Rarest Kind of Best

How’ve you been? Whatcha been up to? Having a nice summer?

It’s been 17 months since my last post… wait, am I in a confessional? Life has been good, and busy, and trying, and interesting.

What gets in the way of blogging? In a nutshell:

1) parenting
2) dirty dishes
3) necessity of doing PAID work in order to pay bills
4) writing a novel… or two*
5) sun is shining, birds are singing
6) life

Add to that “wondering if this thing is at all worthwhile”, “wondering if people read my reviews”, “wondering how many of these visits are actual real people”, etc.

And what has brought me back to this blog?

1) the desire to share some lovely new reads
2) a new ANGLE and a brand new PROJECT!

Of course I haven’t stopped reading during the last seventeen months, so I’ve got lots of books to write up here, a tremendous backlog actually.

And here’s the thing… I’ve had a new project percolating in my head for a while now and I think this website is as good a place as any to roll it out. Still formulating its exact nature and form, but suffice to say it will centre around HISTORY… and books, and movies, and education, and kids, and parents, and teachers…

I’ve said too much. For now.
Onward and upward.

And it’s nice to see you again!
cheers!
k

* sequels #2 and #3 to my first novel Eldritch Manor: Shadow Wrack was released December 2015 and Darkling Green will be released December 2016.

I have been absent, apologies for the lack of reviews recently. Besides the usual distractions of the Christmas season, I have a novel due to send to my publisher, which has taken up a lot of my time lately. (For more about that please see my “official author website”.)
Once I send that off (any day now), I’ve got to start writing the next one, which will be due later this year.
And if that wasn’t enough, my computer has recently slipped into a coma and until it is nursed back to health I’m stuck with tapping away on an iPad, which is nrathermcnhdhjjkckmdn, if you know what I mean.
(Happily I am a fanatic about backing up, so manuscript is safe, thank goodness!)
Despite all busy-ness however, I have been reading up a storm, still working my way through the list of Newbery and Carnegie Medal Winners. So whenever I find a little time, I’ve got plenty of reviewing to catch up on. This year I should be able to finish reading all the Newbery titles – 64 down, 28 to go – if I can locate copies of them all. (Hallelujah for Interlibrary Loans!)
That’s my outlook on the year ahead, returning whenever I can to this blog because it really is a labour of love. I hope you will check in from time to time and let me share my finds with you!
All the best for 2015!

I’m back! It’s been a busy (in a good way) summer. I may have stopped reviewing and posting but I sure didn’t stop reading. As a result I have a stack of books to review sitting in front of me, so I will start working my way through them…

I’m still really enjoying the Newbery and Carnegie medal winners, I’m working my way through both lists. As a further motivation, I’ve set a goal on goodreads.com to read 100 books in 2014, and surprisingly enough I seem to be right on track to succeed. (If you are on goodreads too, look me up!)

Anyhoo, I’m putting my nose to the grindstone again (owch) and you’ll be seeing a lot more activity here in the weeks ahead.

p.s. I hope you all had a great summer! This is what mine looked like:

Port Renfrew, BC

teaching writing camps

Salt Spring Island market Saturdays

Mission Folk Fest

Hello everyone! Welcome to a brand new year!

I hope all your holidays were safe and warm and full of treats. Mine was a bit of a whirlwind, but I’m pretty sure it was fun…

Amid many other projects for the year, I’ve got a few goals for this blog, my labour of love Rarest Kind of Best. For one thing I will continue reading my way down the Newbery and Carnegie lists of medal winning books. I’ve already stumbled across a couple buried treasures and anticipate finding many more to share with you!

I’m growing ever more convinced of the need to get our kids reading older novels, to give them a wider experience of language and writing styles, but also historical perspective and context. I also think older books give them a terrific challenge in vocabulary, comprehension and basic stick-to-it-iveness: classic novels move at a slower pace than modern books, and can be oh-so-very LONG!

The other goal I’ve set myself is to mold my RKOB writing into a different format: a monthly online magazine, featuring author profiles, reading lists and links, book and movie recommendations organized by age, and much more. More on that as it progresses, but it seems like an exciting next step for me, if I can find the time and energy to make it happen!

I hope you will keep visiting and exploring and sharing your thoughts!

Best wishes for the new year, and happy reading!
Kim

I haven’t been writing much over the summer, but I’ve been reading up a storm, and have uncovered some real gems. This is the stack of recently read volumes I’ve got to write up, so hopefully I can get back in gear and flood you with a flurry of reviews…

I hope your summer was full of good times and good books too!