Game Night – Hey! That’s My Fish! Deluxe!

by Carol2 Comments
Hey! That's My Fish! Deluxe! Designers: Guenter Cornett, Alvydas Jakeliunas Manufacturers: Phalanx Games, Mayfair Games Artist: Francois Bruel Year: 2008 Players: 2 - 4 Time: 20 minutes Ages: 8 and up Maybe I'm looking ahead to cool weather. Maybe I just want to talk about a fun little game. You're a group a penguins at the pole, jumping from ice floe to ice floe, tile to tile, hunting fish. The setup varies each game, and some tiles have one fish, some two, some three. Your goal is to collect as many fish as possible, by making strategic moves, blocking other players, and staking the best areas for yourself. Most fish wins. I love the penguins. They're adorable 3-D resin figures who actually look like smart alecks. It's a fun family game, easy to learn, but you can plan ahead and with some smart moves ensure that you get a good fishing spot. As the penguins move over the hexes,the player takes away the hex where the penguin...
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Alice in Wonderland

by Carol7 Comments
Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland retold by Jane Carruth I've come to a conclusion. I don't like Alice in Wonderland. I enjoy it in theory. The curious young girl follows a rabbit down a hole, landing in a magical land full of strange, wonderful creatures and people. But then I sit down and actually read it. Last time I read it in Spring of '08, I read Carroll's version aloud with Amber and I remember expecting to enjoy it more than I did. This time I read the book I have had since I was about 7, thinking that maybe a retold version, complete with beautiful full color illustrations would bring back the childhood wonderment. It didn't. I don't even think I can summarize the story. Alice falls down the rabbit, there's a hall full of doors, she gets smaller and bigger and smaller, there's a flood and Alice insults some of the other animals that become stranded on the shore....
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Death Qualified by Kate Wilhelm

by Carol10 Comments
Death Qualified by Kate Wilhelm I listened to the audio version of this, read by Anna Fields.  I chose it because I had enjoyed one of Wilhelm's standalones The Deepest Water and wanted to give this series a shot. I was not disappointed, at the same time it wasn't what I expected. Five years ago Barbara Holloway gave up practicing law, disillusioned with a profession that put politics before justice. Then she receives a phone call from her father, with a simple message: "I need you." Her father, a lawyer himself, has been asked by a neighbor Nell Kendricks to defend her. Nell is accused of killing her husband Lucas, who she hadn't seen for seven years, until the day he arrives at the edge of her property and is shot, instantly killed. Despite her vow, Barbara finds herself drawn to the case. It's not a simple courtroom drama though. It's a mystery, who actually killed Lucas and why. It...
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The Glamour of Grammar by Roy Peter Clark

by Carol7 Comments
The Glamour of Grammar: A Guide to the Magic and Mystery of Practical English by Roy Peter Clark In case you haven't guessed by now, I'm a geek. And I love words, punctuation, grammar. One of my favorite baseball players is Aramis Ramirez, not necessarily because he's talented, but because I love the way his name sounds. I think I was the only person in my class who truly enjoyed diagramming sentences, but this book was not written just for people like me. I loved it, but I truly believe that people who have always thought grammar was dry and boring will find it to be a breathe of fresh air. Clark advocates living "inside your language," and this book is more than a list of rules, suggestions, and definitions, although it does contain those; for me, it's about appreciating how words and punctuation combine to form meaning, to express ideas, stories. In the end, The Glamour of Grammar may not be about...
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