fiction book reviews
book reviews:
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- Wayne Adam is a writer of poetry, short stories, articles, and a couple of books (in process). He lives in the Chicago, Illinois, area with his wife (his biggest fan and supporter) and four dogs (all rescued from shelters). They are
his inspiration as he writes from observations of life, experience, feelings, imagination, and dreams.
- Deborah Adams is a novelist and poet who enjoys working for a living in her spare time.
- Having only discovered an interest in reading and writing while perusing the sports pages of The Scotsman newspaper as a teenager, Stuart Allan worked as a journalist for his local paper in the picturesque Scottish Borders at the age of 16, covering stories about coffee mornings, petty crime and brutal sporting fixtures. Signing off with a fanciful headline concerning a local sportsman and a three-headed hamster that bore no relevance to the story that followed, he went on to study English and Scottish literature at Edinburgh University, where interests in Robert Louis Stevenson, Thomas Hardy and the great American novel developed. He now works as an editor for a scientific publishing company. When not playing football or sitting in pubs lamenting the current state of Scotland’s sporting teams, he enjoys domestic bliss with his Irish bride-to-be at their home in Edinburgh.
- Anjali Amit: Writer, reader, thinker. In no particular order.
- Margaret Andrews rides the fence between Los Angeles and Sacramento, California. She daydreams of writing in vast open meadows while reality pulls her back into a five-by-five cubicle as a business analyst and software developer. Her fiction and essays have appeared in such literary journals as Defenestration, Wild Violet, Toasted Cheese, and Long Story Short. She is currently working on her first novel, A Slice of Heaven.
- Poornima Apte lives in the greater Boston area with
her husband and two daughters. She loves to read
literary fiction and non-fiction. Poornima also loves
to write and garden. She is the editor of an online
magazine for the South Asian diaspora,
http://www.desijournal.com.
- Nancy Atkinson is a librarian, freelance journalist and NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador. She works at a small public library in Illinois in reader’s services, children and adult programming, leading a book discussion group, and serving as webmaster. As a journalist, she writes mainly about space exploration and science and has had articles published in
UniverseToday.com,
Space.com,
NASA’s Astrobiology Magazine, Space Times Magazine, and several newspapers in the Midwest. As a Solar System Ambassador, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs.
- Kathryn Atwood is the author and editor of several young adult books regarding women and war. Her website is
www.KathrynAtwood.com.
- April Bamburg is a newspaper reporter based in Northwest Oregon. She reads every chance she gets and is often reading multiple books at the same time, depending on the time of day. Life wouldn't be complete without books, she says, and she indulges her passions for reading and writing for other outlets, including curledup.com. You can contact her at .
- Amitrajeet A. Batabyal is the Arthur J. Gosnell professor of economics at the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, NY. In addition to being an active researcher in environmental and natural resource economics, Batabyal is an avid reader and reviewer of non-fiction books and academic books in economics, political science, operations research, and environmental science.
- After studying English Literature and History at San Jose State University, Jaimie Bell raised a family, wrote a manuscript which was promptly shelved, and now spends her days doing a little bit of teaching and a whole lot of reading. She is kept company by a doting husband, two small dogs, and one cranky cat.
- Pamela Bergson is a Ph.D. student in Neurobiology, but manages to read anything she can get her hands on anyway (except for journal articles, because that would be like work). Her two cats approve of all this reading, since it provides a stationary lap on a regular basis.
- Shannon Bigham is a lifetime Floridian and has been an avid reader all of her life. Shannon is happily married with a a four-year-old daugher and a cat named Morrissey that rules the house. In addition to her love of books, Shannon practices law part-time and also enjoys cooking, fitness and the Internet. Her favorite genres are are contemporary fiction, literary fiction, historical fiction, chick lit, romances, thrillers and mysteries.
- Midge Bork started reading at an early age and never took a break. She splits her reading time 50/50 between fiction and nonfiction and will read most genres, though her tastes have changed over the years. She worked in a rural prison library for a dozen years -- now that was an experience. Those guys read EVERYTHING! She is either retired or between careers - she hasn't decided which.
- Tanya Boudreau is a librarian. She graduated from Dalhousie University and now lives and works in Cold Lake, Alberta. She lives to read.
- Book reviewer Kristy Bowen ultimately went against everyone's advice and majored in
English anyway, earning an M.A. in Literature from DePaul University in
1999. Since then, she's worked in an elementary school library, mediating
fourth-grade fistfights over Harry Potter books, and currently in an
academic library, where she hoards books in 2 ft. piles on her desk
waiting to be read. Her poetry, fiction and reviews have appeared in both
print and online journals, and she's currently at work launching the
premiere issue of an online literary zine, Wicked Alice. Despite her
parents constantly telling her to quit reading and clean up her room, she
grew up with an absolute adoration of authors like the Bronte sisters,
Margaret Atwood, and Sylvia Plath. She currently lives in Chicago, spends
way too much money buying books, and hardly ever makes the bed.
- Liam Brennan is a freelance writer from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Aside from CurledUp, he is a regular reviewer for Publisher's Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, ForeWord magazine, and the Winnipeg Free Press. He is also a published short fiction writer and is currently developing a screenplay.
- Lillian Brummet is co-author of the books Trash Talk and
Purple Snowflake Marketing, author of Towards Understanding,
and host of both the Conscious Discussions talk radio show and the
Authors Read radio program (www.brummet.ca).
- Aneesha Capur was born in India and spent most of her childhood in Africa
where she attended English and international schools. Books have been her
constant companions, seeing her through all the changing coordinates in her
life. Perhaps her early encounters with all the St. Claire's, Mallory
Towers, Famous Fives, Secret Sevens, Enchanted Trees, Five-Minute and
Ten-Minute Tales set her intimate relationship with the written word. She
now lives in New York City. She has written a collection of short stories
and is currently working on her novel.
- Helen Carter is the Guardian newspaper's northern correspondent, based in Manchester, England. She has been a journalist for 18 years and loves reading, particularly contemporary fiction.
- Jill Celeste lives in the Tampa Bay area with her patient, loving husband and her two adorable boys. A marketing manager by day and an ardent advocate for children with ADHD, Jill escapes the pressures of real life by reading (or in some cases, devouring) books. Her favorite genres include Southern fiction, Civil War and World War II stories, and tales that explore family relationships. In addition to reviewing for Curled Up, Jill reviews books for LibraryThing’s Early Reviewers and Barnes and Nobles’ First Look programs – plus whatever else she can get her hands on. Check out Jill’s book reviews on her blog, The Magic Lasso, at
mrstreme.livejournal.com.
- Nancy Chapple is an American citizen living in what has come to look like permanent European exile. With a fine college education and a Master’s of Music in her bag, she set off to seek fame and fortune in the city of West Berlin, then still enclosed by the infamous Berlin Wall. She spent a few years in between in Düsseldorf and The Hague, but she’s now back in Berlin, where she recently got married (a package that includes a 9-year old daughter half the week) and bought a rooftop apartment in the center of town.
Nancy’s been consulting editor at different international consultancies for well nigh seven years. Nothing can faze her anymore: no fancy slide presentation, poorly structured proposal, smart-ass young consultant; no wave of restructuring, internal re-organization, new job title. This is in fact a major source of her desire to write.
Nancy’s a bit of a missionary: well aware that we are all constantly bombarded with information and impressions, she clings to the old-fashioned idea that there is a difference between good and bad writing, good and inadequate music making, marketing hype and greatness. And that making distinctions and helping others do so is a worthy enterprise. Do drop by her writing website
www.apt-words.de. Some of you may also want to pay a visit to her husband’s new web design business, where the emphasis is on functional, legible, well-maintained sites, not fancy bells and whistles:
www.paso-webdesign.de.
- April Chase is a freelance writer who lives in Western Colorado. She is a
compulsive reader, who will read the back of cereal boxes and the ingredient
listings on her cosmetics when nothing else is available. A compulsive
writer as well, she finds book reviews the perfect way to combine two loves.
She is currently working on a novel based upon her grandfather's journals of
early 20th century farm life.
- Shampa Chatterjee was born and raised in India and lives in Philadelphia, PA. A voracious reader since childhood, she is now a scientist by profession and struggles to find time to keep up with her reading. Her other interests include music, photography and traveling. Apart from freelance writing, she is now working on her first novel set in British India.
- Sonia Chopra grew up in Calcutta, India, reading books and dreaming of being a writer, some kind of writer, any kind of writer.
Her wish sort of came true -- she became a journalist. After she had interned at New York Newsday and worked for many small newspapers in upstate New York and Greenville, SC, as a reporter, her husband's job relocated them to Orlando, Florida, much to their son Joshua's delight.
A national correspondent to The New York Times and a freelance writer for international publications, Sonia writes everyday and reads all she can. One day, she hopes to either publish a novel or a volume of short stories. In the meantime, she reviews other people's books.
- Brian Charles Clark Brian Charles Clark writes about agricultural, human, and natural resource science for Washington State University ( cahnrs.wsu.edu). He's the author of a novel, Splitting, and edits Puck, a journal of the irrepressible, located at briancharlesclark.com.
- Douglas R. Cobb is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, with a B.A. in Rhetoric. He also graduated from ASU in Tempe, AZ, with a Master's Degree in English, and from UALR in Little Rock with a Master's in Secondary Education.
He met his future wife, Beth, in Little Rock and taught junior high and senior high English there.
He currently resides in Fort Smith, AR, where he is employed at Cloyes Gears, Inc..
He and his wife have two children: a son, Ben, who is seventeen, and a daughter, Kaitlin, who is twelve.
His love of books began when he was quite young, and he is still an avid reader of literature.
He reads on almost any subject and genre, though he particularly enjoys mysteries and
sci-fi. Other hobbies include carving figures out of wood and drawing.
- Norma Collins spent almost eleven years working in a used bookstore simply to support her book habit. Recently, she left her job to pursue a writing career and spends much of her free time browsing the used and new bookstores in search of her next read. Her husband, the grad student and writer, is laughing at her tendency to delete every word she writes for this bio. They make their home in St. John’s, Newfoundland, the most easterly, as well as the oldest, coldest, and coolest city in North America.
- Rosemary Colt lives, reads and writes in a small seaside town in Rhode Island. She has a Ph.D. in English from Brown University and a consuming interest in fiction, history and travel. She is the editor of The Roving Reader, a bi-monthly annotated list of books available by email (subscription information at ).
- A teacher of eighth-grade English in Upper Dublin School District, PA, Samantha Connelly’s mission in life is to convince students that reading is an intensely nourishing and rewarding activity. She vehemently believes that reading promotes growth, awareness and intellectual success. Happily, she notes that reading To Kill a Mockingbird with her students has definitely won them over. Currently pursuing her Masters in English at Arcadia University, Sam looks forward to eventually promoting her own fiction, particularly the stories she has written for adolescents. Her husband Joe is her most trusted sounding board and most honest reviewer. Sam can be reached at sconnell@UDSD.org.
- Liz Cooper was born in Bucharest, Romania. She currently lives in Ottawa, Canada, with her wonderful husband and a mischievous orange cat named Tigger. Her love of books is a bit of an obsession, and she finds herself often walking into a bookstore drawn in simply by the smell of books. Of course, she also ends up bringing home a few on each trip, resulting in a constant need to purchase more bookshelves (and perhaps a bigger house). In those rare moments when she's not reading, Liz is struggling to make the jump from aspiring writer to published author. In addition to reading, writing and reviewing, she spends her time trying to perfect her skills with HTML and computer graphics. She can be reached at:
bookfairy@rogers.com.
