reading

Desperately Sleep Deprived and a Little Progress

Lynette M Burrows

How can it be the end of July? Time froze in March, didn’t it? No, of course not. Time marches relentlessly forward. So onward I march. July was a month of being desperately sleep deprived and a little progress. Sleep Deprived The first week of July my fifteen-year-old Yorkie, Astro, had a dreadful night. He couldn’t settle down. I could find nothing wrong with him, but he’d only quiet down if I held him. So I held him a lot, thinking we were near the end of his time with us. After a brief phone consultation with the vet’s office the next morning, I decided to keep him home and love on him. So, I drank lots of my magic elixir and we muddled through days and nights and then weeks. He improved slowly. He’s weaker than before and can lose his balance easily. But he drinks and eats well—better than before his awful night. And he sleeps through the night again. Walking in the grass is much easier for him, so I give him plenty of opportunities to do that. And I’m still loving on him a lot. WIP Progress Report If I Should Die, book 2 in The […]

Can You Match the Bestseller to its First Line?

Lynette M Burrows

It’s First Lines Friday, but let’s have fun with this one. It’s a mix-and-match game. Get a pencil and paper. Below you’ll find a list of first lines from dystopian ya books on Amazon’s bestseller list. You’ll also find a list of author names and a list of titles. Match the bestseller with its first line and author. No cheating!  Ready? Set. Go! First Lines If you think you know which book the line is from, scroll down and match the bestseller to the first line. Write your answers down in the order of LINE (single letter)-TITLE (double letter)-AUTHOR (number). Titles AA The Gender Game BB Rising: After the Thaw CC Divergent  DD The Selection EE The Princess Trials FF Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes  GG City of the Dead HH Starsight II Shadow Fall JJ Edge of Darkness KK Seeking Safety LL Earthdom MM Dark Days of the After NN Shatter Me Authors Bonus points if you can match the bestseller and first line AND the author. Audrey Grey Brandon Sanderson Veronica Roth Ryan De Bruyn Heidi Catherine Vasily Mahanenko Kyla Stone Ryan Schow Kiera Cass Cordelia Castel T.L. Payne Bella Forest Suzanne Collins Tahereh Mafi Michael Evans All […]

Censorship Leaves Us in the Dark

Lynette M Burrows

Banned Books Week, a celebration of the freedom to read, ends September 28th. The theme this year is “Censorship Leaves Us in the Dark.”  Organized in 1982, Banned Books Week is an annual event that highlights censorship and fights for our freedom of expression. Learn more here. The First to Ban Books People who ban books have been around for a very long time. The Chinese emperor Shih Huang Ti (259-210 BCE) assumed the throne when he was twelve or thirteen. He became the founder of the Qin dynasty and was the first emperor of a unified China. Tired of criticism from the scholars of the day, he ordered that “all the official histories, with the exception of the Memoirs of Qin, be all burnt” in 213 BCE. He changed the law, suppressed freedom of speech, banned books, and put to death anyone who defied the law. While it’s said he killed many philosophers, banning the books wasn’t as effective as he’d hoped. Like banned books today, banning those books gave them a certain reverence.  Who is Qualified to Ban Books No one is qualified to ban books. We all have belief systems, prejudices, and life experiences that influence what we like […]