Monthly Archives: June 2010

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

  By John Rea-Hedrick | June 14, 2010 - 8:00 am | Book Reviews
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Shiver by Maggie StiefvaterShiver by Maggie Stiefvater

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I decided to try this one based on the ratings and comments of my Goodreads friends though I was skeptical.  I have to say I was pleasantly surprised.  I’m not at all into werewolf stories (this was my first in fact) and I was prepared for a tale of a dangerous werewolf boyfriend who’s bad but really good and just misunderstood.  Ack!

This story isn’t like that.

It’s first and foremost a love story, not a horror story.  What I appreciated the most is that the werewolves in this story aren’t “monsters”.  Unlike some stories where the protagonist’s risk of being murdered by their monster lover (should that lover give into their “true” nature) is somehow supposed to add to the elicit danger of the story, the power in this book is emotional as the protagonists themselves grapple with a reality that constantly threatens to keep them apart, yet neither character poses a direct threat of mortal danger to the other.

The writing is beautiful.  The characters are well-drawn, believably flawed and grow and change naturally as the story unfolds.

I’m definitely considering giving Linger a try.

View my other Goodreads reviews >>

What I know . . .

  By John Rea-Hedrick | June 5, 2010 - 9:55 pm | Poetry, Randomness
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When I first entered school, I didn’t know anything.
When I received my diploma, I thought I knew everything.

When I first entered college, I didn’t know anything.
When I received my degree, I thought I knew everything.

When I first entered the workforce, I didn’t know anything.
When I received my first promotion, I thought I knew everything.

When I first entered parenthood, I didn’t know anything.

. . . Some things never change.

 

Scribbling for the Sound of it

  By John Rea-Hedrick | June 4, 2010 - 4:08 pm | Poetry, Randomness
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I came across a link today (via K.M Weiland) to a post on AuthorCulture with a fun challenge to write a sentence illustrating redundancy.  I played around with the idea today while multi-tasking, in true IT fashion.  What I finally came up with ended up more like a tongue-twister than a redundant sentence, but once I began to hear it in my head I stopped thinking about redundancy and was struck simply by the way it sounded.

In my recent fiction writing efforts I had forgotten how much fun words can be, not just for their precision, but simply for their sound.

I’ve posted the sentence I wrote below along with a challenge of my own.

“He knew he didn’t know what he didn’t know, but knowing he didn’t know it didn’t mean he didn’t need it and he knew he needed it more than he needed to know it.”

Okay.  Now it’s your turn!

The challenge:

Using alliteration or assonance, or both, craft a sentence that’s simply fun to hear.  Write something, anything!  Don’t worry if it makes sense (think Dr. Seuss if that helps), as long as it sounds interesting then post it in the comments if you’d like to share.

As for me, I’ve started hearing all my neglected poetry calling out for me to come and play this weekend.

Maybe I will . . . it sounds like fun!