- J. M. Cornwell is a nationally syndicated journalist, security columnist, author, professional editor with 28 years of experience, and chief webmistress for
The Rose & Thorn literary ezine, writes
Grammar Goofs, a column on grammar, for
Scribe & Quill, Occam's Razor, a paranormal column, for
Whim's Place and edits erotica and mystery/suspense novels for
Another Chapter and runs Creative Ink, LLC, a professional editing service. Visit her
blog on Dead Journal.
- Susan Cronk is a freelance writer and reviewer and independent freelance project assistant providing a variety of administrative and investigative support functions across multiple professional disciplines. For the last seven years, she has volunteered as a Court Appointed Special Advocate, advocating for the rights of abused and neglected children in juvenile court. She has a background in law enforcement, private investigation, corporate security, and information research. She is a perpetual student of life, enjoys sketching and amateur photography, and is presently working on two nonfiction book projects in her very-limited spare time. On a more personal note, she has no pets but she does have a slightly edgy houseplant named Babble, who suffers from recurrent chronic soil and water deficiency.
- Amanda Cuda works as a newspaper reporter in Bridgeport, Conn., but she occasionally spreads her talents elsewhere, such as Curled Up With A Good Book. She is also is a contributor to the recently published Cup of Comfort Cookbook and the upcoming Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul of Love and Friendship.
- Ailbhe Darcy was born in Ireland in 1981, has spent time in Paris and Nice, and currently lives in London. She has a BA in English and French, an MA in publishing and an MSc in development studies, the last of which took her to Zambia to study community media there. Her poetry has been widely published, and she writes critically for a number of websites and small press journals. These include
The Stinging Fly, Chroma, Rambles, The Danforth Review and
www.laurahird.com. She is also co-editor of an online journal of new art and writing at
www.moloch.ie.
- Heather Darcy is a poet and writer who loves good books, tea, and riding horses. Her writing has appeared in numerous literary magazines and she lives with her husband outside of Boston, MA.
- Teri Davis is a long-time elementary teacher and weekend musician (pipe organ and piano). She is also a wife and mother of four married sons who constantly read, much to the chagrin of their wives. She has recently built her dream house in a wooded area and is discovering the hazards of deer and turkey on your deck or looking in your windows. She adores reading books and is a fanatical book collector. In the past year, a have received a skinned face from sliding on the sidewalk and two black eyes from falling down the stairway. Reading is much safer for her.
- Patricia Denehy resides in Freeport, ME with her husband of 30 years. She has recently retired from her former dull life as a bookkeeper and is pursuing a new writing career, a lifelong passion. Pat is in the process of writing her first novel and has burned many dinners because she had her nose in a good book. Gardening, walking, kayaking, and cross country skiing are some of Pat's other interests. The Denehy's have a son, Bill, and a daughter, Katie, who reside in Massachusetts.
- When Dewey was in college, she noticed that some people actually get paid to tell students what to read and then sit around talking with them about those books. To her, that seemed like getting paid to breathe or eat chocolate cake, and she has taken great joy in doing so ever since. Her blog,
The Hidden Side of a Leaf, focuses on books.
- Tricia Dewey currently lives in Memphis with her family. From the moment of her reading epiphany (Blaze Finds the Trail, age 4) she has loved reading. Reviewing books is the fulfillment of one of her lifelong dreams.
- Dana De Zoysa has a passion for developing-country authors. He commutes between Bombay and his writer’s paradise in Mirissa, Sri Lanka. He can be reached at DanaDeZoysa@aol.com.
- Andi Diehn lives out in the woods of New Hampshire on a dirt road with her two children, husband, dog, horses, and fish. She has few neighbors. It takes twenty-five minutes by car to get anywhere there are other people. She has stayed at home with her sons, three and one, since the first was born, and now telemarketers avoid her number because she pins them to the phone with conversation, desperate to talk to another adult. Her other main identity is that of freelance writer, another job that really gets her out into the public. Luckily, there are books. At least one lies open on every surface in the house: literary fiction, biography, feminism, history, social commentary, memoirs, quantum physics, diaries. Good thing she’s unconcerned about dust.
- Scott Dietsch reviews books like his life depends on it. Of course, his livelihood as book editor for the New York newspaper The Villager sort of does depend on it, especially since he talked his bosses into a regular book column. He resides in Gotham with his wife.
- Rosanne Dingli is a Western Australian writer who has authored four books of fiction, a writers' handbook and a collection of poetry. She has worked as editor, lecturer, travel consultant, heraldic artist and cook, as well as literary editor for a state arts newspaper. She has reviewed books for the West Australian newspaper, and has several reviews up at Amazon.com and other sites. An avid reader, she prefers intrigues and mysteries, and certain kinds of non-fiction including popular psychology and history. Her website at
http://rosannedingli.tripod.com has details of her books and activities.
- Megan Duncan loves nothing more than to snuggle up with a very good book and get lost in the pages. Her other hobbies? Writing, working out, and…writing. Currently working on her first book (which has been in progress for so many years), she is reading and reviewing other people’s work in the meantime. You can check her out at
passionateencounters.blogspot.com. When not pursuing her literary bent, she can possibly be found working on getting her RN or with her close-knit family, enjoying the miracle of everyday life.
- Even in this age of awesome special effects, reviewer Linda Dunham truly believes that the book is always better than the movie. Linda has been an avid reader for as long as she can remember, and still holds the junior high school record for reading 106 books in a single semester. Linda hopes that someday someone will review her writing, but, alas, her writing experience to date is limited to a two-year stint as "Nosey Rosey," the advice columnist. Linda's reading "habit" is tolerated by her husband and two daughters, who only hope that eventually the library will run out of books.
- Lance Eaton dabbles in a bit of everything--usually all at the same time. He currently teaches at North Shore Community College, Salem State College, Emerson College, and University of Massachusetts. He teaches courses on history, literature, film, monsters, and comics. He also writes for several magazines and websites including
Audiofile Magazine, Library Journal, and Publishers Weekly. His reviewing interests tend towards graphic novels, audiobooks, and books on popular culture. He also works at a residential program for GLBT teens. He considers himself an over-edumacated fool who will be utterly useless when civilization collapses.
- Tameka Delaney Edwards, a freelance writer, lives in Virginia with her husband and three children. She holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Communication from Regent University. Tameka has also written reviews for SpiritRestoration.org and Front Street Reviews. She is also a monthly columnist for an online Christian women's e-zine, WOW! Magazine. She can be reached at .
- Elysabeth Eldering is 44 years old and lives in a small town in South Carolina. She enjoys reading, cross stitch, crochet and writing. Her first story was written on a dare from a friend, but she found that she liked it. Self published on www.lulu.com, and a second runner-up in her first contest with Armchair Interviews, she has just finished a mystery novella.
Elysabeth is currently working on a children's mini-mystery/educational story based on Train of Clues (second-place winner on
www.armchairinterviews.com). She is hoping to incorporate all fifty states into a lesson plan to be used in middle school classrooms. Her children were so excited that the original story won her a place in the contest, they took it to school to share with their teachers.
She has recently placed second on another entry to Armchair Interviews (an April Fool's Day-themed story entitled “The Proposal”) and does book reviews for the same site. Book reviews get posted on AI's site as well as
amazon.com.
An article with the same group about proofreading and small presses or self-published books has just been posted on the Armchair Interviews' site.
Asked to edit and review several friend's finished novels, she has four to her credit. Editing and grammar skills are definitely a plus in the writing world. She can transcribe from sound files to enter manuscripts as well.
Mother of three, she spends many weekends at marching band competitions and in the spring, almost every week night at baseball and softball games. When she has free time from work, family and writing, she participates in several writing groups including Sisters in Crime and the South Carolina Writers Workshop, both in Greenville, SC. More of her adult work can be found at
www.lulu.com/elysabeth.
- Reviewer Devon Ellington writes the Western serial The Widow's Chamber for
www.keepitcoming.net.
- Victoria Ellis appears utterly harmless and has the ability to sound completely naïve in conversation. It may be surprising then to discover that after spending any amount of time in her company, the most frequently used term in describing her is ‘worrying’. This is mainly attributed to the unpredictability she displays in choosing titles to read. The truth is that it’s necessary to balance the disjunctive mind-fog of a Michael Marshall Smith psycho-horror with the gentle mind-chocolate of a Mary Stewart romance. Hence, expect irregularity and pray for coherence.
- Alan Elsner is a veteran foreign correspondent for Reuters News Service and the author of four books, two nonfiction and two novels. His latest novel, Romance Language is a love story set against the background of the Romanian Revolution of 1989. More at
www.alanelsner.com.
- Matt Eskesen grew up in the Seattle area but currently lives in Salt Lake working as a web developer and map maker. He has a beautiful wife and adorable daughter. He enjoys science fiction and fantasy as well as the modern classics. You can find Matt's musings on an addiction to reading at his blog
A Variety of Words.
- Carolynn Evans, better known as the Queen Mab of Critique, lives a disarmingly normal housewife existence. Little do her nearest and dearest realize that within the muffin-baking heart of this mother of two there lies the pulsing passion of a slumbering artist. Her natural environment is a world of purple foliage and fairy rings where the young and beautiful fall into a forever sleep within her ample and timeless embrace. Until such time as she can ascend to her proper throne in Avalon, she uses up copious amounts of sidewalk chalk and bakes surprises into her children's sweets. Also, it must be stated: Flummery, her feline familiar, is often the actual author of her reviews, preferring the accustomed anonymity of life as a lap warmer.
- Zane Ewton is a journalism graduate as well as a recent MBA graduate. Employed as an editor with an education institution, he is also baby-stepping into a writing career. He writes album and live reviews for a rock and roll news site and is working on his first novel. Some of his first memories include sharing books with his grandfather and reading medicine bottles because the words sounded so great. Now he wants to share how incredible books can be with his son.
- Br. Benet Exton, O.S.B., a Benedictine monk of St. Gregory's
Abbey, Shawnee, OK, has been a monk since July 10, 1985. He works as a
librarian at St. Gregory's University. He
started reviewing books in October 2004 and has been working with Curled
up with a Good Book since early 2005. He likes books on history,
religion, Native Americans, current events, and science fiction or
fantasy stories. He also works with other reviewing publications and
websites.
- Max Falkowitz studies Psychology and Russian Literature at the University of Chicago, where he is also an editor of Euphony, a biannual literary journal which publishes poetry and prose from authors across the country. In addition to his work with Curled Up, he also writes reviews for
BookReporter.com. His literary tastes- beyond his academic interests- include 20th and 21st-century drama, science fiction, pre- and post-war absurdism and expressionism, as well as general contemporary literary fiction which leans towards the independent and the offbeat. Questions, comments, and review requests may be sent to max.falkowitz@gmail.com
.
