Group Post: Blizzard Blitz

We're getting hammered right now in Orange County, NY with a blizzard that is expected to bring anywhere from one to two feet a snow.  It's the perfect day to stay indoors with a good book.  I asked the group for their favorite story featuring snow.

Every time, we get a major snowstorm, I think of The Baby Sitters Club: Super Special #7: Snowbound by Ann M. Martin in which a massive snowstorm hits Stoneybrook, CT causing all kinds of mayhem for the gang.  Stacey and her mom are stranded in their car on the way home from the mall; Jessi gets stuck at her dance school and Kristy acts hysterically awkward when the guy she is crushing on gets snowed in with her and her family.

I was going to pick The Baby-Sitters Club: Super Special #7 also but then I thought of Super Special #3: Winter Vacation by Ann M. Martin.  While on a class trip to a ski lodge, the girls become baby-sitters for a group of elementary school kids when their school bus has an accident in the snowy weather despite this, everyone ends up having a great time.

The Shining by Stephen King, a family with a psychic kid go to live in a hotel during the off season. Dad goes insane, tries to kill the family, hotel burns down, lots of snow.

Or, Downtown Owl by Chuck Klosterman,  There's a freak snowstorm that kills a woman trapped in her car. (Fortunately Stacey and her mom didn't meet the same fate).

To Build a Fire, a short story, by Jack London  It's the story of a man traveling on foot through a blizzard and it's aftermath desperately trying to keep himself from freezing to death.

As Red as Blood by Salla Simukka  This book reminded me of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo for a YA audience,  Set in the harsh Finnish winter, this book features Lumikki who just wants to finish school and stay out of trouble but that's difficult to do when she stumbles into a plot involving thousands of blood soaked euros.   There are some plot holes and I think something is lost in translation but it is an entertaining and enjoyable mystery with slight fairy tale overtones.

Now what about you? What are some of your favorite snow/winter themed books?  Share with us!!

via GIPHY

Group Post: Currently Reading

We continue working through the "A to Z Bookish Survey," as created by Jamie at The Perpetual Page Turner with C for Currently Reading.  I also asked everyone to include the first two sentences of Chapter 3 of their current read.

 As The Crow Flies by Craig Johnson  " 'You could've told me that you knew him.' She banked the turns at ninety, and I was beginning to think this was just the way Lolo Long drove, kind of like A.J. Foyt."

The Time Machine by H.G. Wells  "I told some of you last Thursday of the principles of the Time Machine, and showed you the actual thing itself, incomplete in the workshop.  There it is now, a little travelworn, truly; and one of the ivory bars is cracked, and a brass rail bent, but the rest of it is sound enough."

Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney "You see yourself as the kind of guy who appreciates a a quiet night at home with a good book.  A little Mozart on the speakers, a cup of cocoa on the arm of the chair, slippers on the feet."

Hamilton the Revolution by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jeremy Mc Carter  "What did Hamilton do with his hands?  Did he smoke a pipe?"

A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snickett "Morning is an important time of day, because how you spend your morning can also tell you what kind of day you're going to have.  For instance, if you wake up to twittering birds, and find yourself in an enormous canopy bed, with a butler standing next to you holding a breakfast of freshly made muffins and hand-squeezed orange juice, you know that your day will be a splendid one."

Morning Star by Pierce Brown  "Blood beads where buzzing metal pinches my scalp.  Dirty blonde hair puddles onto the concrete as the Gray finishes scalping me with an electric razor."


So what about you?  What are you currently reading?  Share with us!

Group Post: Best Sequel Ever

We continue working through the "A-Z Bookish Survey," as created by Jamie at The Perpetual Page Turner with B for Best Sequel Ever.

Savage Sam by Fred Gipson, the story of the son of Old Yeller is one of my favorite stories ever but sadly, it's next to impossible to find in bookstores.  

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins, The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss, or Doctor Sleep by Stephen King.  

Fever by Lauren DeStefano, it got me really hooked into the series.  Her writing was very good and the story although odd was capturing.  

The Penderwicks in the Spring by Jeanne Birdsall.  While I loved every book in the series, this closer to it, hit all the perfect notes. It was funny, sweet, sad, moving, and just perfect!

A Darkness More Than Night by Michael Connelly.  While it's the 7th book in the Harry Bosch series, it's also the 2nd novel featuring Terry McCaleb and a terrific follow-up to Blood Work that centered on McCaleb.  I loved spending more time in McCaleb's world on Catalina Island and finding out what happened to him after the events in Blood Work, which is one of my favorite Connelly novels.  

.


What about you?  What do you think is the Best Sequel Ever? Share with us!