An Embarrassment of Riches e-books ebooks enji's_picks fantasy fiction romance supernatural | Read | Friday March 09, 2012 | By alisonk

With the gift-giving season over, many more people now have ebook readers.  (Amazon sold over 1 million Kindles each week in December 2011.) A friend of mine was reading A Billion Wicked Thoughts (see also: Sex at Dawn ; Bonk ; Why We Love ); she...

An Embarrassment of Riches audio audio_books lee's_picks listen narrators | Listen | Saturday March 03, 2012 | By alisonk

A couple of Sundays ago, the Oregonian ran an opinion piece in its book review section: Listen here: Audio books don't count as reading by K.B. Dixon.  In the piece, Dixon says "Listening to a book is not reading a book. It is a passive enterprise....

An Embarrassment of Riches award_winners fae faeries faery fairies fantasy heidi's_picks horror sf | Read | Wednesday February 29, 2012 | By rshort

Seanan McGuire is a new author who I've really been enjoying. Her first book, Rosemary and Rue was published September 2009. She was awarded the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer by the 2010 Worl d Science Fiction Convention. Her first series...

An Embarrassment of Riches andrea's_picks circus circuses cozy escapism fantasy magic magicians read | Read | Saturday February 25, 2012 | By alisonk

Our newest blog contributor is Andrea who says of herself: "I like to read fiction, memoirs, comics, and zines. In my free time I write short fiction and publish zines and minicomics. I also moonlight as a freelance book editor, though I have recently...

An Embarrassment of Riches gesse's_picks haiku haiku_review humor | Read | Wednesday February 22, 2012 | By rshort

I really want to Hang out with Mindy Kaling. Or maybe be her? Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling

An Embarrassment of Riches Read | Saturday February 18, 2012 | By alisonk

For me, chess is a lot like poetry. I think that it’s really beautiful and amazing and the world needs more of it. And when I sit down and try to read how to play chess or play chess better (much less actually play it myself), my eyes glaze over and I feel an...

An Embarrassment of Riches fiction humor jen's_picks romance valentine valentines | General | Tuesday February 14, 2012 | By alisonk

In my life, lucky means snagging the last box of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Valentine's Day cards from the Dollar Tree shelf for the child who will have no other kind. Not even the kind with scratch 'n' sniff stick ers. (My mind wonders about...

An Embarrassment of Riches fantasy heidi's_picks noir | Read | Saturday February 11, 2012 | By rshort

While he's written a few books since his debut trilogy I hold a soft spot for Joe Abercrombie's first trilogy: The Blade Itself , Before They are Hanged and Last Argument of Kings .  And given these books when I say soft spot -- well, under the ribs...

An Embarrassment of Riches animal_stories animals dog_fighting dog_fights dogs katie's_picks pets pit_bulls | Read | Tuesday February 07, 2012 | By alisonk

Why do I do this to myself? I check out pretty much every animal rescue book and documentary that crosses my path. (And I keep the tissue well stocked.) I think it's because so many of these heartbreaking stories end on a hopeful note, with good people doing...

An Embarrassment of Riches gesse's_picks language literary_fiction | Read | Saturday February 04, 2012 | By rshort

Please welcome Gesse, a new contributor to the blog! She has this to say about herself: As a kid I used to try to read while walking, but have since realized that this is a dangerous idea.  I still try to find plenty of time for reading, though, and am...

An Embarrassment of Riches comedy comedy_troupe film sarah's_picks television tv | Watch | Tuesday January 31, 2012 | By alisonk

Picture this: Death, a pudgy, half-naked bumpkin sporting only a single buck tooth and a leather codpiece, comes rolling into the small town of Shuckton on his motorized bicycle and delivers a beat down against the mayor via television remote control before...

An Embarrassment of Riches alison's_picks england english films movies reincarnation relationships | Watch | Saturday January 28, 2012 | By alisonk

"Remarkable events often have ordinary beginnings. Never was this more true than with my talks with Dean Spanley." So opens the movie Dean Spanley , a tale of forgiveness, transcendence and reconciliation. Every Thursday, Henslowe Fisk makes his...