- Joyce Faulkner is a Pittsburgh, PA,-based consultant and freelance writer with an extensive background in using the Internet as a business tool. She built the first corporate Internet site and Intranet system for Consolidated Natural Gas in 1995, leaving the company in 2000 as the Director of Electronic Commerce. In 1995, she began speaking at seminars about the role of the Internet in business relationships. Since then, she has built retail web stores, created web marketing strategies and prepared Internet business models for small companies. Using the principles of Process Improvement and Knowledge Management, she developed procedures for managing content and defined the elements of governance for various web projects. She is an advocate of using existing business goals to develop cogent Web strategies. Faulkner is a columnist for Ag Pilot International, a trade magazine for crop dusters. She also has a column for writers in a popular ezine, Inscriptions. She is currently polishing two books - Windshift, a historical novel about the women who ferried aircraft during World War II, and User Name, a thriller set in the present day. She is also researching the sequel to Windshift set in the Displaced Persons Camps of post-World War II Europe. Faulkner holds a Bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh and a Masters of Business Administration from Cleveland State University.
- Reviewer Jessica Ferguson decided that if society felt that her work defined her that she would define her work. Since then she has been running her own second-hand Internet bookstore and search at www.threelittlebirdsbooks.com. She also works part time as a library clerk at Woodbury Public Library in New Jersey and writes book reviews for a number of organizations. She is working on a book of short stories and has written and illustrated a children’s picture book titled A Day in Cape May. Despite her love of books and her job (and most especially of her boss), she tells anyone who asks that she is a dancer.
- Maya Fleischmann is a writer, wife and mother of three. Born and raised in Hong Kong, she currently resides in Australia where she skillfully balances her family, writing, creative and other community involvements. She is an avid traveler and booklover. Maya has been published in Chicken Soup for the Working Mom’s Soul and various travel magazines including Hanoi Pathfinder and GU Magazine. Please email her at: zenpoole@yahoo.com
- Gary Flockhart Gary Flockhart was born and raised in Edinburgh. He has worked as a journalist since the mid-1990s and has written articles for publications including The Scotsman, the
Sunday Herald, the List and Chapman. In 2000 he became entertainment editor
of Scotland On Line, where he spent three decent years until March 2003. He
is currently writing his first novel (an intoxicating ride through
Barcelona's dark underworlds) and working as a freelance music journalist.
- Céline Foggie is a voracious reader with a tooth for fiction. She is French, married to a Scotsman and the proud mother of a wee girl and they all live in the South of France. Between books she works as PR/writer/translator.
- Nancy Fontaine has worked as a librarian and college administrator. She lives in New Hampshire, along with her husband, two cats, and, every presidential primary season, the national press.
- Kirsten Fournier recently completed her MLS degree at Simmons College in Boston and currently works in corporate research for a publisher of technology magazines. When not working she volunteers with her local library’s ESL/Literacy program. Kirsten has been a voracious reader since childhood and her many books litter every room in her house, much to her husband’s dismay. Kirsten lives in Massachusetts with her husband and two cats and has decided that becoming a book reviewer is the smartest thing she’s ever done to help support her book habit. She recently became a reviewer for
Front Street Reviews as well, and is also a juror for Elle magazine’s January 2007 Readers’ Prize competition.
- Karen Pruitt Fowler is a life-long lover of books. As a child, she would get scolded for choosing the library over the local swimming pool. Now, she has parlayed her love of reading into a career that she is passionate about. Aside from reviewing books for Curled Up With a Good Book, Karen is the editor for three BellaOnline Sites (http://infertility.bellaonline.com, http://arthistory.bellaonline.com , and http://biology.bellaonline.com), is the nonfiction editor for the Writer's Room Magazine and has her own writer's website at www.elizabethraye.com . Recently, Karen has started her own virtual books store at www.bythebaybooks.com which specializes in vintage and rare books. Also, she is compiling two nonfiction books now, which can be viewed at
www.bythebaybooks.com/future and has written three e-books which can be viewed at BellaOnline (www.bellaonline.com/ebooks). And, on top of all that, she is the proud (and exhausted) mother of two toddlers!
- Shannon Frost resides in Ohio with some very special horses, a few mental cats, a kind-hearted German Shepherd, a Collie who is the anti-Lassie, and a wonderful husband who humors her need to feed everything with fur, feathers or scales. She graduated from the University of Toledo with a BA in English/Creative Writing. She’s had the good fortune of having a few short stories published and enjoys experimenting with different genres in her writing, as well as reading a wide array of styles and subjects. She also writes for
TCM Reviews and can be reached at
S.J.Frost3@gmail.com.
- Reviewer Luan Gaines writes: An artist/writer, I have traveled the world, walked on the moon and learned the complicated language of humanity, the enormity of the universe… all through the written word. My first passport was a library card, but I clearly remember the pungent scent of ink on the pristine pages of my own new book, read under the covers with a flashlight, tracking Friday's footprints across the sand in Robinson Crusoe. Professionally, magazine design and editorial copywriting offered creative fulfillment on even the most difficult days. My son and daughter remain my finest work. I, myself, am a work in progress.
- Reviewer April Galt wasn't always a lover of books. In fact the only books
she can remember reading before the age of 20 are a few Trixie Belden
mysteries and S. E. Hinton's The Outsiders. She doesn't know when it
happened, but at some point books took over her life. A former online
bookstore owner, April spends much of her day in Cape Coral, Florida,
involved in one way or the other with books. Whether its working on her
first novel, creating handmade journals, providing content for her website
Book Collecting Online, or simply
reading from or adding to her own collection, April's love of books is no
longer in question.
- Jennifer Galt recently discovered her love of books,
which she inherited from her mother, April. Although
her college career is currently on hiatus, she plans
on going back within the year and majoring in Asian
Studies. She lives in Florida with her parents, her
boyfriend, and two adorable pugs.
- Book reviewer Kristin Gaulin is an artist, animal lover, gardener and bona-fide book-addict. Her passion for books began as a toddler when she insisted
Green Eggs and Ham be read to her repeatedly. Over the years, the genres may have changed but the love of a great story has not. She lives in New England with her family, horse, dog, cats and a variety of other critters. Her musings on life, art, books and more can be found on her blog,
artzydiva.blogspot.com.
- Conrad Geller is mainly a poet, but he does read and write prose as well. After receiving a classical eighteenth-century education at the Boston Latin School, he took an honors degree in English literature at Harvard College and began an almost half century career as a teacher and writer. Besides awards for his poetry from Charles E. Tuttle and the Harvard Summer School, he has been a book, drama, and film critic for publications like Cineaste and Biobliophilos and served two years as the literary manager of the American Playwright's Theater. Presently he is chairperson of the Committee on Public Doublespeak of the National Council of Teachers of English.
- A graduate of Columbia University, Charles Gershman works as a freelance writer and editor in New Haven, Connecticut. His work (fiction and nonfiction) has appeared in such publications as
Elimae, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 10x10x10, Projected Letters,
and the Miami Herald. He is currently at work on a novel, tentatively
titled "Good Intentions". He also co-edits
Brink Magazine.
- Evan Gillespie is a professional writer, a semi-professional art
historian, and an amateur traveler. His essays and criticism have
appeared in assorted newspapers and magazines and on websites far and
wide. He lives in South Bend, Indiana, and he fits his various pursuits
into all the spare time he has after being a stay-at-home dad all day.
- Robin Gix is a stay-at-home mom to two wonderful little girls. She's been an avid reader all her life, and it seems that wherever you'll find her, she'll have a book in hand. She lives in beautiful Washington state and takes every opportunity to get out of the house and play with her girls when it's not raining.
- Mervi Hamalainen has been reading fantasy, mystery, historical fiction, science fiction, and nonfiction for over 15 years and has enjoyed most of them. She's got an MA in English Translation from the University of Tampere in her native Finland, and works as a freelance translator and writer. She's also a horticulturalist and a dog person. Her blog can be found at
mervi-translation.blogspot.com.
- Helen Hancox is married to James and they live on the Essex/Suffolk borders in England with their Weimaraner, Lucy. Born in Cologne, Germany, Helen has spent almost all her life in England, although she returns to Germany as often as she can. She has an MA in Hebrew & Greek Textual Criticism but since University hasn't particularly used this qualification apart from reviewing books for Christian publishers. She has worked in various roles including administration, communications, marketing and graphic design, most recently with a record label and book publishing company. She is currently working freelance and spending a large amount of time reading books for review, walking Lucy, yachting and brushing up on her German.
- Bridget D. Harrell is an avid reader with a passion for Colonial History, Middle/ Near Eastern Studies, and Islam. She returned to college after a career in law enforcement. Harrell graduated with a bachelor’s degree in political science and is currently a graduate student studying history at the University of New Orleans.
- Kelley Sittner Hartshorn has a career in Information
Technology in Lincoln, Nebraska, but her real love is
reading. Whether it's romance or mystery, politics or
history, she is an avid fan of the written word. When
not at work or remodeling her house, she can most
likely be found curled up in bed either reading a
novel or searching the Internet for great book reviews
and author sites.
- Lisa Haselton is a lifelong resident of NH. As a child, books let her experience other lives and places couldn't be reached from her family homestead. Her passion for writing developed at an early age and at 40 she retired from the corporate world to puruse her passion full-time. Now with every day to herself, she spends her time exploring the world and writing nature, women's, travel, fiction, and children's stories as well as volunteering her writing talent to local non-profits. Reading still allows her to experience different lives and places, and she marvels at all the voices that speak to her from the written page.
- Jeremy Hatch, a member of the National Book Critics Circle, has reviewed books for Gambara,
and 42opus in addition to CurledUp.com. His fiction has appeared in the literary webzine elimae and is forthcoming in Balderdash, BURST and Underground Voices. His personal website is Ynpossybull!. He lives in San Francisco with his wife and two cats.
- Lois Henderlong has served as children's book critic for a number of publications, including the South Bend Tribune, the Lawrence (KS) Journal-World, and the New Britain (CT)
Herald Press. She currently serves as critic for Springfield, Illinois' The State Journal-Register and also serves as Chicago arts and entertainment writer for that newspaper.
- In addition to working as a freelance writer, Gregory Houle has worked in
publishing and as a curator to a small history museum. When he's not
reading two or three books at the same time, he enjoys traveling to faraway
and exotic destinations. He grew up in New Hampshire but has lived in such
places as Rock Hill, SC, and New York City. He currently resides in Colorado
with his wife and crazy dog.
- Chris Howard lives in New Orleans, Louisiana. He is a counselor working mainly with children and adolescents. He is an avid reader and collector of books and has a special place in his heart (and bookshelf) for science fiction and fantasy. His thoughts on books and life can be found at his blog
Stuff as Dreams are Made on (chrisa511.blogspot.com).
- Laura Strathman Hulka is a professional writer, researcher, business entrepreneur, addicted reader and crafter. Born and raised in California, she spent 9 years in Tennessee learning to speak Southern. In addition to writing for Curled Up With a Good Book, she also writes for several other review sites. You can find out more about Laura on her website,
ReaderWoman's Worlds. She has two grown children and two grandsons and lives in the river city of Sacramento, CA, with her husband, Ed, Dixie the Dachshund, and hundreds of books.
- Barbara Nutley Hunter lives and writes in Cobourg, Ontario, Canada.
She's a compulsive reader, and her husband frequently threatens to disown her if the pile of books beside the bed doesn’t get smaller. A freelance writer, she is the owner of Pine Ridge Writing Services. Several of her short stories have been published, one is available on-line at
www.lichenjournal.ca/archives. Barbara teaches creative writing and is working on a young adult novel set during the depression in Ontario’s Niagara Peninsula. Her husband, the book curmudgeon, is a musician and teacher; her 11-year-old son is between careers. Her proudest achievement is that he, too, is a book lover.
- Sarah Hunter lives in Maine with her husband and two sons.
Her book, Talking Hearts, was added to the Maine Women Writers
Collection in 2009 as the voice of a young mother and her children in
the 21st century. Sarah is currently working on a second edition of
Talking Hearts, as well as a novel titled Sweet Cranberries.
She can be contacted at raisinghunters@gmail.com. Sarah also welcomes visitors to her blog,
countingducks.blogspot.com.
- Treasure Ingels-Thompson lives in rural, humid Alabama with her grouchy workaholic husband, her light-of-my-life son, two ill-paired dogs, and a geriatric cat. Reared in a large and loving family by two bibliophiles, reading was her first love and writing was its quick second. For her, reviewing books is the perfect outlet as it brings those two passions together.
- Born and living in central Ohio, Grandmaster Patty Inglish is a researcher, writer, martial arts grandmaster, youth ministries volunteer, and president of WestSide Community Center. Her favorite literature includes mysteries, global literature, nature, Asian and Russian studies, aerospace sciences, medicine, science fiction, and Christian non-fiction. She writes research, poetry, training texts, and grant proposals that aid health, artistic and musical foundations. Patty earned a bachelor’s in psychology with master’s level study, and a master’s degree in preventive medicine from Ohio State University. She has worked in restaurant and medical training operations, education, psychotherapy and assessment, and sports. With 9th degree black belt ranks in all of Taekwondo, Yudo, Jujutsu, Hapkido, and Combat Self Defense, she has taught these arts for 24 years, donating lessons to the physically challenged and at-risk youth. Her students are champions in the US Open, African competitions, the Olympics and the Arnold Martial Arts Festival. She is the US Representative for the Supreme Council of Sports in Africa, Zone 3.
- Erica M.O. Jeffrey was told early and often that she was the designated writer in a family of artists. As a child, she read just about everything she could get her hands on, and still does. She attended college in Colorado, Nebraska and California and received her Master’s degree in English (emphasis in Creative Writing) at California State University, Sacramento. At CSUS, she studied under the direction of poets Dennis Schmitz and Joshua McKinney and novelist Doug Rice. Erica works as a freelance writer and editor and translates popular French comic books into English. She also writes short fiction and poetry. Erica has edited for ArtNetwork Publishing, Random House Children’s Books, Silver Moon Press and numerous other clients. Her publication credits include magazines, newspapers, e-zines, a single literary journal (to date) and one conference proceedings (the latter two submitted under duress).
- David Johnson, Ph.d., senior coauthor of Life Changes and curledup.com reviewer, has diverse
social-psychology, psychotherapy, health/wellness, human relations, teaching,
social-science research, writing/communications background and interests.
Dave's a sports enthusiast, story-teller, and avid St. Louis Cardinals fan.
He and his wife enjoy reading, talking, and writing about simple complexities,
paradoxes, points-of-view, skills, and creativity that can be observed in our
every day behavior and social interactions.
- Karyn Johnson is an avid reader and professional travel writer who recently moved to the Seattle area from Germany. When she's not reading or writing, she is undertaking extensive home redecorating projects, experimenting in the kitchen, or meandering about with her notepad and camera. You can visit her website at
itinerantwriter.blogspot.com.
- Crystal Jones is a computer techie by day, avid consumer of books and other media by night. Crystal reviews everything she reads and watches, often getting so caught up in the fantasy worlds created by books that she neglects everything else. Who needs to do housework! She lives in Denver, Colorado, with her two beagles and cat, Pippin, named after her favorite hobbit. You can read all of Crystal's reviews on her blog,
I Totally Paused, at www.dorolerium.com.
- Marie D. Jones is the author of Looking For God In All The Wrong Places
(named the Best Religious/Spiritual Book of 2003 by RebeccasReads.com) and
has contributed to over three dozen inspirational gift books for
Publications International/New Seasons. She is a widely published writer
with dozens of credits in national magazines, Chicken Soup books and online
e-zines, and has also written and produced several nationally distributed
video projects, including the award-winning children's video Pig Tales
for Gigglebug Farms Productions. She is a progressive activist, ordained New
Thought minister and pastoral counselor currently living in San Marcos,
CA, with her high-school sweetheart, Ron, their adorable son,
Max, and two cats that drive all of them crazy. She loves books and
hopes when she finally passes on to be buried in a huge casket full of books
to read on the road.
- Myra Junyk currently works as a Literacy Advocate and Author in Canada. She has written several students texts and teacher’s guides as well as numerous articles on education, curriculum documents, and the book Media Meaning. An avid reader who loves to talk about reading in her presentations, Myra is involved on selection committees for the Canadian Children’s Book Centre and the Ontario Library Association and also works with other reviewing publications and websites.
- A. Jurek is a writer living in the American West.
- Beatrice Kalinowski is a lover of almost every genre of literature. Her favorites are mysteries and off-the-beaten-path cult classics. She currently lives in Connecticut with her husband and two cats. Mrs. Kalinowski makes it a habit to read at least five books a month.
- Eva Kay was born in Greece, and grew up moving between England and Texas. She began reading avidly at the age of four and has continued ever since. After earning BA in International Relations and Modern Languages and spending time in Russia, she's currently living in the Rockies where she's a live-in nanny for her baby niece. Between finger-painting and changing diapers, she loves to cook and read. In order to avoid inflicting endless book discussions on her friends and family, she blogs about it at
astripedarmchair.wordpress.com. Her ideal day includes mugs of milky Ceylon or Earl Grey and a big box of books in the mail.
- Damian Kelleher is a student of philosophy and literature at Macquarie University in Australia. He is currently at work at his first novel.
- Michelle Kerns is a freelance book, music, and movie reviewer for a disturbingly eccentric collection of online and print publications. She is hopelessly in love with the fictional character Melrose Plant, watches the movie Hot Fuzz every Thursday night, and likes to drink copious amounts of Chianti (minus the liver and fava beans). Contact her at
michellekerns@surewest.net to give her your opinion on Melrose Plant, liver, or fava beans.
- With a degree in Early Childhood Education and an MBA, Sandie Kirkland has always worked in education. She started as a kindergarten teacher, then college professor in Information Technology, and currently is the CIO at a large community college in North Carolina. She reads almost every genre, with fantasy, historical fiction, travel writing and current-issues fiction being her favorites. Outside of reading, she delights in her family: a husband of 36 years, one son who is married with a child of his own, and a daughter still at home. Other interests include swimming, college basketball and professional football, blogging, and playing computer games.
- When she’s not avidly devouring books or crafting articles, you’ll find freelance writer Megan Kopp anywhere but home. Whether on canoeing a river, hiking into mountain lakes or skiing in the backcountry, she shares her passion for the outdoors and travel with one great guy, one cute daughter and one smart dog.
- Swapna Krishna is a freelance writer, editor, and book reviewer. She reviews books daily at her website S. Krishna's Books. She lives in the Washington, DC, area with her husband.
- Rachel Krueger spent four years getting a BA in Early Childhood Education before deciding that wasn't what she wanted to do with her life. In order to avoid getting a real job, she's gone back to school to get a BA in English. In her spare time, she does the laundry, takes out the garbage, and blogs about books she done read over at
www.booksidoneread.blogspot.com. She prefers paperback to hardcover for its easy holdability.
- Lana Kuhns lives in Ohio with too many books and her cat, Angel.
- Lisa Ladd has worked in the library profession for twenty years. She lives in Vermont with her family, her dog and her cat. An avid reader, her favorite pastime is to sit in her easy chair with a good book. If she isn't reading, she's cooking, gardening. watching hockey with her husband, or listening to the latest music her son has on his iPod.
- Lori Lamothe lives in a small Massachusetts town with her eight-year-old daughter, piles of uncorrected essays and lots of books. She has published poems, articles and reviews in literary magazines. Someday she really will take up horseback riding and finish her novel.
- Novelist Carolyn LeComte is a graduate of Douglass College and has been an artist and writer most of her life. Dark Paradise, scheduled for release in Sept. 2009, is her first contemporary romance. She also is the author of
Trinity James, a historical Western romance due to be released in late 2009 or early 2010. Always with new novels in the works, she finds time to do editing for an ebook publisher, as well as online reviews. Mother of two and grandmother of three, Carolyn lives in the beautiful Berkshire mountains of western Massachusetts with her husband, Michael, and four incorrigible parrots.
- Vanessa Lee is an avid reader and aspiring writer who lives at the beck and call of her two cats. She currently works in the back end of the insurance industry and hopes to one day go back to school and get her degree in technical writing. Besides reading and writing, her hobbies include watching movies, making costuming, and Live Action Roleplaying.
- Michael Leonard is a librarian and copywriter from Hobart, Tasmania, currently living and working in Los Angeles. He is content to read his life away by trying to read as much fiction as he can. He loves literary fiction, particulary British fiction, and is always on the lookout for new titles to read and review. His email is
Mikeonalpha99@sbcglobal.net if you have any literary treasures you think he might like, or
contact him via Facebook.
- Jeanne Lesinski has published four children's books, including Bill Gates (Lerner), as well as hundreds of articles for magazines and reference books. Her poems, essays, and reviews have appeared in
Poem, Revised (Marion Street Press) and many print and online journals. She edits
www.360MainStreet.com and blogs at
heartinmygarden.blogspot.com.
- Amanda Lewis lives in north central WV (DubV born and raised) with her husband, two sons, and trio of pets. When she's not chasing her boys, she enjoys reading, camping with the family, blogging her every waking moment, and infertility/adoption activism.
- Kimberly Lightfoot's love of books started well before birth.
Both of her parents are avid readers and passed this trait to their five
children. She grew up with weekly trips to the library, and with the seeming
injustice of having to read the "kiddie" books while her older siblings
could read whatever they wanted. Before long she was sneaking away to read
her sister's Judy Blume and her mother's Danielle Steel. As she grew older,
her love of books became an obsession so strong that, since high school,
she's only bought purses that can hold whatever book she is reading at the
time -- so she can read no matter where she is. Kimberly also is a member of
Reviewer's International Organization (RIO), where she recently became
Chairperson of the Newsletter. A native Houstonian who recently moved to the
'burbs (Spring, TX), she enjoys museums, movies, music and the struggle to
write her first novel.
- Rachel Lister is a mother of two sons and lives with her family in Utah. She is a daycare provider and preschool teacher and works as a freelance writer sharing the experiences she has about the children in her life. Rachel is the Preschool Education writer at
PreschoolRock.com, the Infants and Toddlers Feature Writer at
Suite 101, and the Teen Editor at
Bellaonline.
- Marie Hashima Lofton has been a lover of books since the age of seven. Currently living in San Diego with her husband of four years and his two elderly cats Alice and Gertrude, Marie loves working part time at her current desk job in the afternoons and using her free time reading and writing reviews. Her favorite books currently are women's lit, romances, and anything that is GOOD literature. Favorite authors of the moment are Margaret Atwood, Maeve Binchy, and Jonathan Kellerman. She's also known to read science fiction and thrillers and occasionally will read a biography. But fiction is what drives her in the reading world. She currently can boast at having over 500 to-be-read books in the house, constantly adding to that list monthly.
She has kept a reading journal since the age of seven and continues to add to that book weekly. She reads at the rate of ten books a month but hopes to increase that in 2005. Some of her other interests and talents: Loves SEX AND THE CITY and QUEER EYE. Has an addiction to DAYS OF OUR LIVES. She loves to knit, belongs to a national walking club, and loves to correspond with her many friends via the Internet. She enjoys fine dining and keeping fit (somewhat). She and her husband travel to Maui once a year and hope to retire there one day.
