I Read Faster When There’s Wizardry Involved – Bingo Update

February 27, 2014 by Caitlin

The score is 3 (Cait) to 2 (Jessi) to 1 (Erin)! Keep track of our Literary Bingo progress here.  Bingo Square: Read an Urban Fantasy, Read a Book in a Week Book: Storm Front (Dresden Files #1), Jim Butcher First, a word on the “read a book in a week square.” As previously mentioned, I have been on something of a hiatus from reading. I could make excuses here about work, life and other distractions, but that’s unnecessary. The point […]

Categories: Book Review • Tags: crime drama, fantasy, literary bingo, wizards

Poetry can be more than rhymes, but it isn’t at times – Bingo Update

February 26, 2014 by Jessi

And Jessi goes with the one-upmanship by killing two squares with one book! Check our Literary Bingo progress here.  Bingo Squares: A Book of Poetry, Judge a Book By Its Cover Book: Love & Misadventure, Lang Leav Much to my shame, I had to ask for directions to the poetry section. La, we’re not off to an auspicious start, It seems as if she didn’t have a prayer, For she doesn’t seem to be poetry-smart, Not one would confuse her […]

Categories: Book Review • Tags: literary bingo, poetry

Libraries, Laziness and Lessons – Bingo Update

February 24, 2014 by Caitlin

And now Caitlin is on the board, catching up with Erin! Check out our full Literary Bingo lists here. Bingo Square: Get a New Library Card To my great shame, I haven’t properly browsed a library since 2012. Sure, I’ve made the odd tourist stop to the New York Public Library (so beautiful I could die) and the sleek San Francisco Public Library, but I haven’t used a library card since April of 2012. Why then? Well, that was when […]

Categories: Libraries • Tags: library love, literary bingo

Don’t Let the Ancient Demon Curses Grind You Down – Bingo Update

February 18, 2014 by Erin

Erin gives us our first update to our Literary Bingo challenge! What’s Literary Bingo? Check it out. Bingo Square: YA Based on a Fairy Tale Title: Cruel Beauty Author: Rosamund Hodge I tried to make my literary bingo board more challenging by including squares with unfamiliar book categories in an effort to broaden my reading scope. This is not one of those squares. Maybe I cheated a bit by including a sub genre that I already know and love, but […]

Categories: Book Review • Tags: fairy tales, literary bingo, romance, YA

Happy Valentine’s Day from Ladies On The Shelf!

February 14, 2014 by Ladies On The Shelf

Today we celebrate (or not – we won’t judge) those feelings that are squishy, smooshy and well, pretty much the greatest in whatever capacity you have them in your life. Be it friends, family or your specific special someone, love is a wonderful thing! Sure, the holiday is commercialized, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take time to tell people you care – any day, everyday, even today. Speaking of love, we wrote earlier this week about our favorite crushes, […]

Categories: Featured • Tags: romance, Valentine's Day

Jessi’s Top 5 Literary Crushes

February 13, 2014 by Jessi

Jessi weighs in on her bookish fancies – but with a twist! For our final Valentine’s crush list, she offers some boys off the beaten path. First, a note to my fellow ladies on the shelf: Because my fellow authors’ lists are absolute perfection (Erin’s and Caitlin’s), I’ve decided to adopt theirs as my own. (It’s done. Deal with it.) Wait, Jessi, does this mean you’re not going to make your own list? How utterly devastating! Of course, I’m going […]

Categories: Best Of • Tags: boys, romance, top 5, Valentine's Day

Caitlin’s Top Five Literary Crushes

February 12, 2014 by Caitlin

For our next Valentine’s Day installment, Caitlin confesses that she’s in love with a pirate. The Pirate. There’s something utterly fanciful about a man in print. What’s better than a man you create your mental image of? No matter how close casting comes for the movie version, they never seem to match my mental feelings juuuust right. (Note that some of my favorites do have movie versions – Princess Bride aside, The Time Traveler’s Wife movie utterly lacked passion and […]

Categories: Best Of • Tags: boys, romance, top 5, Valentine's Day

On The Graveyard Book and Comic Book Adaptations

February 12, 2014 by Caitlin

While I often have a bone (or several) to pick with film adaptations of my favorite books, I find that I am generally more forgiving of comic renditions of my favorite literature. I get that this might sound a little ridiculous and/or biased (comic book fan here). In both movies and graphic novels, you are getting a visual interpretation of the written word. However, I feel that comic variations generally stay closer to their literary parent than movies do, and, […]

Categories: Adaptations • Tags: "The book is better than the movie", adaptations, graphic novels, Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman

Erin’s Top 5 Literary Crushes

February 12, 2014 by Erin

As it’s Valentine’s week, we’re celebrating the fictional boyfriends we love. Stay tuned for our other authors’ installments! I’ve been crushing on fictional characters since Steve started raiding the Tanners’ refrigerator on Full House, but the fictional guys in print are really the most fun to swoon over. The following list reflects, in this order, nostalgia for one of my very first literary crushes, a slightly embarrassing attraction to hot vampires and romance novel-style cads, and an appreciation for fascinating […]

Categories: Best Of • Tags: boys, romance, top 5, Valentine's Day