Author's posts
As someone who grew up studying under the American, British and (the absurdly simplistic) Malaysian New Curriculum systems, as well as a mom to kids with special needs, I found this book endlessly fascinating in how it interrogates mainstream educational thought and offers solutions to the continuing problem of falling student standards. With primarily an …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/02/05/blind-spots-why-students-fail-and-the-science-that-can-save-them-by-kimberly-nix-berens/
This is one of those books that’s so propulsive that you want to devour it in one sitting, even as the harrowing nature of what you’re reading is telling you to maybe put it aside and take a nap, for the sake of your own mental health. Sisters follows September and July, two teenage girls …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/02/03/sisters-by-daisy-johnson/
Happy Black History Month, everyone! I’m so excited to have just read a strong slate of contemporary novels featuring Black protagonists and casts living their best lives, whether it’s via superheroics, sleuthing or, in this latest case, shop-keeping while falling in love. Real Men Knit follows Jesse Strong, the youngest of four very different adoptive …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/02/01/real-men-knit-by-kwana-jackson/
I feel like a dope for admitting how confusing I find the marketing/formatting of this product. It’s an audiobook, but I read it, and you can only get text samples from the website at the time of writing? Oh, wait, depending on what link you use, you can access both the text as well as …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/01/28/marvels-black-panther-sins-of-the-king-by-ira-madison-iii-geoffrey-thorne-tananarive-due-mohale-mashigo-steven-barnes/
This was a weird and wonderful story of a warrior priestess coming to realize that maybe the gods are liars, and that the most important thing is to work for the betterment and security of one’s people instead of haring off to get yourself killed for an idea of glory. Hessa is an Eangi, one …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/01/22/hall-of-smoke-by-h-m-long/
Siiiiiigh. There are the bones of a good story here. Once upon a time, Poets were able to work Enchantments with their songs, but when dark magic began to take over in the form of plague, the king of Eivar demanded that magic be excised from the kingdom altogether, putting the Poets and the Academy …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/01/21/last-song-before-night-the-harp-and-ring-sequence-1-by-ilana-c-myer/
Hunh, I didn’t realize this creative team was basically two dudes, with William Ramos Jr on the lettering. The book feels very authentically female, as it tells the story of two sisters, teenage Wendy and the much younger Maureen, and their hilarious relationships with one another, their family and friends. Well, story insofar as this …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/01/19/the-sisters-vol-7-lucky-brat-by-christophe-cazenove-william-maury/
Y’all, I read a patently absurd number of books last year. With a final tally of 256 books logged on Goodreads, this was an increase of just under 70 books and over 8000 pages from the year before. On the one hand, I did a much better job of cataloging the graphic novels and children’s …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/01/15/looking-back-on-2020/
Given how prominently the name Agatha Christie is displayed on the cover, I wonder why they don’t just call this Agatha Christie’s… oh actually, I can see why now, nvm. But yes, this is the second novel in Sophie Hannah’s take on the beloved Belgian detective, and I found I liked it less than the …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/01/14/closed-casket-new-hercule-poirot-mysteries-2-by-sophie-hannah/
Whereas Emma Lord’s debut novel Tweet Cute updated You’ve Got Mail for the 21st century, her follow-up You Have A Match is a smart, modern take on The Parent Trap. Sixteen year-old Abby Day only takes one of those Ancestry-DNA-type tests out of solidarity with her best friend Leo, on whom she also happens to …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/01/12/you-have-a-match-by-emma-lord/