- Doreen Luff, a freelance writer, is a native of Pittsburgh, PA, with a passion for reading and writing, passions first discovered when she was a little girl. She wrote many short stories and read anything that she could get her hands on. Doreen holds an associate's degree in computer information management and will have a bachelor's degree in Journalism in May of 2008. In addition to writing for Curled Up With a Good Book, she also writes for several other review sites. She currently resides in Pittsburgh with her husband and three cats. Her hobbies include candlemaking, roasting her own coffee beans, and camping in Geneva, OH. She also has her own blog at
bull-kilr.blogspot.com.
- Alison J. Macmillan is a Scottish businesswoman, management lecturer, and corporate and personal consultant and coach, now living in the California Bay Area pursuing a career as a writer, agent and editor.
- Jacob Malewitz is a lifelong fan of history, and he has two blogs: one for writers at
www.jacobmalewitz.blogspot.com, and another for readers at
www.areaderseye.blogspot.com. He is the editor of the Arts &
Entertainment section of his college newspaper. He also has written articles for the news site
AssociatedContent.com.
- Based in Waterloo, Ontario, Janelle Martin has read extensively, in a wide variety of genres, all her life. Generally she can be found surrounded by books or wandering in the stacks of a favourite bookstore. She is thrilled to be able to share her passion for books as a reviewer for Curled Up with a Good Book, Armchair Interviews, ReadySteadyBook, Front Street Reviews and Alternatives Journal. In her free time, Janelle can be found working with not-for-profits helping them raise money and learn more about e-Marketing. You can keep up with Janelle through her blog.
- After six years of studying English literature at three universities, Mark Martin was thought to have disqualified himself from gainful employment. He is now a freelance copy-editor, who works mostly for Cambridge University Press and Verso. Still, it is debatable whether he really overcame the handicap of an arts education or discovered an unhealthy coping strategy. Predictably, for sufferers of his particular condition, he flouts good sense and neglects his bank balance by writing. Though the words that he chooses and arranges together on the page have been known to find their way into print, his favorites, which comprise his novels and short stories, seem destined to remain in unpublished obscurity. Unfortunately for those close to him, he is immune to discouragement. He has lived in Saudi Arabia, Israel, London, Milan, Oxford and New York, and once planned to hitchhike from Egypt to South Africa. He was put off travel by the fear that he might find himself and have to split the contents of his wallet. He has now settled with his wife and dog in Brooklyn. He has every intention of staying there.
- Australian reviewer Marcelle McCallum has been reading since the age of three, so when choices in degrees came up, Literature seemed appropriate. Reading anything she can get her hands on, Marcelle always has her head in a book, and if not is writing something – from essays to poems and back again. She has many strings to her bow, having been a violin teacher, business owner and busker,
among other things. Living in Brisbane, Marcelle enjoys the climate and laid-back way of life, as there’s always an excuse to settle in a park with a good book.
- Nancy A. McCaslin lives in South Bend, Indiana, and loves to read, write, and travel. She has degrees in history and law and has a teaching background. Most of her writing has been in the legal area--both as a freelancer and in the area of appellate practice. She has written as a contract author for a major law publisher and has also received a Harrison Legal Writing Award. On the less serious side, she has designed and written a travel brochure for an English travel agency conducting antiques shopping tours in England and has written articles relating to history, travel, and money management.
- Amanda McCorquodale is a freelance writer currently based in Vancouver, BC who works hard to find the humor in the discomfort of being an East Coast American in West Coast Canada. Amanda has a graduate degree in Cultural Studies from Carnegie Mellon University and her work has been published in BUST magazine. She is completely terrified of bears.
- Jennifer McCready works as a research assistant for a medical non-profit, but her true love and passion has always been reading. One of her fondest childhood memories was receiving Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie series for Christmas when she was seven years old -- and the enormous satisfaction she felt when she finished the first book in just one week. As they say, from there it was all downhill. Nowadays, she derives as much joy from reading as she did back in the first grade, but tries to get her nose out of a book long enough to plan her upcoming wedding and see friends and family occasionally.
- Reviewer Carole McDonnell lives in New York state, where she can often be seen strolling along the Hudson River. Her favorite haunts are the Graymoor monastery and her own backyard,
but one day she intends to do a world tour to promote her great (and bestselling) fiction novels and nonfiction religious commentary. She has won national and regional prizes for her fiction and her essay,
"Oreo Blues," appears in the W.W. Norton anthology LifeNotes: Personal Writings by Contemporary Black Women. Her "Lingua Franca" appears in So Long Been Dreaming: Post-Colonialism in Science Fiction and Fantasy,
Arsenal Pulp Press (Canada in April 2004. UK, USA, AUS in October 2004), and "Black is the Color of My True Love's Hair" in Fantastic Visions III from
Fantasist Enterprises (to be published in US in September 2004). She writes film reviews for Christiananswers.net and goes to movies more often than she cleans house. Carole is the mother of two strapping teenaged sons. Her husband, Luke, is a cartoonist. She has an orange tabby named Ralphina who will not allow her to bring any other pets into the house.
- Joel McIver is an author, journalist, musician, magazine editor, CD compiler, husband, dad and lover of music and sleep. He's written loads of books and is all over the Internet like a rash, specifically at
www.joelmciver.co.uk, where you can send him an email. When it comes to music, he lives for Bay Area thrash metal, Swedish death metal and British grindcore but isn't just a drooling headbanger, taking in cool jazz, downtempo and even the odd bit of classical and funk along the way. He writes or has written for Record Collector, Metal Hammer, Total Guitar, Kerrang!, Classic Rock, Bass Guitar, Total Film, Future Music and a bunch of other magazines on a regular basis.
- Joshua Myers has a Master of Arts in English, and he is an adjunct professor of literature and composition. He also works as a literary research assistant and English tutor. He is an avid collector of antique books and in his spare time, between constant reading, writes short fiction and poetry.
- Melissa McLaughlin, a lifelong resident of Massachusetts, has a book in her purse, a stack by the door, and three at the side of her bed. She put a lot of work towards earning her Master's Degree in early childhood education, which she now uses in her role as Super Auntie, and as a handy excuse to read picture books.
- Angela McQuay lives in Lincoln, Nebraska with her husband, dog and cat. She
is the Editor-in-Chief of Strictly Business Magazine, a local
business publication. Angela has been addicted to books since her
childhood and has also fostered a love of writing since she she was able to
pick up a pen. She has had a play produced at the University of Nebraska
theatre and is currently working on a novel and a host of short stories.
- Sarah Meador is rumored to live in the wooded hills of Central Texas. Evidence for this is controversial, consisting mostly of some grainy photographs, which wildlife experts claim could be a weather balloon. Growing support for her existence exists on the
Internet, in the form of reviews and rants. Experts doubt these claims as well, pointing out that the
Internet has a rather controversial existence itself. While waiting for the debate to be settled, she reads, reviews, and lives on caffeine and raw meat.
- A teacher, reviewer and artist based in Europe, Liana Metal
is currently working on a nonfiction book, and loves
art and nature. She has self-published fiction and nonfiction for her students, and writes children's stories, travel articles and textbooks. Visit her website (http://lianametal.tripod.com) and become a contributor! Contact her at
liamet900@hotmail.com.
- Laura M. Miller's love for the printed word began with Batman and Superman and has progressed to Austen and Melville. After framing
her degree in Women's Studies, she found work in a library and then in a bookstore.
She has two goals in life: to be published and to find a comfortable bra that fits.
She has great hopes for the former and very little for the latter. In the meantime,
she is writing a collection of short stories and working on a series of mystery novels about a middle-aged husband-hunting bookseller.
- As a journalist and author, Maryann Miller has amassed credits for feature articles and short fiction in numerous national and regional publications. She has nine nonfiction books with The Rosen Publishing Group, including the award-winning Coping with Weapons and Violence: In School and on Your Streets. Doubletake, a mystery written as Sutton Miller, and Play It Again, Sam, a woman’s novel, are published by Clocktower Books. Click here to
visit Maryann's website.
- Melanie Springer Mock is as an associate professor of writing and literature at George Fox University, Newberg, Oregon. She is also the mother of two six-year-old boys. Her essays have appeared in
Christian Feminism Today, Literary Mama, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and
Brain, Child, among other places. Her book, Writing Peace: The Unheard Voices of Great War Mennonite Objectors, was published by Cascadia in 2003.
- Rian Montgomery is a voracious reader who doesn't go a day without reading something. Her favorite type of books are chick-lit, historical fiction, and biographies. She lives
along the New Hampshire/Massachusetts state line and has a regular day job in an office. However, much of her free time is spent either reading, writing reviews, stories and poetry, or shopping for books. Lately her book-buying tendencies have reached a fever pitch, leaving bookstores in her neighborhood with empty shelves and booksellers giddy with fat commissions. Rian also has done quite a bit of traveling within the United States by car and bus, and hopes one day to write a book of memoirs on her journeys.
- Tonia R. Montgomery is a full-time mother and full-time school counselor in a rural community in northern Missouri. She began reading at an early age, cutting her teeth on Agatha Christie and J.R.R. Tolkien. Having always lived in rural areas, she uses her reading to explore new worlds and live vicariously through the characters she meets. Tonia has eclectic tastes and enjoys science fiction, mysteries, fantasies, and action stories. She basically avoids only romance novels (having enough romance in her life being married to her high school sweetheart).
- Cheryl Morgen reads and writes in Bend, OR. She likes to think that she is setting a good example for her two children by reading whenever she can. Sometimes, though, the kids would prefer for her to actually watch them play at the park. Her blog,
Escape to Books, highlights fiction, mystery, memoir and parenting books that she has found interesting.
- Books have been a lifelong passion for reviewer Karen Morse: she frequented the public library as a child, studied comparative literature as an undergraduate, and worked as an apprentice to a rare book conservator while she was in graduate school. She currently lives in Buffalo, NY with husband Russell and two literary cats. When she's not at the university, where she works as an archivist in the library's special collections department, she enjoys cycling (especially to raise money for cancer research), traveling (she's been to Canada, Denmark, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, India, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and at least half of the 50 states), and (obviously) reading.
Check out her blog to learn more about what she's been reading.
- Joshua Myers has a Master of Arts in English, and he is currently a part-time professor of composition and literary study at two Pennsylvania colleges. He also works as a literary research assistant and high school English tutor. In his spare time, and between constant reading, he writes short fiction and poetry.
- Kendall O'Connor is the pen name of a writer who also enjoys great books. Her short fiction pieces have been featured at Copperfield Review, Penwomanship, Bygone Days, Wildchild Publishing, and Emerging Women Writers and her poetry has been published in both the US and abroad.
- Stephanie Olsen is a published freelance writer, currently residing in Europe. Her site,
http://www.familylifeabroad.com, contains informative (often humorous) articles by experienced expatriates, on all aspects of living abroad. From homesickness to homeschooling, from culture shock to cultural acclimation, from bilingual babies to beheadings, it's all there. Welcome home!
- Amy Padgett has been an avid reader since childhood, a passion she shares with her husband of 15 years as well as their two children. She has an associates degree in fine arts, and dreams of one day returning to college to complete the bachelor's degree she never finished. In the mean has been an avid reader since childhood, a passion she shares with her husband of 15 years as well as their two children. She has an associates degree in fine arts, and dreams of one day returning to college to complete the bachelor's degree she never finished. In the mean time, she spends her spare time reading books of all sorts, and writing reviews on this site and at Epinions.com.