An Embarrassment of Riches alternate_realities rachael's_picks series | Read | Wednesday January 25, 2012 | By rshort

Recently I was digging around for something to satisfy me in the same way that Connie Willis ' Oxford Time Travel series does and I dragged up the Small Change Series by Jo Walton . I am deep into book two, and I love it. Book One, Farthing , is a...

An Embarrassment of Riches 12_by_12_in_2012 alison's_picks matthew_dickman poems poetry poets | Read | Friday January 20, 2012 | By alisonk

If you're like me you're always meaning to read more poetry. And not just because of that vague, niggling sense that poetry is good for you, but because the experience of reading a poem is immersive. I find that reading and then re-reading a good poem puts me...

An Embarrassment of Riches fantasy heidi's_picks horror | Read | Wednesday January 18, 2012 | By alisonk

When Sandman Slim by Richard Kadrey came out I read the review and decided it wasn't really going to be to my tastes. Too violent, too scary, too gory... not my thing at all. Then I picked it up on a whim. I needed something new to read and was in the...

An Embarrassment of Riches music punk punk_rock sara_b's_picks | Listen | Saturday January 14, 2012 | By alisonk

Is your iPod at capacity? Mine is. And when I download songs to my computer, I never do anything with them. Add to that a shed crammed with CDs I can’t bear to part with, and it’s too much music to handle. Library CDs broke my cycle of pointless...

An Embarrassment of Riches katie's_picks music musicals | Watch | Wednesday January 11, 2012 | By alisonk

Do you have a case of the winter blahs? The sparkle of the holidays has passed, but the winter weather remains. Spring and summer seem a long way off, know what I mean? Well, never fear. Cue Fred Astaire! You can't go wrong with his singing and dancing ...

An Embarrassment of Riches enji's_picks historical_fiction teen teen_books teen_fiction ya young_adult | Read | Saturday January 07, 2012 | By rshort

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An Embarrassment of Riches amish memoir memoirs ruth's_picks | Read | Wednesday January 04, 2012 | By alisonk

A few summers ago, I went to visit some cousins who live in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania which is essentially THE place to be if you're Amish. I tried not to stare, but ultimately failed because everything about the Amish was so different from my experience...

An Embarrassment of Riches fantasy haiku haiku_review rachael's_picks sci_fi science_fiction | Read | Saturday December 31, 2011 | By rshort

One City prospers One City falters and fades Chosen perceptions The City and the City by China Miéville

An Embarrassment of Riches e-book e-books fantasy heidi's_picks self-published | Read | Wednesday December 28, 2011 | By alisonk

I just finished Theft of Swords by Michael J. Sullivan. He self-published his series as e-books and they did well enough that Orbit books picked it up to reprint in three omnibus volumes. This just doesn't happen very often so I was intrigued. Generally...

An Embarrassment of Riches andrea's_picks dysfunction dysfunctional_families families humor | Read | Friday December 23, 2011 | By alisonk

You know how sometimes a book crosses your path and you know absolutely nothing about it, but the cover just makes you want to pick it up? This is exactly what happened to me with The Family Fang . I was instantly intrigued by the edgy cover design, which...

An Embarrassment of Riches christmas_music music sara_b's_picks | Listen | Wednesday December 21, 2011 | By rshort

I love Christmas music, and I am not embarrassed. I love to sing Christmas songs and I love to play the Christmas records my Mom played when I was growing up, especially Johnny Mathis’ Merry Christmas .   But years of retail work spoiled too many...

An Embarrassment of Riches sara_b's_picks | Read | Friday December 16, 2011 | By rshort

Today, as I sit to write this, it’s the day after Black Friday (Grey Saturday?). The Oregonian and The Wall Street Journal both have front-page photos of crazed shoppers in queues, loading carts with deeply discounted merchandise; yesterday’s USA Today had a...

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