Book Review: Between Earth and Sky by Amanda Skenandore

I haven’t written a book review in a long time. I wonder if I remember how. I guess I’ll give it a go.

This was Kelly’s pick for my regular book club. She’s new to the group and we told her, at her first discussion meeting that she was next in line. She jumped in and picked Between Earth and Sky by Amanda Skenandore. It’s a historical fiction told in two interlocking stories. The first is in the 1880’s, when Alma is a girl and her family moves to no-wheres-ville Wisconson so that her father can start an “experiment” called Stovers School for Indians. Here, Indians learn the ways of the white man. Alma believes, as all the other white people believe, that the Stovers school will be the salvation that allows Indians to discard their savage ways and advance in a world that is righteous and white.

October Book Club Reads

October isn’t over, yet but my Book Club reads are close enough to get this post done and done.

Pints and Prose (Greece Public Library)  

The Winter People by Jennifer McMahon.  I finished this one in September so it was in my last wrap up post. It started off pretty strong with a lot of wonderful feelings of creepiness and dread. But then it ended up meh, in general. I really liked the writing. There was just a lot going on in it, like the author was hoping it could cross all the genre lines. The general census in the book discussion was also meh, because some people loved the hell out of it and two people put it down without finishing. I’m not planning on reading the November book but I haven’t decided to abandon this gathering, yet. The group is a little too large to be really invested though, so it’s the book club I’m most likely to drop if I have to. I love the cidery, though.

Readers Imbibing Peril 13 - Book Recs so Far

Usually in the Fall my reading turns in a more focused way to thrillers and horror. I actually read them all year around. I also wear skulls and raven jewelry all year around, too, but it just becomes more concentrated in September with a slight fading by January. 

Anyway, this year I learned of something called Readers Imbibing Peril from my good reading buddy Sarah Says Read and figured I’d sign up. I love signing up for things that I already planned to do!  

I've read six books so far that I'm going to count, with two in the works. Here’re a couple of good ones I’ve read so far, not counting A Study in Scarlet Women, which I talked about in my last summary post and really enjoyed.

Writing Prompt - Where I'm From

I did a writing mini- workshop this morning and really liked this Mad Libs activity using the poem Where I’m From by George Ella Lyons. Figured I’d share mine here. Original below. You can also check out Lyons’ web page for a massive international project using her poem.

Where I’m From

-      Kenya’s version 

What I've Been Reading: September Reads

I don’t think I’m too late to talk about my September Reads, am I? Haha! I don’t care what you think! I’m gonna do it!!

One of the things that I notice about my reading is that when I am busy, I tend to read more audiobooks with fewer print books completed. And September includes 11 days of Rochester Fringe Festival! Which is AWESOME!! Here’s some pics!! At the end of September, I had 3 books that were just hanging out on my “currently reading” shelf.  None of them were bad, they just weren’t calling me back to them after I got distracted. I’ve moved them all off the shelf and returned them to the library. Maybe they will find me again when I’m a person who can appreciate them.

Let’s see… The good, the bad, and the I only read this because book club made me: