Pages & Paws

Writing, Reading, and Rural Life With a Border Collie

Category Archives: Read


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What Makes a ‘Classic’ Read? 3 Examples, 7 Key Elements

 What makes a classic?

I mean, besides being all bright, beautiful and brilliant like me, Kimber the Classic Magnificent Wonder?

A true classic. “Hey, it’s me!”

Glad you asked. We’re gonna get to that. So just hang on a min, Cream Puff. Cuz right now we’re gonna play a bookish guessing game. Like this:

Can you identify the classic books and/or authors in which these first lines appear? (Answers below.)

  1. “All children, except one, grow up.”
  2. “Walking back to camp through the swamp, Sam wondered whether to tell his father what he had seen.”
  3. “The wind blew hard and joggled the water of the ocean, sending ripples across its surface.”

Now that you have your thinking cap on – no idea what that is; Mom’s idea – here’s another question: What do these opening lines all have in common?

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Unlikely(?) Heroine Rides Tall in ‘Lost Girls’

Blessing of the Lost Girls

By. J.A. Jance

Genre: Fiction/Murder Mystery/Thriller

Pages (print): 328

Via: Library

Rodeos. Barrel racing. A serial killer. A heroine named Hazel.

A heroine named Hazel? Say what? you say.

Yo! Her Momness and I will get to that shortly. So kindly keep your hair on, Cookie. First a little back story:

I was waiting outside The Book Place the other day with the patience of Job while Mom was inside, skipping merrily through the stacks looking for something to nab. She skidded to a halt in front of the Lucky Day shelf. For you young whippersnappers, this is an actual, physical shelf near the checkout where lots of the latest releases live. So if you find one that’s available for checkout it’s like, “Whoa Nellie*! It’s my Luck Day!” (*Mom Speak for “Whoa, Nellie.” Super excited.)

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Picture Books & ‘A Little Bit of Pixie Dust’

One of us – the one who’s been around since the Ark made landfall – is old enough to remember this super cool TV show called Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color.

Remember that one? Hosted by Walt Disney. Came on Sunday nights. Right after Lassie, Kimber’s alter ego. (Arf! Arf!) Had some of the best family entertainment around.

But the real hook? The opening where Tinkerbell flies around Sleeping Beauty’s castle, waves her fairy wand and splashes Living technicolor all over the logo. It was like magic. Repeat for you young whipper-snappers: It was like magic. (This was waaaay before the days of cheating with CGI and all that jazz.)

What If…?

Anyway. What if you could find storybooks with that kind of magic for your littleun? Well. Thanks to Storybug, you can.

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‘Stubborn Positivity’ Shines in ‘Craig and Fred’

Craig and Fred

A Marine, A Stray Dog, And How They Rescued Each Other

By Craig Grossi (Harper Collins, 2017)

Genre: Non-Fiction/Memoir

Via: Library

Pages (print): 266

“Looks like you made a friend,” his Marine Corps buddy quipped of the short-legged, floppy-eared stray dog who wandered into the USMC compound in Afghanistan.

But what author Craig Grossi heard was, “Looks like a Fred.” The name stuck. What unfolds next is one of the most touching, heartwarming and remarkable true animal stories we’ve ever read.

Even Kimber Her Royal Magnificence was impressed: “Fred is my new best bud! He’s like, Totally PAWsome!”

“Kimmi, you say that about everyone,” chirpeth Her Momness.

“So?”

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‘Stable Weight’ Balances the Scales

Stable Weight: A Memoir of Hunger, Horses, and Hope (Hopewell Publications, 2021)

By Lisa Whalen

Biography/Memoir/Health, Mind & Body

Note: We received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Ever gingerly opened a book, unsure where it may head, or how?

Stable Weight was one of those books. When Mom and I sat down to read it, she let me in on a secret. I’ll explain at the end of this review. So stay tuned. And don’t tell Mom. Let’s just keep this our little secret, okay? Meanwhile, on to the review:

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‘No Ordinary Day’ Packs a Wallop

No Ordinary Day

By Deborah Ellis (Groundwood Books, 2011)

Genre: Children’s

Pages: 160

Via: Library

“The best day of my life was the day I found out I was not alone in the world” begins this slim, no-nonsense tome by Deborah Ellis, followed by, “This is how it happened.”

The Deets

Easily read in a day or two, No Ordinary Day is narrated by the protagonist, Valli, a young orphan girl who escapes the coal pits of Jharia, India to roam the highways and byways of Kolkata, India.  The story unfolds through Valli’s eyes, ears, and feet.  Yes, feet.  Feet that have been burnt, cut, and injured without an “Ouch!”

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‘Tundavala’ Adventure Tome Hits the Jackpot!

Wait. Do I smell bacon?

Well. Great gobs of galloping goose grease! And bacon! Lots and lots of bacon!

Mom and I got this book in the mail the other day. Added it to our TBR pile. You know. The one that’s about 256 feet tall. Her Momness says, “No worries, Kimmi. Let’s just take a quick peek at the book blurb. Maybe a gander at a sentence or two. Or a paragraph or… 67. A few pages… chapters… bases…”

Silly Mom.

Next thing ya know, it’s 1:47 a.m. We’re rounding third base. Sliding into home. And turning the last page. Silly Mom again. Cuz ya know what? We couldn’t put this thing down! (The book. Not the bacon. Well, okay. The bacon, too. But ya know what we mean, right?) Here’s why:

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15 Summer Hits & Misses


Kimber the Magnificent: Summer’s winding down and Her Momness and I thought now would be a good time to revisit some Summer Hits and Misses. 

So we’re gonna include some Seriously Pawsome Reads and some Kitty Litter Box candidates. Fifteen in all. In no particular order.

Ready? Set? Let’s go!

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Fantasy Flies High in ‘Last Witch on Skye’

 

Oh, me! Oh, my! It’s The Last Witch on Skye!

Okay, okay. That’s lame. Mom’s idea. So you know who to pin that one on, okay?

Anywho, we got this review request the other day from a lady in the foreign country of Nova Scotia. No idea where that is. Do they have burgers? (We received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.)

Our review queue was closed at the time. Still trying to catch up. But there was something about this book and the review request that caught our eye. Convinced us to make an exception. Kimber: Probably had something to do with the smell of freshly barbecued…. What?

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25 Best Fantasy Books of All Time

Being all magnificent and everything.

Kimber here. Letting you know The ‘Ole Curmudgeon is being her curmudgeonly self today. Again. Still. Ya see, we just saw this post somewhere about “50 Most Popular Fantasy Books of the Last 3 years.” Or some such Tom Foolery.

The ‘Ole Curmudgeon: “Three years? Seriously? That’s not even a bat of the eye lash. Especially for those of us who were on a first-name basis with Moses. And eye-witnesses to the Parting of the Red Sea. Sheesh.”

Well. You know Mom.

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