Author Archives: Duff

À la Nick Hornby, books in/books out for November.

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Bought:

  • None? That might not be true but apparently I didn’t keep my usual list…

Read:

  • Charles and Emma: Darwins’ Leap of Faith, by Deborah Heiligman
  • Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler’s Shadow, by Susan Campbell Bertoletti (library)
  • Love Is the Higher Law, by David Leviathan
  • When You Reach Me, by Rebecca Stead
  • Mockingbird, by Kathryn Erskine
  • The Wednesday Wars, by Gary D. Schmidt (library)
  • Invitation to the Game, by Monica Hughes
  • A Life in Stitches, by Rachael Herron (loan from Carrie)
  • Three Cups of Deceit, by Jon Krakauer

This. Remember this.

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Coretta Scott King: “I must remind you that starving a child is violence. Suppressing a culture is violence. Neglecting schoolchildren is violence. Punishing a mother and her family is violence. Discrimination against a working man is violence. Ghetto housing is violence. Ignoring medical need is violence. Contempt for poverty is violence.”

Charles Eisenstein: “Love is the expansion of the self to include the other. And that’s a different kind of revolution.”

both quoted in this amazing post by Eireann Lorsung.

To which I’ll add: “Love is the answer and you know that for sure.” –from another poet for peace, John Lennon.

À la Nick Hornby, books in/books out for October.

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Bought:

  • Awkward and Definition, The High School Comic Chronicles of Ariel Schrag (GN)
  • The Good Soldiers, by David Finkel
  • Northlanders Vol 1: Sven The Returned, by Brian Wood
  • Northlanders Vol 2: The Cross + The Hammer

Read:

  • Y: Last Man–Unmanned, by Brian K. Vaughn (GN)
  • The Invention of Hugo Cabret, by Brian Selznick
  • Wonderstruck, by Brian Selznick
  • The Trouble with Thirteen, by Betty Miles (re-read)
  • The Westing Game, by Ellen Raskin (library)
  • Ten Birds, by Cybele Young (library)
  • Don’t You Know There’s a War On? by Avi (borrowed from classroom)
  • The Good Soldiers, by David Finkel
  • Where do you think you’re going, Christopher Columbus? by Jean Fritz (library)
  • Jacob Have I Loved, by Katherine Patterson (library)
  • Northlanders Vol 1: Sven The Returned, by Brian Wood
  • Northlanders Vol 2: The Cross + The Hammer
  • Educating Esme, Diary of a Teacher’s First Year, by Esme Raji Codell (library)
  • Feed, by M.T. Anderson
  • The Book of Three, by Lloyd Alexander
  • The Demon Trapper’s Daughter, by Jana Oliver
  • Life as We Knew It, by Susan Beth Pfeffer (borrowed from professor)
  • The Ocean Between Us, by Susan Wiggs (borrowed from laundry room)
  • Honeybee, by Naomi Shihab Nye

Graphic Novels: The Northlanders series by Brian Wood & Ryan Kelly.

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Wow, where have these been all my life? Whipped through volumes 1 (Sven the Returned) and 2 (The Cross + the Hammer) yesterday and can’t wait to read more. The art is GORGEOUS, super dark and lush and green and red. The stories are great. The hero/anti-heroes are compelling and twisted and brave and hurt.

So.Good.

These are begging to be movies. (Curses.) But if they get Skarsgard to play Sven, I’d go. (Wrong coloring I know. But…)

Chicago Film Festival: Haunters

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Korean mystery flick with a touch of magical realism. Really, really good! We loved it and the rest of the audience seemed to as well. Truly creepy and scary in some parts, completely farcical in others. Some really great casting choices/quirky characterizations. Completely original. 100% worth not getting home until after 1 a.m.

I’m sure it’s barely playing anywhere, if at all. But if it comes to your town, I’d call it a Can’t Miss.