Recent Posts
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Book Review: A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray
Title: A Great and Terrible Beauty Author: Libba Bray Published: 2003 Publisher: Random House Pages: 403 From: Barnes and Noble Rating: 9/10 Lately, I’ve been in the mood for literature that doesn’t require very much thinking. Novels like that can be exhilarating because of the entertainment value behind them, rather than the literary value. One […]
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Book Review: World War Z by Max Brooks
Title: World War Z Author: Max Brooks Published: 2006 Publisher: Crown Publishing Group Pages: 342 From: Walmart Rating: 8/10 When I first picked up Max Brooks’ novel World War Z from Walmart, I immediately thought of sitting in a dark movie theater, watching Brad Pitt run from a flood of zombies with his family. I was […]
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Girl on Fire: Rememberlutions instead of resolutions
[As seen in Creston News Advertiser, December 31, 2014] [Note: This column was meant for January 1, 2015, but since New Year’s Day fell on a Thursday, my usual publish date, it ran a day early.] Tomorrow it will be a new year, so I spent several days thinking of things to add to my […]
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Book Review: The Blessing Stone by Barbara Wood
Title: The Blessing Stone Author: Barbara Wood Published: 2004 Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffith Pages: 464 From: Barnes and Noble Rating: 8/10 The first time I read Barbara Wood’s epic novel The Blessing Stone, I had kidnapped it from my aunt Kathy Vonnahme one holiday weekend, and finished it before we left Sunday. Needless to say, […]
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Girl on Fire: Rage, rage against the dying of the light
[As seen in Creston News Advertiser, December 18, 2014] A week or so ago, I was sitting in a movie theater, the lights low and the sounds of people munching popcorn reverberating through the room. Then, when trailer after trailer of upcoming films finished, the adventure began. Warning: spoiler alert. The adventure was “Interstellar,” a […]
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Girl on Fire: Being respectful is still important
[As seen in Creston News Advertiser, December 4, 2014] During Thanksgiving and the following weekend, I spent my time with my mom’s family in Auburn, and dad’s family in Parkersburg and Clarion. Saturday I drove the three hours home, with a stop in Ankeny to drop my sister Brianna off at her apartment. During the […]
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Girl on Fire: My head is in the fitness game
[As seen in Creston News Advertiser November 20, 2014] I had my final outside run of the year late last week. My neighbors have a chocolate lab, a friendly pup named Diesel, who loves running alongside me in the sunshine, but wasn’t around while my feet crunched on the country gravel. Since then, winter finally […]
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Book Reviews, Harrison, A.S.A.
Book Review: The Silent Wife by A.S.A. Harrison
Title: The Silent Wife Author: A.S.A. Harrison Published: June 2013 Publisher: Penguin Group Pages: 326 From: Walmart Rating: 8/10 I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: what makes a good book good is how the author is able to dig into the minds of his or her characters and pull out the thoughts, […]
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Girl on Fire: My education baby step is taken
[As seen in Creston News Advertiser, November 6, 2014] Ice crystals flickered in the moonlight against the black paint of my car as I left my house and threw open the car door. I tugged my turquoise hat down over my ears, started the car and pulled out of my driveway, trying not to speed […]
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Girl on Fire: Baby steps to further education
[As seen in Creston News Advertiser, October 30, 2014] Thanks to the wonder that is Facebook, I’ve been able to keep up with what my high school and college friends have been doing since graduation. Many have gotten married and had babies, while others have focused on themselves and climbed the career ladder. This got […]
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