All posts filed under: The Authors

Fast and Fun!

Published by

Motivation… a fickle beast. In Allie’s case it was a Blockbuster rental (sigh, I miss those). In my case it’s that pile of clean clothes that taunts me from my bedroom floor, “fold me, please!” No matter how much I bargain, guilt, or abuse my subconscious, those clothes just sit there. On the floor. FOREVER. So many of Allie Brosh’s stories in were so relatable and funny. Hyperbole and a Half did not disappoint. And it was a SUPER fast read. If I’d had a few uninterrupted hours one afternoon I could have finished it in one sitting. But interruptions aplenty, it still took less than a week reading only during my 15 minute subway commute. Brosh’s sense of humor is self-deprecating and silly. She finds the humor in everyday shenanigans. And the combination of text and illustrations adds to her anecdotes. Her drawing style might be juvenile, but it does a great job of getting the point across. Every bend of an eyebrow and down-turn of the mouth give her characters the perfect expression. I’d be reading along, and …

Lost Between the Lines…

Published by

I am admittedly the Kathryn who may be a tad more on the “dead inside” end of the spectrum. Rarely do movies, books, songs, etc move me at tears.  That being said, while Still Alice is a very poignant look into the interworking of a family as a disease tears them apart physically, mentally, and emotionally, I felt somewhat disconnected from it.  Perhaps some of that disconnect was intentional on the part of Lisa Genova who writes in a decidedly third person perspective on a deeply personal disease.  Perhaps we are meant to feel like outsiders as a way of sharing in Alice’s disconnect from her life, forced to be an outsider by her disease.  Then again, perhaps I am over thinking it. Looking back, I didn’t really love the writing style. Very staccato and foreshortened, it made for an easy read.  Similarly, Genova did not spend much time expanding on somewhat played out archetypes in her characters.  There is the daughter that is passionate but rebellious. There is the daughter that is straight and narrow but kind of a …

Crying on the Beach

Published by

I read Still Alice over the course of two days while on vacation during my spring break from teaching. I know – not quite the beach read you’d expect. It felt a little awkward crying on the beach while everyone around me was enjoying the sun and sand, but it was worth it. I appreciated the pacing – it was such a fast read, and I loved the perspective of the novel as well as some of the storytelling devices that Genova used to really show Alice’s view. Specifically, the repetition of chunks of texts, sometimes whole paragraphs – it really places the reader in Alice’s shoes. For example, at the lunch lecture, you feel through Alice the awareness that something is off, but experience the lack of awareness of what that is. Don’t get me wrong – it can be uncomfortable to have an understanding as the reader that the narrator does not have, but it was a very interesting, eye-opening, and in many ways necessary approach to telling the story of Alice. It’s interesting that Genova …

Put Your Tissues Away But Keep Reading

Published by

My hunch is I’m one of the few who feels the way I do about this book. Let’s see if I’m right… Admittedly, until we chose this as our March book I wasn’t going to read it. Mainly because the idea of this happening to someone I love made me want to ignore anything having to do with it. Plus, after hearing what a handful of my friends thought of “Still Alice,” my fears of this being an emotional and heartbreaking read were only amplified. So I readied myself with a box of tissues, a few hours of privacy, and got to reading. But I was actually surprised by how unemotional it left me. As someone who cries easily, I expected to be more moved by Alice’s story and have spent some time trying to figure out why I wasn’t. I think a big part of it is because it was told from her point of view, we didn’t experience much of how the family was affected. And with this type of disease, that’s arguably the …

Intense, But Hopeful

Published by

Our first review is up for Still Alice! Here’s Katherine C’s review of Still Alice: I liked this book a lot. I’m hesitant to say loved, it’s not really the kind of story you can love (let’s be honest, it’s sad). But I really enjoyed Genova’s writing style, the characters and the way she told Alice’s story. It’s hard for me to separate my experience reading this book from my experience with Alzheimer’s disease. So first I’ll share a bit about my experience…

{Still Alice} Cover Redesign

Published by

Hello! I’m sure you recognize these images as the poster for the movie and the original book cover. The movie poster was re-purposed to serve as a book cover shortly after the film was produced… and, well, there’s nothing I hate more than a “now a major motion picture” book cover! I get it. If you make a movie of it you want to show it off. But inevitably the “motion picture” cover ends up looking like a cheap ad (admittedly, I’ve seen worse). In the case of Still Alice I definitely like the original butterfly cover best, and it pulls from a good theme in the book. But I figured the cover could use a makeover. Granted, this won’t always be the case with every book we read for Bookly, but for Still Alice I designed TWO new cover options…     Alice is a character of such intelligence and motivation, and suddenly she finds herself losing her every day independence; a trait that defines so much of who she is. Was? And the first time we witness her symptoms is when she’s out for one …

Meet the Authors!

Published by

Let us introduce ourselves…   { Favorite book } Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert; Wild by Cheryl Strayed; The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald; The Help by Kathryn Stockett; Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn; Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell. I could go on, and this list is always growing, but those are a good start.   { Favorite book } I can’t choose… The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, Under the Banner of Heaven, In Cold Blood, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Harry Potter (all of them)…   { Favorite book } The Catcher in the Rye   { Favorite book } My all-time favorite book is Mrs. Mike by Benedict and Nancy Freedman. Published in the 1940s, the book tells the story of a young girl named Kathryn Mary. It was the last book my mom read before giving birth to me, and ta-da! I was named after her. { LEARN MORE ABOUT THE AUTHORS }  

About the Cover Art Project

Published by

Hi all! I love books, everything about them. I especially love the art and design of book covers. In my work life I do a lot of graphic design, and it’s always been a dream of mine to design books covers. Although I don’t do it professionally, I thought Bookly would be the perfect place to share some cover redesigns and inspirations! So every once-in-awhile I’ll redesign a book cover for a book we read here at The Bookly Club, or another favorite from my list. In the meantime, I thought I’d share with you one of my favorite covers. It also happens to be one of my favorite books. In Cold Blood is a frightening novel by Truman Capote published in 1966.  It’s the true story of a family murdered, in cold blood, in rural Kansas in 1959. Reading this book put me on the edge of my seat and made me fearful of ever being home alone. It’s a haunting classic and I HIGHLY recommend putting on your reading list. As published by Flavor …