Amy R. posted an article on My Friend Amy - Feb 10, 2012, 4:20 am
How to create a dark story in a stereotypically “bright,” friendly place like Iowa. That was never a problem for me. No place is a halcyon. Everywhere has problems and issues. Katherine Anne-Porter who is an amazing author and one of my favourite short story writers once said, “In the ni...
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Amy R. posted an article on My Friend Amy - Feb 10, 2012, 4:03 am
I liked this episode but didn't love it. I was interested in the Originals story line, but they were sort of underwhelming and the show is starting to feel way too crowded. With so many originals, it's hard to make each one of them interesting and devote sufficient time to the characters on th...
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Amy R. posted an article on My Friend Amy - Feb 9, 2012, 9:40 pm
About the Book: Heather Hampton returns to Moses Lake, Texas, to help facilitate the sale of a family farm as part of a planned industrial plant that will provide the area with much-needed jobs. Heather's future fiance has brokered the deal, and Heather is in line to do her first large-scale archite...
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Amy R. posted an article on My Friend Amy - Feb 9, 2012, 2:05 am
As my novel The Golden Hour emerged onto the page, it took me into aspects of life that I have explored before. Not surprising! There are subjects that, no matter how much I write, will probably never be exhausted for me. My first two books were memoirs, so I dealt very openly with these areas...
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Amy R. posted an article on My Friend Amy - Feb 8, 2012, 2:23 am
So I was just listening to Lana del Rey's album (which I really like--I don't know apparently she had a bad SNL performance or something and some people hate her--stuff I gather from my Twitter timeline) and I realized there is a song called "Diet Mt. Dew" on it. JOY OF MY LIFE. Even better is the s...
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Amy R. posted an article on My Friend Amy - Feb 5, 2012, 3:00 am
Happy Super Bowl Sunday everyone! Are you planning on watching? If so who are you cheering for? I'll be watching and cheering for the Giants, but the truth is I don't really care who wins. And the commercials will probably be stupid, so. The weather here has been so beautiful this week borderi...
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Amy R. posted an article on My Friend Amy - Feb 3, 2012, 7:33 pm
Vampire Royalty I really liked this episode of The Vampire Diaries because it featured my favorite thing in all the world, vampire brothers. Seriously, how fantastic was that dinner? I loved Elijah/Tatia/Klaus being the precursor to Stefan/Elena/Katherine/Damon and since they brought up Tatia does t...
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Amy R. posted an article on My Friend Amy - Feb 2, 2012, 3:16 am
"You couldn't relive your life, skipping the awful parts, without losing what made it worthwhile. You had to accept it as a whole--like the world, or the person you loved." Stewart O'Nan is always a pleasure to read because he creates characters that feel fully realized. Their interests, flaws...
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Amy R. posted an article on My Friend Amy - Feb 1, 2012, 3:00 am
When the joy and intensity of conversion wears off, what's next? What if after spending years believing in God, you suddenly find yourself up against a wall wondering if God does in fact exist? Life comes in three stages, right? Beginning, middle, and end, what's in the middle? These are...
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Amy R. posted an article on My Friend Amy - Jan 31, 2012, 6:39 pm
About the Book: Set in the 1800s, Ruth's Redemption, is an unusual depiction of the lives of slaves and free blacks in pre-Civil War America. Bo, a main character, was educated while a slave. He was given his freedom and now owns a farm buying slaves for the sole purpose of giving them their freedom...
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Amy R. posted an article on My Friend Amy - Jan 30, 2012, 3:00 am
"Love is not just what we are obligated to do. It is not just what we have to do. Love is also what we want to do. It is what we have to do and what we want to do with all the power of our being." The start of 2012 found me in Kentucky helping my grandma sort through and pack up her belongings...
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Amy R. posted an article on My Friend Amy - Jan 29, 2012, 3:19 am
So Google has a new privacy policy (I know because I have so many gmail accounts that forward into my blogging account and so I got like 10 emails all at once) which I think is probably a mess and something I should be angry about, but I don't really understand it. My biggest thing is that I don't m...