- Ray Palen is an amateur actor and freelance book/film reviewer who also runs a Theatre Group on Long Island, NY. He lives in Selden, NY, with his wife, Debbie, and has been an avid reader his entire life.
- Reviewer e in age from three to eighteen. I'm currently a stay-at-home mom, but in my former career life I was a clinical dietitian. Unlike many of my reviewer friends, I am not an aspiring author. However I have found a true love for editing and may pursue it further in the future. For now, just give me a book and a cup of tea and I'm content!
- Jocelyn Pearce has been reading for as long as she can remember. She lives in Asheville, North Carolina and, when she's not reading, she is writing. She is a published poet who is hard at work on a novel. She thinks writing book reviews, while not her paying job, is the best one she's ever had.
- Anne Pepper lives and works in Topeka, Kansas. She wears funky glasses and has an affinity for shiny things and snuggling with her two teeny tiny dogs and her cat, Maroo. Anne's poetry has appeared in a number of journals, but her primary love is the written word on the page. She loves discussions about independent music, bat guano coffee, motorcycling, or anything she doesn't know a damn thing about.
Please visit her website at
http://annepepper.blogspot.com.
- Marilyn Perez is a native New Yorker working in the exciting world of publishing - an unglamorous field, but one of the perks is all the free books she has access to. She is also a blogaholic, amateur photographer, and a yoga fanatic. She has been a contributing writer for
Venuszine.com. She loves to write about what she reads, sees, and hears.
- As a teenager, Shirley Perkins wrote her first book review for the St. Paul Public Library, where she frequently visited the Skinner Teen Room. After a variety of careers often requiring technical writing that deadened her creativity, she’s happy to be semi-retired, living in rural Wisconsin with her husband, teenage son and three cats. She volunteers for a local library, leads an on-line photography group, participates in several fiction book clubs, writes a blog “Lessons from the Last Page” and has plans to lead a book club to discuss women’s literature. When her nose isn’t stuck in a book or tapping keys at the computer, she enjoys golfing, traveling, and visiting friends and family.
- Stephanie Perry is a mild-mannered government employee by day and a
ruthless book reviewer by night. In addition to writing for Curled Up,
she has her own website at www.stephsbookreviews.com, is a Top Reviewer
at Epinions.com, and is a features writer for the Reno News & Review, a
local alternative newspaper. She lives in Reno, NV, and is trying like
hell to get out - preferably to Toronto, home of poutine, ketchup chips,
and her significant other.
- Janine Peterson lives outside of Washington, DC. She reads as often as she can and didn't own a TV until she got a boyfriend. She'll read anything. Her current interests readings are naval history, psychadelic pharmacology (she's earning an MA in psychology), and economics. Her other hobbies include shooting, martial arts, scrapbooking, and photography.
- Michelle R. Polinsky works from her home in Seattle as a freelance writer and editor for the web site development company
www.webmistress.com. Previously a Biochemical Genetics Technologist in a medical laboratory, she now enjoys the flexibility her writing work offers, allowing her to stay home with her young children. Michelle relishes any opportunity to hone her writing abilities, learn new things, and express herself creatively; anything that expands on, or adds valuable diversity to, her varied repertoire of skills. Being a connoisseur of education, she has completed a BS in Molecular Biology with a minor in Political Science, Masters work in Political Science/International Relations, and a certificate in Web Site Development. Michelle’s goal is to obtain a position (in the near future) in the world of Political Science/Criminal Justice, where she can combine her advanced skills of analysis, writing, research, and creativity into a fascinating career. In the meantime, writing nonfiction book reviews and web site content are her intriguing specialties.
- Laura Ponticello is a freelance writer published in business journals and newspapers with a special affection for writing inspirational stories. She is currently working on a book to empower women to take action to improve the condition of their life. Laura lives with her husband, Carl, in Skaneateles, New York, a town similar to a Norman Rockwell painting, unpretentious but filled with profuse color that weaves into the characters of the village dwellers. Laura has a Bachelor's degree in Anthropology & Sociology from Canisius College.
- Elaine Pontius is fully embracing the second half of her life and continues to evolve. She has been married to Larry forever, and is a SAHM. Her three children are aged 24, 21 and 6; she has the distinction of being the oldest mother in her daughter's kindergarten class. In a previous life, she worked for a prominent criminal attorney in St. Louis;the St. Louis Ronald McDonald House, where she organized the grants program; and Washington University. She enjoys volunteering for several local agencies, digital photography, collecting (and occasionally composing) contemporary poetry, and reading.
- Sara Porter was practically raised in a library. An avid reader, since she was young, Sara has made a living from reading books, discussing them, and collecting them. She has reviewed books since her days at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English.
Sara is now an Indiana-University Purdue University-Indianapolis graduate
student working toward a Masters in Library and Information Science. She
has reviewed books for The West End Word, a St. Louis-based newspaper
and other outlets. Currently, she reviews books on the Internet.
Her
website featuring her book reviews can be found here. She is single but has a lot of crazy friends and family around her. She will read anything in front of her, but some of her favorite genres are mysteries, classics, historic fiction, nonfiction, true crime, and New Age books. When she's not reading several books at once
or studying for her library classes, she might be writing stories of her own, surfing the Internet, or watching her favorite movies and shows from Netflix.
- Leslie Raith, a freelance writer (leslieraith@aol.com), started her career 30 years ago writing blurbs for book catalogs. A former
PR agency account exec, she now enjoys having more time to read and travel. She lives in Colorado Springs with her husband, their teenagers and three dogs.
- Brenda Ramsbacher was born in Glasgow, Montana in
1969. After high school, she married a military man
expecting to see the world. In reality, she lived in Grand
Forks AFB, North Dakota, for ten years, having the luxury
of witnessing the 1997 Red River Flood before moving
to Mountain Home, Idaho in 1998 with her husband and
four children. She then inherited two dogs and recently
acquired an AQHA colt.
In recent years, Brenda has edited the Romance
Industry News, managed the Writers Romance Group
on AOL, penned hundreds of articles and book reviews,
and has resolved to finish her own novels spanning the
romance, fantasy and science fiction genres.
- Anjali Ramachandran is, as she likes to call herself, a 'citizen of the world'. Born in the UK and raised in India and Saudi Arabia, she currently lives in New York, the capital of the world. (Does that make her a capital citizen, she wonders). She has a Master's in Social Policy from the London School of Economics, but having dabbled in writing off and on and working in development and retail (no link whatsoever, she assures you), she is finally beginning to see that perhaps writing is where she is best off!
- Kali Ravel is, at just under nineteen, possibly the youngest reviewer on the site. One reason for this may be the fact that, if her eyes are open, there will be text in front of them. She didn’t learn to read until the relatively late age of seven, and is still making up for lost time.
Everyone else's lost time.
- Julia Ravenscroft spends far too much time writing and reading and seriously
neglects her husband and two teenage sons - or so they claim. She has had
short fiction published in Literary Potpourri, Inkburns Interactive Literary
Journal and Znine and is currently working on her second novel while waiting
for some enlightened publisher to pick up her first. You can contact Julia
at jravenscroft@chartermi.net.
- Dawn Rennert is an avid reader who is especially fond of non-fiction, personal memoir and literary fiction, but dabbles in other genres as well. Her blog,
SheIsTooFondOfBooks, discusses authors, books and news in the publishing world. Dawn lives near Boston with her family and enjoys biking around an area so rich in literary and cultural history.
- Susan Reno-Gilliland is a professional freelancer and interior designer. She has written frequently on the subjects of interior decorating and design, movie, book and magazine reviews, travel destinations, as well as fiction and nonfiction short stories for numerous print and online publications. She also owns and moderates a decorating and design newsgroup, publishes a quarterly newsletter for her
design studio entitled Interiors, and a bi-monthly newsletter for realtors to distribute to their client base called The Home Front. She and her husband recently purchased a 105 year old Victorian farmhouse with acreage which, at last, provides somewhat adequate room for their menagerie of animals which includes 3 dogs, 6 house cats, 3 barn cats, a tank of fish, and other assorted wildlife (known and unknown), and has created plenty of DIY projects to keep them busy for years to come.
- Eric Renshaw has been reading since the late '70s. He currently devours books (after reading them) at an alarming rate during his lunch hour.
Between lunch hours, he fixes computers, but insists that he must have something to fall back on for when this "computer thing" runs out of steam.
Eric lives in South Dakota with his loving wife and two children. He enjoys woodworking in his spare time, of which he has little.
- Mark Reynolds is a college science professor and avid reader of science fiction and fantasy.
- Usha Reynolds is a college professor, scientist, and avid reader of both fiction and non-fiction.
- Joan Riley began writing at the age of nine -- a play based upon a
fairytale. Her first commercial writing venture/hobby was "contesting" --
slogans, jingles, and 25-word statements extolling the virtues of soaps,
cars, and such. From there she segued into professional journalism. After
20 years as a news and feature writer, she fled the big city smog to
breathe free, and freelance here and there and now and then, in the
countryside.
- Lydia R. Rome is a college educated high school drop-out who spilled Mountain Dew on her diploma at a graduation party and hasn’t looked back since. She enjoys nude modeling, cocktail parties, and writing. There is no place on earth that she doesn’t want to visit. She is interested to see if growing older is really as bad as everyone makes it out to be. She lives in sin (and what a life) with her boyfriend in New Mexico.
- Steven Rosen has been writing about the denizens of rock ‘n’ roll for 25 years. His work has appeared in myriad publications including
Guitar Player, Guitar World, Rolling Stone, Playboy,
Creem, Circus, Musician, Classic Rock, Q/Mojo, and a host of others. Long recognized as an authority in the field of electric rock guitar journalism and the culture surrounding it, Rosen has written seminal pieces on a number of musicians - among them Edward Van Halen, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Frank Zappa, Billy Gibbons, Ritchie Blackmore, and Zakk Wylde. Rosen has authored five rock biographies:
The Artist Formerly Known As Prince; Bruce Springsteen; The Beck Book (Jeff Beck);
Free At Last; and Black Sabbath
 (this final title is currently in a third printing).
When not pursuing his journalism, he is a fulltime songwriter with over a dozen tracks on various rock albums. Along with writing partner Jimmy Waldo (former keyboardist/founder of Alcatrazz, the group that spawned Yngwie Malmsteen and Steve Vai), he created the world music project Spirit Nation, a dark and passionate blend of indigenous Native American music elements with contemporary elements like dance, ambience, and loops. There are two albums in stores now:
Spirit Nation and Winter Moons . This music has been used in film and in major media campaigns (Apple Computers).
- Edwyne Rouchelle has been published in numerous e-zines and has a short story published in Voices: An Anthology (rated #14 on now-defunct eBook Connection's eBook Best Seller List for Sept, '99), the proceeds of which go to the fight against illiteracy. Currently, she reviews mostly books and movies on Epinions.com and is looking for a publisher for the first novel in a sci-fi/fantasy trilogy and/or series. The Texas educator lists her interests as "Sons Mark and BJ; four-year-old grandson; Kitt, our cat; travel; writing; reading; deep, thoughtful, and expressive people."
