August 2018 – Ramblings of an Obsessive Bookworm

The Phantom Of the Opera

I love musicals. Les Miserables, Fiddler on the Roof, Singing in the Rain, and My Fair Lady are great favorites of mine, watched and enjoyed many—many times over. Now, to set the record straight, I have never been to see a Broadway play. Ever. I would love to go one day, but tickets to New…

Emmanuel

God will curse you, he told us when they took him away. God will curse you if you leave this place. Wait, and I’ll return for the faithful. I wake to the first crow of the roosters, and his voice is the first thing in my mind. Sunlight is filtering through the curtains in my…

Inkdeath

There is something deeply bittersweet about the last book in a series. Has anyone else ever felt this? You spend two, three, even five books lost in a single world, traveling with a group of characters through hardship, loss, and triumph, and then suddenly, you pick up the final book and realize . . ….

Asphalt

Single file while the wind blows, he tells us. One in front of the other. Sometimes I’m so afraid I’ll lose the person ahead of me that I keep my hand on their shoulder. Dust storms are hard to travel in, but it won’t be bad enough to stop until we can’t see the road…

The Curse of the Spiderking

I got a book signed while I was in Missouri. Actually, two of them. It was very exciting. I’ve never had any of my books signed in person. I ordered a signed copy once, quite a long time ago when I first realized that owning your own copy of a book was not only allowed,…

Render Unto Caeser . . .

Wounded men leave blood on the floor. That’s the greatest difficulty. The nuns who work in the outer nave have scrubbed the tiles a thousand times, but we’re always afraid they’ll miss something. A spot of blood. A smear of filth that we can’t explain away by talking about the rains and our kitchen garden….