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Amy R. posted an article on My Friend Amy - Jan 25, 2012, 3:00 am
At the beginning of the year, Laura Miller wrote at Salon that "The novel and television are commingling as never before. And it’s about time." She went on to discuss the latest acquisitions being made and the way in which several literary novels are being adapted to television. It's e...
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Amy R. posted an article on My Friend Amy - Jan 24, 2012, 6:51 am
"Beautiful things grow to a certain height and then they fail and fade off," Serena van der Woodsen quotes to a movie director in Gossip Girl's fourth season finale. "I relate to it more than I should admit," she adds. The quote is from F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Beautiful and Damned and Serena...
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Amy R. posted an article on My Friend Amy - Jan 23, 2012, 3:34 am
... idea of each other and the idea that they are young and beautiful and indulging in their greatest passions. But the reality of their relationship is ugly. Gloria clings to the sentimentality of it and Anthony ... they go on their honeymoon, and rent a house and they are happy and indulging al...
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Amy R. posted an article on My Friend Amy - Jan 22, 2012, 4:00 am
... with the longer ongoing mystery, I think it has potential. Jorge ... much resentment between them. Revenge--I actually thought this was pretty ... never ending cycle of destroying people. I thought it was sad ... serious with this storyline? Okay I have actual serious issues with ... mean...
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Amy R. posted an article on My Friend Amy - Jan 20, 2012, 4:21 am
So TVD. I liked this episode for the most part, in that I was pretty entertained throughout. Bonnie's mom is like the worst mother ever, so maybe there's more to that story. I don't know, I guess she wasn't apologetic enough for me. I liked the scene where Bonnie told her about G...
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Amy R. posted an article on My Friend Amy - Jan 17, 2012, 3:04 pm
Throughout the year I'll be bringing you some interviews with the authors over at the Class of 2K12! I hope you will enjoy getting to know these authors and thoughts on their books better. Today Megan Bostic shares some thoughts on her book, Never Eighteen. How has your pers...
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Amy R. posted an article on My Friend Amy - Jan 17, 2012, 2:46 pm
... FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group ... husbands’ sides. When a coveted position opens up—president ... . He thinks I need to submit my resume.” “To ... husband. But this conversation was a game changer. Hosea ... me tonight...
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Amy R. posted an article on My Friend Amy - Jan 16, 2012, 1:36 pm
Jessica at Read React Review wrote a thought provoking post about underreading and overreading in book reviews. The whole post is great and you should read it, but one of the most interesting points she makes for me is about how one of the ways to correct overreading and underreading is "intentional...
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Amy R. posted an article on My Friend Amy - Jan 15, 2012, 6:28 am
This week went by in a blur to be honest, and I'm not entirely sure why. I can't believe January is already half way over, I feel like I'm trying to catch up to all those shiny things I was going to do in the New Year. On the bright side, we had absolutely gorgeous weather here this week--like sprin...
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Amy R. posted an article on My Friend Amy - Jan 13, 2012, 3:59 am
... This episode didn't irritate me! The only thing irritating about it ... I find Joseph Morgan so appealing. The character of Klaus on paper ... feeling stuck to Matt. Stefan, the one who saved her originally, ... her life was something different? The self she lost forever when ... the life ...
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Amy R. posted an article on My Friend Amy - Jan 13, 2012, 3:35 am
So a few years ago when I read Dale Cramer's Levi's Will, there was this little section in it about how Will's father's family had attempted to make a settlement in Mexico work but due to their strong convictions of pacifism, they couldn't. It was really thought provoking and intriguing to me so whe...
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Amy R. posted an article on My Friend Amy - Jan 12, 2012, 4:18 am
I'm reading The Captive Heart right now and it's soooo good! About the Book: Bandit troubles intensify as Caleb Bender's family tries to settle into their new life in 1920s Paradise Valley. When El Pantera kidnaps Rachel and leaves her brother, Aaron, for dead, Jake Weaver and the Mexican native Do...