- Rebecca Rowan has been reading ravenously for nearly five decades and currently divides her time between her homes in Detroit, Michigan, and Naples, Florida. When she's not curled up with a good book, you'll find her hunched over a keyboard - either at the computer, penning a blog post for Bookstack or Becca's Byline, or at the piano, practicing for her job as accompanist for children's choral groups.
If she's not either of those places, she's probably out walking Molly Mei and Magic, her two Shih Tzus.
- Amy Rowlison lives in Michigan with her husband of 22 years. She is currently involved in homeschooling and fostering a love of reading in their 3 children. Amy has long been accused of preferring a good book over most any other pursuit and her hobbies reflect this. She can be found blogging about her latest reads at
http://readingtoolate.net/ and interacting with other book lovers where ever she can.
- David Roy has been reading since he was four years old, and he considers one of his
literary accomplishments to be reading The Fellowship of the Ring, in all
its 527-page glory, in three days in third grade. He always has
to have a book with him, in case he gets five minutes of free time while waiting
for something. He's originally from Iowa and attended Iowa State University, majoring
in History after dropping out of Engineering. He's now a transplanted American,
though, living in Vancouver, British Columbia, with his wife and the
insane but lovable cat she brought with her. He works in the Education
faculty at a local university, dreaming of getting something published some
day.
- At the age of five, Wendy Runyon was diagnosed as a fabulavore. Due to the low story content of movies and television, she has required a steady supply of books to provide her sustenance. She currently resides in California with her loving husband, an affectionate cat and a very enthusiastic dog. Due to the density of educational material, she completed a Master of Social Work degree and works in the child welfare field. Since then, Wendy has broadened her nutritional sources by reviewing books for HarperCollins First Look Program and is a reviewer for Curled Up With a Good Book and Front Street Reviews. Please note: Wendy is not a bibliovore. She's not eating the books, for goodness' sake.
- Sam Sattler, a Texan who has recently retired from a career spent working around the world in the energy business, finally has time for the important things in his life: reading books and adding to his collection of country music vinyl albums from the sixties and seventies. He loves to talk about books and music and invites everyone
to join him at Book Chase, his daily book blog.
- After getting laid off three times in four years, Ann Scanlan took the hint
and decided to go into
business for herself. She is currently writing freelance magazine articles,
editing doctoral theses, and
launching a full-service writing company, Full Count Communications. She
enjoys baseball, horses, and mystery novels, though not necessarily in that
order. Her dreams include owning a horse, pitching for a major league team,
and publishing a nail-biting, page-turning whodunnit.
- Wisecracker and book reviewer Martin Schmutterer considers himself a prairie cosmopolitan. He earns scant income as an adjunct college instructor, occasional bookseller, and sporadic writer. He fancies cheese, bourbon and the Central European novel. His wife wears the pants in the family, but the dog calls all the shots.
- Niki Schoenfeldt is a freelance children's author who grew up in the small New England town of Ware, MA. She now lives in the Charlotte, NC, area with her husband, two kids, two dogs
and two cats and is contemplating building an ark. Because of drought conditions, the ark is on the backburner and she focuses on writing instead. A stay-at-home Mom, her first picture book,
Nature's Lullaby, is soon to be released and is available for
preorder at
www.windstormcreative.com. An avid reader of books for all ages, Niki combines her love of writing and her love of reading by writing book reviews for
Curled Up With a Good Book and CurledUpKids.com. Some of her writing credits also include magazines such as
My Friend, Boy's Quest, Breakaway and Guide. Her work has also been published in a children's anthology with Pauline Books and Media. She is currently working on her first YA Novel.
- Elizabeth Schulenburg lives in Des Moines, Iowa with her husband and two test-kids, Kadie the border collie, and Chase the ferret. She works full time in a local pharmacy, and is getting ready to help her husband in his new venture as owner of the best Dairy Queen in town. Her Netflix queue is almost as long as her To-Be-Read pile, and in general she believes that everyone would be a lot better off if they would just read a book! You can find more of her book musings at
needmoreshelves.blogspot.com.
-
's early exposure to The Cat in the Hat
and daily newspapers begat a lifelong obsession with all things written.
She spent so much college tuition and time on literature, writing and
grammar classes that she fell into cum laude journalism and English degrees
from a small but distinguished Midwestern school of liberal arts. An
nine-year tour of duty in the bookselling trenches yielded a lifetime's worth of experience in the book industry she mostly loves and occasionally despises. As editor, she shoulders the blame for everything on Curled Up With a Good Book;
as a contributing reviewer, she at least gets to take some of the credit, which she faithfully shares with a longsuffering husband,
two daughters, a wicked, wicked mongrel cat and the ghost of her dog.
- Barbara Bamberger Scott writes: I'm a freelance writer, a Spanish interpreter, and a well-traveled person. I grew up with a small library of the Heritage books, and Les Miserables was one of the first "real" books I ever read, at about age 10. I was a child actress. I write songs. I wrote a non-fiction book, Golden Thread, about
the impact of an Indian spiritual master on a group of hippies in the late 60's in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. I'm working on my second creative non-fiction tale, With It - A Year on the Carnival Trail. My private company is called Barscoink, dedicated to using words to their best effect.
- Donald Allan Scott is a Viet Nam vet who reads history the way some people read the funny papers. He's a former trucker, a song-writer, a closet satirist and a life-long Twain fan. He plays stunning music on almost anything with strings and is known in recording circles as Donnie Dobro. He and his wife Barbara (also a reviewer for Curled Up) like to take short vacations on old highways.
- Joseph Scott is a professional bluegrass musician who reviews books in his spare time. He writes liner notes for Patuxent Records and has written concert reviews for Mountain Express. He makes his home in Asheville, North Carolina.
- Dave Seaman has been writing reviews for various website for a few years now, but still has fond hopes of one day finishing one of the two novels he's working on. His taste in fiction generally veers towards sci-fi, fantasy, and anything else that either looks interesting or funny. The main review website he writes for is Epinions.He also runs the website DARSCOM, which started out as a business site but is metamorphosing to include lot of freebies!
- Susanne Sener is a technical writer and college instructor who lives at the top of a mountain in Colorado with four dogs, two Amazon parrots, a woodburning stove, and deep well. She enjoys experiencing life in other mountainous regions and recently returned from a trip to China and Tibet.
- Barbara Sharpe lives in Kalamazoo, MI (yes, there really is a Kalamazoo!) To support her book habit, Barbara is the Communications Director at a nonprofit HIV/AIDS organization and freelance writer and copyeditor. She used to be a book snob who wouldn't dream of reading "genre fiction" until one day she discovered Diana Gabaldon. That led to Laurell K. Hamilton, which led to a fascination with vampires and other supernatural creatures. The Polysyllabic Spree is among Barbara's favorite books because, really, who can resist a book with polysyllabic in the title? When she isn't reading, writing or otherwise working, Barbara can be found playing
Tetris on her cellphone or bobbing around in Lake Michigan, if it's summer.
- Norma J. Shattuck's years in journalism have provided frustrations aplenty, balanced by important positives. Experience in writing copy ranging from newspaper articles, features, and op-eds to sober corporate prose has programmed her to eye all sorts of writing (her own included) with a super-critical eye. She considers words to be beloved and trusted tools which - creatively chosen and skillfully blended - have power not only to amuse, inform and influence but (in rare instances) to absorb and enchant. She loves books to the extent of managing to hang onto one of her earliest: Robert Louis Stevenson's “A Child's Garden of Verses,” which has managed to survive the many times it's been packed with other worldly goods into moving vans. She has a BA in Journalism, an MA in English/Creative Writing, and currently freelances articles and commentary in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her non-journalism includes two (unpublished, drat!) novels and many short stories.
- Sonali T. Sikchi, an award-wining Seattle-based writer, has been published in international, national and regional publications, such as Facts on File encyclopedias, History Magazine, Alaska Airlines Magazine, Horizon Air Magazine, Association of Women in Science magazine, California Chronicle, Midwest Book Review, and HarperCollins First Look. As an editor and proofreader, Sonali has worked with authors, book publishers, magazines and nonprofit organizations, such as The Mountaineers Books, Washington Trails magazine, and The CarTours Foundation.
- Matt J. Simmons is a freelance writer based in Victoria, BC, Canada. He writes for several publications on a variety of subjects including travel, environment, music, arts, and literature. He aspires to write travel books that focus on environment and cultural conservation issues. In the meantime, he enjoys his life spent travelling around British Columbia with his archaeologist wife and toddler daughter. Matt’s writing can be read on his website,
www.mattjsimmons.com.
- David J. Single is a writer and critic from Brisbane, Australia. He runs a literary blog at
davidjsingle.wordpress.com.
- Annie Laura Smith has a master’s degree in science and math education from the University of Florida. She taught Chemistry, Mathematics, and Learning Skills courses at the University of Florida and the University of Texas at Dallas, and Writing for Publication, Vocabulary Development, and Efficient Reading Courses in the Community Education Program in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. She has been an instructor in Writing for Publication courses at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute of the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Her publications include the areas of fiction and nonfiction for children, curriculum materials for children and adults, general interest, inspirational, and technical articles, test materials, and poetry. Her WWII historical novels for young readers include The Legacy of Bletchley Park, Will Paris Burn? and Saving da Vinci. (www.onstagepublishing.com) She is currently marketing her fourth book, Cavalaire Prelude, which is an older YA novel about the invasion of southern France (Operation Dragoon) during WWII. She lives in Huntsville, AL, in the Tennessee Valley although she longs to be on the seashore of her home state of Florida.
- Brenda A. Snodgrass is an ordained and licensed minister, who along with her husband Mike, work with the homeless addicts near their church home in Dallas, Texas. Brenda is a voracious reader and has had a lifetime of deep love for books. She recently transferred that love into book reviews.
- Julie Sobowale is an avid reader and writer whose written for a few Canadian publications. Currently she is completing her MBA at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
- Rashmi Srinivas says: "I'm an avid reader, a bookworm of the first order. Wherever I am, whatever I'm doing, needless to say that a book is always in my hand - at times to the immense ire of my family. But I'm addicted and I love
it! Books of all sorts, shapes, sizes and genres populate my home, for my reading range is vast. My tastes oscillate from Jane Austen to Nora Roberts, Enid Blyton to Catherine Coulter. Lately I've joined the hordes of fans of the incomparable Janet Evanovich and also that of the mystery writer Sue Grafton. Viva la books!"
- Joan Burke Stanford is the owner of Jazzy Pen Communications, which offers professional editing services for authors. Her book reviews have appeared in CityFlight Newsmagazine and online at www.readincolor.com and www.looseleaves.org
She resides in Rancho Cucamonga, CA, with her husband and daughter.
- Deborah Straw is the author of Natural Wonders of the Florida Keys
(Contemporary Books, 1999) and Why is Cancer Killing our Pets? How You
Can Protect and Treat Your Animal Companion (Healing Arts Press, 2000).
This July, her second, enlarged edition of the cancer book was released,
under a new title:
 The Healthy Pet Manual, A Guide to the Prevention and
Treatment of Cancer (Healing Arts Press, 2005).
She also teaches writing and literature courses at Community College of
Vermont and is a frequent book reviewer and essayist.
- Reviewer Mary Stuart grew up on "The Wizard of Oz" books which gave her, she supposes, a love of good writing and good storytelling. She has a friend who reads palms and tarot cards and thinks books are a waste of time, but Mary thinks she will stick with books for her education no matter what her friend says. A recent graduate of Marymount Manhattan College in NYC, she currently works on Wall Street. Reading helps her maintain her sanity even while her family threatens it. (Only kidding.) She loves great art (Van Gogh and Degas being a couple of her favorites) and thinks that a great book is as much a work of art as any painting that might hang in a museum.
