The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian 23 July 2009

In my continuing quest to decide just how much I love modern Native-American author Sherman Alexie, I have read another one of his books.  The first one I read is reviewed here and the second is mentioned here.
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian won the National Book Award for Young Adult Fiction in [...]

Cocktails and Tall Tales Grand Finale: Air Guitar 21 July 2009

Please enjoy “Air Guitar” by Jenna!  (See this post for an explanation.)  It was pretty much unanimous at the party that Jenna’s story was the awesomest, which is why I have saved it for last.  Rock on, Jenna, rock on!
*  *  *
The cement was cold and Kathy couldn’t help but wonder how she was feeling [...]

Cocktails and Tall Tales: Neat and Tidy 20 July 2009

Please enjoy “Neat and Tidy” by Dave!  He was an overachieving author and wrote two stories for our party.  He read the other one, but I like this one better.  Gotta love stream-of-conciousness! (See this post for an explanation of the story thing.) 
*  *  *
I pull my rubber rain boots out of the dishwasher and put them on [...]

Cocktails and Tall Tales: The Art of Conversation 19 July 2009

Please enjoy “The Art of Conversaton” by Sarah!  (See this post for an explanation.)
*  *  *
Raj surveyed the array of last year’s magazines spread out on the glass coffee table. Good Housekeeping; Southern Living; People. Chock full of ads and frivolous articles on aging celebrities or how to make a low-calorie strawberry daiquiri. He couldn’t [...]

Cocktails and Tall Tales: Pokey Will Pay 18 July 2009

Please enjoy “Pokey Will Pay” by Tasersedge!  (See this post for an explanation.)
* * *
Raj Carruthers paced up and down the space dock in front of his ship.  He was angry.  And he wondered if he should just head down to the slave district and buy a couple Striplonians to kill himself into a more [...]

Cocktails and Tall Tales: Molars, Manatees, Mayhem 17 July 2009

Please enjoy ”Molars, Manatees, Mayhem” by yours truly, me.  (See this post for an explanation.)
* * *
Kathleen Colors just wanted to die.  “Ugghh…I just want to die,” she moaned, vaguely addressing the canister of toothbrushes on the counter as she thrashed around on the fully reclined chair in the Molar Room at Dr. John’s Friendly Smiles [...]

Cocktails and Tall Tales: Dr Swanson’s Grand Day 16 July 2009

Please enjoy “Dr. Swanson’s Grand Day” by Dave!  (See this post for an explanation.)
*  *  *
Dr. Swanson was finishing up his 9:30 root canal on James Thurman, Esq. He did not like James Thurman, Esq., one of the town’s municipal judges, because of an unfavorable alimony ruling he had handed down in Dr. Swanson’s third [...]

Cocktails and Tall Tales: An Introduction 15 July 2009

A couple of weeks ago, my friends Jenna and Dave suggested a party at which we would drink cocktails and read stories we had written specifically for the party.  Here were the rules, copied and pasted straight from my Gmail account.
You shall bring a one page short story that YOU have composed using the characters [...]

Tunneling to the Center of the Earth 12 July 2009

Generally, I dislike writing these book reviews, but I do it because I think it is good for me (keeps my lit analysis skillz in shape, a little at least), but I’m actually excited about this one because I am so excited to tell you about this awesome book!
It is a collection of short stories [...]

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks 8 July 2009

I picked up the Young Adult literature book The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart at the library this summer after hearing about it on NPR. 
The story’s protagonist is Frankie, a sophomore at the prestigious Alabaster Preparatory Academy, who has grown curves over the summer and has thus secured Matthew Livingston, a popular senior, [...]