychology and sexology; and how these views have...
October 15, 2017
Enchantress of Numbers: A Novel of Ada Lovelace
By Jennifer Chiaverni
“The only legitimate child of Lord Byron, the most brilliant, revered, and scandalous of the Romantic poets, Ada was destined for fame long before her birth. Estranged from Ada’s father, who was infamously “mad, bad, and dangerous to know,” Ada’s mathematician mother is determined to save her only child from her perilous Byron heritage. Banishing fairy tales and make-believe from the nursery, Ada’s mother provides her daughter with a rigorous education grounded in mathem...
October 13, 2017
Beneath the Skin
“For 18-year-old Sidney Shaw, life pretty much sucks.
Her mom’s a drunk. Her dad’s worse. At school, she’s betrayed and bullied by her ex-best friend. Cutting used to bring her relief, but not anymore. Something’s got to give.
When Sidney punches a kid to protect her little brother, she’s forced into group counseling with perfect, popular Arianna, who looks like the type to grieve over a broken nail. But Arianna has secrets of her own. She might just be an ally, if Sidney can let her guard do...
Every Day
By David Levithan
Every day a different body. Every day a different life. Every day in love with the same girl.
There’s never any warning about where it will be or who it will be. A has made peace with that, even established guidelines by which to live: Never get too attached. Avoid being noticed. Do not interfere.
It’s all fine until the morning that A wakes up in the body of Justin and meets Justin’s girlfriend, Rhiannon. From that moment, the rules by which A has been living no longer appl...
October 12, 2017
Simply Pho
“Whether you are cooking for one or ten, Simply Pho brings healthy homemade pho noodle soup, with all the fixings, straight to your table. You’ll learn how to put together the perfect bowl of piping hot pho (both authentic and quicker weeknight versions) in a myriad of ways!
To complete this introductory Vietnamese cooking course, author Helen Le, creator of the popular YouTube channel Helen’s Recipes, also show syou how to make Vietnamese classic favorites–fresh and crispy spring rolls and b...
His Convenient Husband
“NFL football player Isaiah Blackwell lost his husband three years ago and is raising their teen son alone. He lives his life as quietly as his job allows, playing ball to support his family but trying not to draw unwanted attention. His quiet life is shaken up when a mutual friend introduces him to Victor, a visiting principal ballet dancer who is everything Isaiah is not.
Brash and loud, Victor Aleksandrov has applied for political asylum to avoid returning to Russia, where gay men are targ...