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Amy R. posted an article on My Friend Amy - Jan 10, 2012, 3:15 am
Throughout the year I'll be bringing you some interviews with the authors over at the Class of 2K12! I hope you will enjoy getting to know these authors and thoughts on their books better. Today I'm bringing you an interview with Robin Bridges. Her book, The Gathering Storm,...
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Amy R. posted an article on My Friend Amy - Jan 10, 2012, 3:01 am
It's been awhile since I've read some Christian fiction...probably since the Inspys selection process...and truth be told I find myself reading less and less because so much of it is romance and I've grown quite tired of the genre. but every once in awhile, I like to pick one up for the comfo...
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Amy R. posted an article on My Friend Amy - Jan 9, 2012, 4:29 am
Throughout the year I'll be bringing you some interviews with the authors over at the Class of 2K12! I hope you will enjoy getting to know these authors and thoughts on their books better. I'm so excited to kick off this series with Caroline Starr Rose who has been a long time commenter here. ...
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Amy R. posted an article on My Friend Amy - Dec 15, 2011, 2:08 am
... story, going through the religious calendar, sometimes using only a paragraph for a glimpse of a scene, sometimes pulling the scene out longer. The interviews done to determine the legitimacy of Mariette's stigmata are interspersed throughout the story, almost at times, to give you a first pers...
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Amy R. posted an article on My Friend Amy - Dec 14, 2011, 1:14 am
... only one other friend in the village, Marge, and their friendship ... connections with people who knew the real Dickie Greenleaf. He is ... tense and exciting than others. The way in which homosexuality is ... intimate attachments. His envy of the upper class life perhaps stems ... . Parano...
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Amy R. posted an article on My Friend Amy - Dec 13, 2011, 3:33 am
Another year of reading the best in faith driven literature is over and we have our second annual INSPY Award Winners. Many thanks to the judges for all of the work in deliberating and choosing the winners! Head on over to the INSPYS site to find out who won!
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Amy R. posted an article on My Friend Amy - Dec 9, 2011, 3:45 am
So awhile back when I was but a wee book blogger, I read Dawn of She is Too Fond of Books review of Bel Canto and knew that I wanted to read it myself. I bought it at a Borders (RIP) one weekend and then it promptly sat on my bookshelf for years. I continued to read good review after good review and...
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Amy R. posted an article on My Friend Amy - Dec 8, 2011, 3:17 pm
In celebration of the release of Music Box Film's US release of the German film YOUNG GOETHE IN LOVE I have three copies of The Sorrows of Young Werther to give away to US residents. Goethe is Germany's most famous and influential poet, philosopher and all-around intellectual – but once upon a tim...
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Amy R. posted an article on My Friend Amy - Dec 6, 2011, 5:19 am
I have to admit I was really surprised to receive my Secret Santa package already on Saturday! I guess the rest of the world doesn't wait until the last possible day to ship their gifts. :) Anyway, I was sooo excited to discover my Santa was Jill from Rhapsody in Books because I love her! And she di...
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Amy R. posted an article on My Friend Amy - Dec 4, 2011, 3:00 am
Happy December y'all! It's hard to believe that pretty soon 2011 will be yet just another memory. And December is already rushing by. Amazing, really. For some reason December is a month when you remember just how few minutes there really are to a day, a week, a month because there's so much you wan...
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Amy R. posted an article on My Friend Amy - Dec 2, 2011, 3:48 am
Soooo.....the other day on Twitter I just happened to see Syfy tweet this*: This immediately caught my attention because I think it speaks to what the social internet experience is ultimately about: the idea that no one has to be lonely again. You can find someone with your same interests no matter...
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Amy R. posted an article on My Friend Amy - Nov 30, 2011, 2:24 am
Shortly after Keri's older brother commits suicide, her former childhood friend, Janna, enlists her help with uncovering the reason why so many young men commit suicide at a certain time of year. She, along with her friend Sione, is convinced that what is happening is actually murder. They think it'...
