Catherine Stine's IDEA CITY

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Sunday, July 15, 2012

Don a Superhero Cape and Drink Magic Blue while you Ponder the Booker Awards and Gut-busting review of 50 Shades of You-Know-What

A few of my students during downtime,
donning superhero capes
and drinking magic blue flying potion
Photo by C. Mittelhauser
I'm back from teaching overseas. What a great experience! My students were smart and curious and hard workers. They excelled at the writing prompts I gave them. I missed being able to post as much as I normally do, as the Internet on the Greek Cycladic islands was spotty at best. But I'm back in the swing, and happy to see that I've been granted a Booker Award "For those who refuse to live in the real world" (but prefer to live in books) from the fabulous Kelly Hashway. I am also delighted that the equally-fabulous Candilynn Fite is offering my Fireseed One novel as the prize for her flash fiction contest, which you can enter here, through July 20th. What a great community we have!

The Booker Award states that I list my five favorite books. ***I'm tweaking it to add the option of listing five books you read this summer. Here are five books I read:
The Soulkeepers by GP Ching (inventive world, interesting mesh of Christian myth)
Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi (sensual, clever concept)
Point Omega by Don DeLillo (love, love, love DeLillo! He's the writers' writer)
The Backworlds by M. Pax (funny space opera with a lovable, bumbling antihero, stay tuned for Idea City's hoopla for the launch of her book #2, on July 23rd)
Jesus' Son by Denis Johnson (Had to reread this master of raw, heartbreaking prose)


To receive this award, your blog must focus at least 50% on books and aspects of writing. I awarded it to:
Mina Lobo's Some Dark Romantic (new adult fiction)
Susan Gourely/Kelley's Susan Says
Sarah Negovetich's at Sarah Nego Writes
Michael Offutt

Before you jump off, please leave a comment, but first read Katrina Lumsden's funniest ever review of Fifty Shades of Grey (with equally funny animations to illustrate points). No, I haven't read it, nor would I, but you've all heard about it, and I'm sure you're curious! She starts her review with "What the h*ll just happened? Did I really read that? Oh, my g*d, I did! I did read that! click here to read review.


21 comments:

  1. I still have to read Under the Never Sky. Now I really want to!

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  2. I've only read the SoulKeepers. Thanks for the link to 5o Shades rev. That was hilarious.

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  3. Must be nice to have hard working students! lol As a teacher, not all of mine always are.

    Welcome back at any rate!

    I will click on the link for "50 Shades of Hype"...er, Grey and check it out. I've already decided to pass on reading it as it is not my proverbial cup of tea.

    Cheers, my friend!

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  4. You're welcome, Ednah, and thanks for following! Jeremy, your books look good.

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  5. Welcome back! I'm glad you had a wonderful time in Greece. Congrats on the Booker award, and thanks for the link to the review. It was hysterical! :-)

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  6. Thanks for this, Catherine - I promise to get cracking on my Booker award responsibilities soon! :-)
    Some Dark Romantic

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  7. I'm glad to hear you had a great time!

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  8. You were right: the review was hilarious. I am glad you enjoyed your time overseas on the Greek Cycladic islands. My latest story (being considered for an anthology) is about a mysterious Greek physician named Lucanus, a cast off small girl, and a Hollywood party to die for. Wish me luck in being accepted.

    Thank you for your kind words on my blog today, Roland

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  9. Congrats on the award! Sounds like you had a great time in Greece. Welcome back, though. :-)

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  10. Congrats on the award! This is a pretty great post.

    www.modernworld4.blogspot.com

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  11. "Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi (sensual, clever concept)" Have to agree with that. Greece sounds like it was a lovely experience. Haven't read 50 shades either, nor am I tempted, and now I'm off to check out that link :)

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  12. Great to have you stateside again, Catherine. So glad to hear that your summer teaching went so well.

    Thanks for posting the cover for Alligators Overhead on your sidebar. It looks super against your creamy yellow background.

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  13. Lee, your cover art is generally gorgeous so no wonder it looks good against this background! Katja, did you bust a gut laughing?

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  14. When I clicked on the 50-Shades-of-the-color-that-must-not-named-link, a message from Goodreads stated that they were "overcapacity" and could not allow me to enter the site. '

    ...I only pray that this was because so many people were discussing Tolstoy...

    P.S. Love your eclectic reading list.

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  15. Here I am, catching up reading blogs I missed this week. I groan as I pull out my notepad and jot down the books you suggest. How tall can my TBR pile get? And then I see you handed an honor to my blog.
    You're so wonderful. Teachers are special people.

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  16. Thanks, Susan, and Helen, keep trying to read that review! You'll laugh yourself silly. Promise.

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  17. Congrats on the award! Love your blog. A fantastic collection of art, craft, poetic beauty, and fun! How have I been missing your posts? I thought I was subscribed and I missed so many!

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  18. Congrats on the award! Love your blog. A fantastic collection of art, craft, poetic beauty, and fun! How have I been missing your posts? I thought I was subscribed and I missed so many!

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