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#LesMisReadalong on Twitter: Week 6 Highlights

Here we at the end of Week 6 of the Les Misérables Chapter-a-Day Read-along, and the story is really beginning to move. We’ve read forty-two chapters so far–about 170 pages–and this past week we were introduced to some of the most important characters in the book.  It’s still not too late to join in the fun, simply download the reading schedule and do what you can to catch up. Speaking of joining in, we welcome Laura Roberts who jumped in this past week, as you can see below in...

The October Country by Ray Bradbury

Deal Me in Stories #5 and #6: Two Bradbury Tales from The October Country

Card Drawn: 3♦ Anthology: The October Country by Ray Bradbury Story: “The Watchful Poker Chip of H. Matisse,” 1954 When we first meet George Garvey he is nothing at all. Later he’ll wear a white poker chip monocle, with a blue eye painted on it by Matisse himself. Later, a golden bird cage might trill within George Garvey’s false leg, and his good left hand might possibly be fashioned of shimmering copper and jade. But at the beginning–gaze upon a terrifyingly ordinary man. So begins “The Watchful Poker Chip of H. Matisse”...

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Classics Club #19: The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett is a gem of a book. It’s one of those magical stories that book lovers appreciate in a special way. Not that it’s about books or reading, but it’s the kind of story that reveals itself and its characters slowly and gently, as only a book can. It’s about growing up and discovering the healing power of life. It’s a book for children of all ages, like The Wind in the Willows or The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The story centers...

Fantine on Twitter

#LesMisReadalong on Twitter: Week 5 Highlights

I’ve been out of town for most of this week, so pardon me if I haven’t been as active on Twitter, but I’ve definitely kept up with the conversation on Twitter at #LesMisReadalong. Here are some of the highlights from this past week: Slow Reading #LesMisReadalong https://t.co/WIriLooPxJ — ?Roaring Stories? (@RoaringStories) January 29, 2018 #LesMisReadalong V1B3C2 Tholomyès does not sound like a great catch for 'little Fantine' though. "A 30 year old pleasure seeker and badly preserved". Although the 4,000 Francs per year would add to his charms...

The Bishop and the Candlesticks

Les Misérables Chapter-a-Day Read-along Discussion: The Fall

I’m a little short on time this week, so for week four’s post in the Les Misérables Chapter-a-Day Read-along, I’m going to simply pose a question in the hopes of starting a discussion. This is an honest question I have, a question to which I do not have a definitive answer. As we try to answer it, I ask that we stick only to the events of Book One and Book Two out of courtesy to those who are reading Les Misérables for the first time. So here’s my question:...

#LesMisReadalong on Twitter

#LesMisReadalong on Twitter: Week 4 Highlights

This past week in the Les Misérables Chapter-a-Day Read-along featured one of the most famous scenes in the novel, and perhaps in all of literature: The Bishop’s Candlesticks. The twitter chat at #LesMisReadalong was abuzz with reactions to it, along with a host of other thoughts and favorite quotes. Here are a few highlights: For him the external world had scarcely an existence. It would almost be true to say that for Jean Valjean there was no sun, no beautiful summer days, no radiant sky, no fresh April dawn. Some dim window light was...

The Drifter by William W. Johnstone

The Drifter (The Last Gunfighter Book 1) by William W. Johnstone

The Drifter by William W. Johnstone is exactly what I look for in a western, which made it a perfect book to begin the 2018 Wild Wild West Reading Challenge. There was plenty of gun-fighting action, a fair share of humor, and even a bit of romance. I had picked up the Kindle edition of The Drifter at a bargain price without knowing much about the story or the author, so I had moderate expectations about how good it was going to be. After finishing it, though, I’d have...

The Hardboiled Dicks edited by Ron Goulart

Deal Me In Story #4: Winter Kill by Frederick Nebel

Card Drawn: 8♥ Anthology: The Hardboiled Dicks edited by Ron Goulart Story: “Winter Kill” by Frederick Nebel, 1935 If you pour water over a guy and take him outside when it’s zero, ten to one the guy will freeze in a hurry. Kennedy of the Free Press and Captain Steve MacBride of the Richmond City Police Department were featured in almost forty stories by Frederick Nebel from 1928 to 1936. In “Winter Kill” the newspaperman and the cop try to figure out who killed Russel Parcell by drenching him in...

Bible and iPhone

Prayer in the Digital Age by Matt Swaim

I’m a tech guy and a Catholic school administrator, so I was very interested when a kind-hearted school parent gave me a copy of Matt Swaim’s Prayer in the Digital Age. I was hoping it would give me insights into how to help students cultivate the habit of prayer in today’s digital world. The blurb on the back promised “practical suggestions for learning how to ‘unplug’ in order to cultivate a fruitful relationship with God.” Unfortunately, the book’s suggestions were lost in a sea of negativity, generalizations, and judgments....

Tripwire (Jack Reacher 3) by Lee Child

Tripwire (Jack Reacher #3) by Lee Child

A Jack Reacher book is a lot like a popcorn movie: if you just go with it and don’t think about it too much, then it can be pretty entertaining. Tripwire is the third book in the series and the fourth Reacher book I’ve read, and while it was entertaining, it’s my least favorite. Not that it’s bad, it’s just not the Jack Reacher story I was anticipating. The book is more of an investigative mystery than an adrenaline-pumping action thriller. Tripwire features a more introspective Jack Reacher, a man...

Gericault's Raft of the Medusa

Les Misérables Chapter-a-Day Read-along: The Monstrous Waters

With day twenty-two of the Les Misérables Chapter-a-Day Read-along upon us, we reach “The Deep and the Dark,” one of the most fascinating chapters of the book so far — at least to me. Hugo’s considerable poetry skills are on full display, and from this chapter it is easy to see why Hugo is more famous in France for his poetry than for his novels or plays. “The Deep and the Dark” is a chapter-long metaphor that uses the sea to represent the fate of convicts. The chapter attempts...