http://read.blee.net/blog The Billerica Public Library's Reading Blog Tue, 31 Jan 2012 02:30:24 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en This past weekend, I was once again lucky enough to attend Readercon, which just so happens to occur right next door in Burlington, MA every year. Among the highlights of the convention were the Shirley Jackson Awards (complete with a surprise in-person appearance by Neil Gaiman!). The winners are listed ... http://read.blee.net/blog/2011/07/20/scififantasyhorror-awards/ The RITA Awards were presented yesterday, July 1, at the 31st annual Romance Writers of America conference in New York. Winners included Sharon Sala (Lifetime Achievement), Jill Shalvis (Best Contemporary Single Title Romance), Sharon Ashwood (Paranormal Romance), Karen Rose (Romantic Suspense), and many more. So, check out the full list of winners ... http://read.blee.net/blog/2011/07/02/rita-awards/ Before I Go To Sleep This book was very compelling and difficult to put down once I started it. The premise itself is interesting - the narrator is a woman who has lost her memory due to an accident, and while she can form new memories throughout the day, she can ... http://read.blee.net/blog/2011/06/24/before-i-go-to-sleep-by-sj-watson/ Have you ever read a book and been so absorbed in the language, style, and place of it, you found yourself thinking in the same style? That happened to me with The Weird Sisters. And I thoroughly enjoyed it. This book had a very unique narrative voice. It was told from ... http://read.blee.net/blog/2011/05/28/the-weird-sisters-by-eleanor-brown/ The Audies (awards given to audio books and other spoken word entertainment) were presented on Tuesday. I was pleasantly surprised to hear that the winner of Audiobook of the Year was Life, Keith Richards' memoir. It's read by Keith Richards, Johnny Depp, and Joe Hurley. This audiobook also won the biography/memoir ... http://read.blee.net/blog/2011/05/26/audie-awards/ This book had an odd sort of style, which once I got into the flow of I didn't want to get out (much like going swimming - it feels cold and uncomfortable as you ease, or plunge, your way into the water, but then your body adjusts and you want ... http://read.blee.net/blog/2011/05/23/so-much-pretty-by-cara-hoffman/ I have not read any of this author's other books, but received an advanced copy of The Art of Saying Goodbye at a conference and decided to give it a try. This is a story of a community touched by sadness, as one of their own faces cancer and causes ... http://read.blee.net/blog/2011/05/18/the-art-of-saying-goodbye-by-ellyn-bache/ I seem to be on a roll of books that feature people making connections through literature and reading. I had wanted to read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society for two years, having heard so many wonderful reviews of it, yet I feared I may have let it ... http://read.blee.net/blog/2011/05/16/guernsey-literary-and-potato-peel-pie-society/ In Tolstoy and the Purple Chair, Nina Sankovitch recounts the year she took on the task of reading, and reviewing, a book a day for the entire year. This was not some stunt she took on in order to publish a book about it, or to become a famous blogger ... http://read.blee.net/blog/2011/05/14/tolstoy-and-the-purple-chair/ Sara Lachman recently wrote a great column for Library Journal's Reader's Shelf highlighting some great books that inspired some of the creepiest horror films ever. I thought I'd repost her selections here for those of you looking to set the mood this weekend... The basis for Roman Polanski's award-winning 1968 film ... http://read.blee.net/blog/2010/10/28/classic-horror-stories/