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Amy R. posted an article on My Friend Amy - Nov 28, 2011, 4:51 am
The other day I was talking to my friend Caitie about the current season of Gossip Girl and the story they are telling with my favorite character, Blair, and the men in her life. Essentially they are using her various love interests to represent different aspects of her character, i.e. the parts of ...
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Amy R. posted an article on My Friend Amy - Nov 1, 2011, 1:27 am
Just in case you missed it, I posted the schedule for the Winter's Tale Readalong and it actually starts next week, so please join us! Harper Collins just sort of dropped the news that they're acquiring Thomas Nelson on Twitter yesterday. Strange as it may sound, I was shocked. I did not anticipate ...
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Amy R. posted an article on My Friend Amy - Oct 31, 2011, 2:45 am
So I was too wrapped up in watching baseball over the past few weeks to devote time to my shows (also best baseball season ever! Love the Cardinals, love the World Series win, David Freese is awesome, cut me and I bleed Cardinal red, etc, etc.) but I caught up this weekend and decided to share my th...
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Amy R. posted an article on My Friend Amy - Oct 29, 2011, 11:47 pm
This has been a really really bad reading year for me and I'm desperate to read something amazing. None of my previous readalongs have let me down, so I'm hoping this one doesn't either. My friend Shu, a relatively new book blogger, is cohosting with me at Read with Shu. Each Monday we'll have our d...
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Amy R. posted an article on My Friend Amy - Oct 28, 2011, 2:16 am
Sports are always good for lots of life metaphors and they don't come much better than the St. Louis Cardinals this season and especially this last night when the sixth game of the World Series went to 11 innings. Just because I had a fantastic night on pins and needles and screaming for my team, I'...
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Amy R. posted an article on My Friend Amy - Oct 28, 2011, 2:08 am
It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST...
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Amy R. posted an article on My Friend Amy - Oct 28, 2011, 2:07 am
About the Book: When Jonathan Steel wakes up on a beach in a raging thunderstorm, naked, beaten, and bleeding, he has no idea who he is or how he got there. But just as he starts to make progress in his slow journey to recovery, tragedy strikes again, taking everything in his new life that he has co...
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Amy R. posted an article on My Friend Amy - Oct 22, 2011, 1:08 am
One of the best events in book blogging, the 24 Hour Readathon is this weekend! I didn't sign up and I won't be participating for 24 hours (lol I haven't done that since my first one yeeeears ago) but I hope to squeeze in some reading. I have many stacks of pretty books I should be reading, but I ge...
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Amy R. posted an article on My Friend Amy - Oct 22, 2011, 12:58 am
About the Book: Alice Grace Ripley lives in a dream world, her nose stuck in a book. But happily-ever-after life she's planned on suddenly falls apart when her boyfriend, Gordon, breaks up with her, accusing her of living in a world of fiction instead of the real world. Then to top it off, Alice los...
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Amy R. posted an article on My Friend Amy - Oct 20, 2011, 2:34 am
I'm reading Julie Lessman's A Heart Revealed which is just as fun as all of her other romances, full of intense passionate love and a couple with huge obstacles to overcome in order to be together. But as I was reading, I realized that something I love about Julie's books are the friendships. As I r...
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Amy R. posted an article on My Friend Amy - Oct 20, 2011, 1:03 am
I started reading this book but quickly realized it's not really for me. It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author ...
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Amy R. posted an article on My Friend Amy - Oct 20, 2011, 12:55 am
It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST...
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Amy R. posted an article on My Friend Amy - Oct 20, 2011, 12:53 am
About the Book: Rural switchboard operator Georgie Gail is proud of her independence in a man's world ... which makes it twice as vexing when the telephone company sends a man to look over her shoulder. Dashing Luke Palmer is more than he appears though. He's a Texas Ranger working undercover to inf...
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Amy R. posted an article on My Friend Amy - Oct 17, 2011, 3:43 pm
The National Book Awards do not dictate the way I read. Even so, I always look forward to the lists...what books in the last year might I have missed that made these lists? I do not think that if a book isn't on the list that it's a failure or wasn't good enough, after all the the judges change ever...
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