reading

Myths, Magic, and Monsters YA First Lines

Lynette M Burrows

First Line Friday is a series of blog articles posted on the first Friday of every month. The first line of a story, we’re told, must hook the reader. Implied is that the reader will not buy the book if the first line isn’t great. These entries are from Amazon, my personal library, or other online booksellers. Do these first lines from myths, magic, and monsters YA hook you? Do you want to read more? He woke to the feeling of rough ground beneath him and the stench of mortal blood. Lore by Alexandra Bracken “What do you want from us?” A tall, slender woman with doll-like features and beautifully curled, blonde hair demands in a shaking tone that betrays her state of absolute terror. Blood (Redrowen) by D.C. Hart  It wasn’t uncommon for kids to have an imaginary friend.  Fallen Shroud: Twisted Curse Book One by D. J. Dalton This is a story of the Sun and the Earth. Well, not quite. A Song of Entanglement by Deena Helm  In three days, my life went from tracking down the Jags to being hunted and saving my friends from the lion-headed vultures. Fire Falls Into the Depths: Book Two of The Brimstone Archives by […]

Are You A Supreme Reading Wizard?

Lynette M Burrows

They say reading is magical. Do you agree? If you do, do you know your magical reading rank? No? Keep reading. Test your knowledge of bookish vocabulary, then rate yourself and find out if you are a supreme reading wizard. Bookish Vocabulary Hopefully, you’ve not had an encounter with a bilbliokleptomaniac, one who has an uncontrollable impulse to steal books. You are a book lover, so you are probably familiar with the word bibliophile. It’s possible you are bibliocentric (place great or central importance on printed text.) If you are a dealer who specializes in rare or curious books, you are a bibliopole. Do you have a comprehensive knowledge of books and bibliography? Then you are a bibliognost. A bibliomaniac is a person with an extreme preoccupation with collecting books. You may not have read them, but you have to walk around them. Are you a librocubicultarist? It’s not a word, but it should be. They form the word from the Latin words for “book” and “sleeping chamber” so it’s a term for people who read in bed. Or it will be. Someday. If your goal is to be an omnilegent, “reading or having read everything,” you have a very […]

Quotes from Dystopian Fiction to Inspire You

Lynette M Burrows

Some people say that dystopian fiction arouses our fears of dire “if this goes on” futures. Many think dystopian fiction is too dark to read, too depressing. Perhaps. And yet, most of us don’t read to depress ourselves. When you look closely, you can also find hope and words to inspire you. There must be something in books, something we can’t imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don’t stay for nothing. Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451 We Have a Chance Did you ever feel, as though you had something inside you that was only waiting for you to give it a chance to come out? Some sort of extra power that you aren’t using – you know, like all the water that goes down the falls instead of through the turbines? Aldous Huxley, Brave New World We Birth Our Future Our lives are not our own. We are bound to others, past and present, and by each crime and every kindness, we birth our future. David Mitchell,Cloud Atlas We Have a Choice The most important thing you can ever know, is that whatever your purpose is, that’s not your only choice. […]