The Librarian Writer

As I've mentioned before on the blog, I'm a Neil Gaiman fan . And you should be, too. So here's some free, cool stuff to get you started. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of Neil Gaiman's award-winning Coraline , you can enjoy listening to the entire novel, one chapter at a time, as read Neil, Lemony Snicket, Adam Rex, Holly Black, and other famous authors. Coraline is the story of a young girl who moves into a ramshackle house and discovers a doorway to an alternate reality that's a little too perfect. There's a talking cat and a witch, but this ain't Narnia. If that's not enough awesome for you, Neil is offering a free download of his short story, " Click-Clack the Rattlebag ," as performed by Neil, on Audible.com. Plus, Audible will donate $1 for each free download to DonorsChoose.org if you dowload by October 31. And Neil also started All Hallow's Read , which is a new Halloween tradition where you give someone a scary b...

Title: Code Name Verity Author: Elizabeth Wein Publisher: Hyperion Books for Children Publication Date: May 15, 2012 ISBN-13: 978-1423152194 352 pp. Reading copy via library Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein has gotten so much buzz since it was published that it took me awhile to get my hands on a copy. It's the story of two young women during World War II, one a pilot and the other a spy, who crash in occupied France. It's ultimately the story of their friendship, the kind of friendship that only the best of best friends have. But I have to tell you, when I started reading it, there was some WTF is going on? The narrative is broken into two parts and the first part belongs to the spy, who goes by many names, including Verity. She's supposed to write out spy information for the Nazis who have captured her and instead she writes how she and Maddie, the pilot, met and became friends. This narrative includes all the standard conventions of a novel, inclu...

Dude, where's my clone? September was waaay too hot to be called autumn. It was Summer, Part 2: Seriously, How Hot Is It? While trying to stay cool, I did start a couple of new books. I'm almost done with Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein, which is just as good as the hype. I also started another book which shall remain nameless because I'm going to abandon it. I'm more than 200 pages in, so I definitely gave it a chance. But the character has failed to engage me and I just don't care what happens next. That's such a bummer when a book fails to connect. But I did listen to some really awesome audiobooks. Yeah, I know some people don't consider listening to audiobooks "reading," but it gives me the chance to consume more books. I listened to Legend by Marie Lu and An Abundance of Katherines by John Green. But the real stand-out for me was The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer and performed by Raul Esparza. Raul Esparza is a Broa...