The Literate Kitty

A really good book has its work cut out for it. It needs to draw you in, making it seem as though you’re right there , a part of the action. It should make you think , affording you the opportunity of drawing parallels and conclusions on your own. And no matter what genre, a truly good story should make you feel something; you need to have a personal stake in the outcome, for it to matter . Fortunately, there are books aplenty that can do those things. What’s considerably more difficult to find is the book that somehow manages to bring pure, unadulterated joy to every page... a non-stop transfusion of feel-good, happy vibes from the written word straight to your brain. Until a couple weeks ago, coming up with something that made me that insanely giddy would’ve been impossible. But then, I came across Graeme Simsion’s The Rosie Project , and everything changed. Professor Don Tillman is, without question, a nerd. A top geneticist at a major Australian university, he’s...

Grad student Nora Fischer wishes desperately that her life could be different. She’s hit a major roadblock in her studies, with nothing new or fresh to pursue in her thesis work (something which her adviser seems a bit too willing to point out to her), and inspiration isn’t exactly forthcoming. Even worse, her long-time professor boyfriend--whom she’d sort of been expecting to get a ring from--has just dropped a bomb on her: he’s engaged to someone he met (and obviously, was seeing on the sly) recently, and “hopes she [Nora] understands”. Sometimes wishes do come true, though... as Nora is about to find out, in Emily Croy Barker’s magically-delicious debut, The Thinking Woman’s Guide to Real Magic . * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * The last thing Nora wants to do is pretend happiness during a girlfriend’s weekend wedding festivities, but she puts on a brave face and dutifully shows up at the mountain lodge where events are scheduled to take place. Sadly, the first night turns out as ...