- Ram Subramanian is a business school professor who lives and works in Grand Rapids, Michigan. His life is busy with work and spending time with his wife and a Red Sox-loving ("This is the year!") ten-year-old son. He has always wanted to write, but a long, hard quest for a livelihood and chronic laziness have combined to keep him from writing very little apart from grocery lists and notes to son's school teachers. He writes now essentially to become a good role model for his son. He hopes that writing book reviews will eventually lead to the big, sprawling novel of his life and times that is waiting to come out.
- Since her move to California from Singapore in January 2009, Sharlene Tan has been gleefully luxuriating in books and haunting her local library. She has worked as a journalist, sub-editor and research assistant. Her thoughts on books, and occasionally on food, can be found at
olduvai.blogspot.com.
- Lucinda Tart is a single mother of a teenaged daughter, a full-time student striving to achieve a M.S.W. and a lover of all things in life including writing and reading. She has been published a few times, writes all genres, and has edited a children’s book and website. She hopes in the future to publish her own book along with working part-time as a social worker with teens.
- Beth Thomas is a nurse wot loves to read.
- Katelyn Thomas is the editor for BellaOnline's gardening site (http://gardening.bellaonline.com), as well as a site for telecommuters (www.workinginpjs.com). She also writes web content for various sites and is currently writing a children's picture book.
- Nicholas Addison Thomas is a freelance book reviewer for curledup.com, as well as USA Today and Publisher's Weekly. He currently works at a Media Distributions firm in Washington, DC. When he's not reading for pleasure or for publication, he's writing short stories, poetry, and working on his website, www.naddisonthomas.com. He recently began writing his first full-length novel. Nicholas is twenty-two years old and is proud to be a reviewer for Curled Up With a Good Book.
- Stephanie Toland lives in Peoria, Illinois, with her husband, 3 kids and 2 dogs. She is a
graduate of Bradley University, although she is still trying to decide what she wants to be when she grows up. An avid reader since the age of 5, she is trying to foster the same love in her children. She can almost always be found with a book in her hand or at her blog,
Stephanie's Confessions of a Book-a-holic!
- Phillip Tomasso III is the author of five novels: Adverse Impact, Johnny Blade, Third Ring, Tenth House and Mind Play. Tomasso works full time as an employment law paralegal and freelances for a community newspaper.
Tomasso also writes middle grade novels under the pen name Grant R. Philips. His first chapter book, King Gauthier and the Little Dragon Slayer, will be released by Port Town Publishing in November 2003.
Living in Rochester, New York with his wife and three children, Tomasso is currently at work on his next mystery and middle grade novels.
- Michael Ugulini lives in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada with his wife, Catherine, and is a full-time freelance writer. An avid reader all his life, he loves the art and craft of fiction writing, poetry writing, play writing, and film writing. His short screenplay PARCHED won first place in the American Gem Short Screenplay Competition in 2005. He has also had his short stories and his poetry published, which he continues to write, along with feature articles. In addition, he ghostwrites business articles and a daily stock market newsletter.
- Corinna Underwood originates from England. She is an experienced researcher, writer and editor. She has published articles in Canada, USA, UK and UAE and in a diverse range of fields including natural health, women's issues, writing, and genetic modification. Corinna has also published a range of her poetry and short stories and is currently just completing her second novel for young adults.
- Jilian Vallade has a bachelor's degree in liberal arts and has recently started her first year of law school, where she expects to read much less enjoyable fare than the romances she usually prefers. Prior to law school, she worked for the New York City Bar Association and spent her free time searching libraries and used bookstores for good deals on books. One of Jilian's biggest challenges has been finding room in her apartment for the hundreds of books waiting to be read.
- Karen VanBuskirk recently moved from the Midwest to Portland, Oregon via South Korea. Until her aspirations of becoming a full-time freelance writer are realized, she surrounds herself with literature by working as a librarian. When she’s not reading or writing, she’s exploring her adopted state and fruitlessly searching for the perfect raincoat. She can be reached at kmveebee@hotmail.com.
- Kellie Warner was born in Sydney, Australia but now lives in Brisbane. She is a Law and Arts graduate who lives to read and loves every single one of her books.
Her love of literature started with historical novels and the classics; then she discovered (much to her horror) that she had inherited from her mother her love of crime fiction or a "good murder." She also now enjoys many other fiction genres as well as nonfiction works.
Kellie currently lives with her husband, four cats and various bookcases.
- Dean Warren attended UCLA,
the London School of Economics, and Harvard. He sold aircraft in
Southwest Asia, served in the State Department, and capped his colorful
career as Strategic Planning Director for the Electronics and Missiles
Group of Martin Marietta. In retirement, he writes hard science fiction.
He has published a sizzling galactic adventure novel entitled Man Over Mind that focuses on the mind-body issue. A second speculative novel
(The Last Underclass) relates the defeat of an evil genetic engineering.
Most recently, Xlibris has also published Growing Young. This gripping
work of fiction extrapolates current science and explores the problems
that will wrack the world when microbiologists cure old age.
- Karri Watson is easing back into writing full time since she had to put her mother in a nursing home permanently. Karri lives with her heart-life-soul-mate Dee Hindman who was her mom's CNA her first night in the nursing home. They live with two indoor cats, Sekhmet and Itsy Bitsy, a redheaded (like her mama) dachshund named Amber and five outdoor cats they don’t have the heart to turn away.The only house rules are: there is no boss and everyone gets spoiled!
- Author and book reviewer Mary V. Welk cut her mystery teeth on the Nancy Drew
series back in the 50's and has been a fan of the genre ever since. Her first
published mystery was a three-part story that appeared in a grade school
newspaper. Unfortunately, the paper folded after the second issue, so folks
had to guess whodunnit. She now has three published mysteries under her belt
and is working on a fourth. Like the protagonist in her series, Mary is a
native Chicagoan, an ER nurse, and an avid fan of the Bears and the Cubs.
Unlike her protagonist, she is married, has six adult children and four
granddaughters, and is owned by a large but very friendly gray cat named
Shadow. When she's not writing, working in the ER, or playing with the
grandkids, Mary can be found redesigning her garden (an ongoing joy) under
the watchful eye of her husband (who knows that eventually he's going to be
asked to dig up yet another part of the yard).
- Susannah Wesley is a British management consultant for a US Strategy House, based in their London Office. Her excuse for reading far too much is to make her English Literature degree feel vaguely useful. Susannah lives in South London with a big collection of ceramic pigs and a bigger collection of books.
- Lori West is a writer based on the East Coast.
- Kantha Wijeratnewas born in Sri Lanka and grew up with books as her constant companions. She works at a part-time day job and looks for every opportunity when she can pursue her interests in reading and writing. She lives in Richmond Hill, Ontario.
- Kristine Wildner Kristine Wildner is the librarian at a Catholic school in New Berlin, WI. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Risk Management and Insurance and Master’s in Health Administration from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and worked in the business world for a number of years in various capacities, all of which capitalized on her love of writing. After staying home to raise her three boys to the point of full-time school, she began work as a librarian – the best, albeit least lucrative, job she’s ever had! Her passions at school include reading strategies, research skills, and most importantly instilling a love of books in her students. She is the Milwaukee Archdiocese Representative for the Wisconsin Chapter of the Catholic Library Association and chairs an annual Curriculum and Sharing Day for local Catholic school librarians hosted at Holy Apostles School each winter. In addition to
Curled Up with A Good Kid’s Book, Wildner writes children’s book reviews for
Catholic Library World,
Carthage College Center for Children’s Literature,
Library Media Connections and
Christian Library Journal. All age-appropriate books received for reviews are donated to Holy Apostles School Library. Whenever possible, Holy Apostles students and her children provide invaluable input into her book reviews. Her 16-year old son serves as her editor-in-chief. Hobbies include knitting, reading, cooking, and working out at the local YMCA. She lives in Muskego, WI with her loving husband, three boys, and Brittany Spaniel, Ellie.
- Erin Williams is a female living in both central Florida and the inner corners of her mind. Fascinated by books from an early age, she devours them swiftly and her appetite only grows with age. Enjoying all genres but focusing primarily on fiction, she especially loves thrilling horror stories, clever or cute mysteries, nail-grinding suspense tales, and of course the tear-jerking drama. Besides reading, she loves browsing the
Internet and doing a hundred hobbies there, spending time with her son - the most incredible kid in the world, Gage - and enjoying her wonderful parents and group of friends. Her favorite shows are Smallville and The Shield, and she's a huge in the closet Superman fanatic. She's been studying herbalism for several years, and works as a secretary.
- After a whirlwind romance with academia and fanfiction, Renay Williams rediscovered her love of reading and talking about stories in long, rambling paragraphs full of abuses of the English language that would make Strunk and White roll over in their graves. Tempted into YA fiction by an army of YA librarians-in-training, she has since become an advocate for stories featuring girls being awesome and GLBTQ characters learning to navigate the world with courage and grace. She blogs about her experiences in the wild and crazy world of young adult literature at her book blog, YA Fabulous!
- Sabrina Williams is a full-time retail manager, full-time wife, and full-time homeschooling mother. She always has a book on hand for when a free second arises! She lives in Rockwell, North Carolina with her husband and two young sons. Her main goal is to inspire a love of reading in her sons comparable to her own. She is an active Bookcrosser and maintains a blog of her reviews at
www.breenibooks.blogspot.com.
- Virginia Williams has frequently been accused of reading too much, as if that could ever really happen. By her own admission she possesses too many degrees in English, which have never proven handy in a real emergency. When not reading or working as a freelance writer, Virginia reads lots of Dr. Seuss books to her preschool daughter and, with her husband, tries to solve the mystery of how to ensure that their daughter sleeps through the night. A native of Pennsylvania, she currently lives in Cleveland, Ohio.
- While Regan Windsor's career in accounting is directed at numbers, she has long had a passion for words. As an avid reader with a love of writing, there can be no better hobby than reviewing books. A new mother, she currently resides in a rural town in southern Manitoba with her husband, son, and their boxer, Tyson. Her other hobbies include hockey (of course!), golf, a passion for lifelong learning (just finished her MBA)and involvement on business and community boards.
- Luanne Womach is a freelance writer and editor who believes you should never judge a book by its movie. If she isn't reading or writing, she can be found devising new culinary delights or snapping photographs of the ever-changing human condition. LuAnn lives in the Nebraska Sandhills with the man of her dreams and 180 dairy cattle.
- Beverly Wong-Kleinjan Bespectacled recluse, writer, reader (and sometimes thinker). Live, loves, and wreaks general havoc in her little town on the east coast of Canada. She has a very patient husband, 3 demented indoor cats, a house full of books, and various anthropomorphized appliances. Has a penchant for the classics. Is rarely apologetic about her introverted, perfectionist modus operandi, and obsessive-compulsive bookworm idiosyncrasies. Her reviews can be viewed on her oft-visited website, A Novel Conundrum. She has also reviewed for Time Warner Books, and various established authors, by invitation.
- Although Mina Yoo's profesional life consists of attempting to make the business world a better, smarter place, her free time is spent reading every book she can get her hands on. In fact, she can't think of a better way to relax for a couple of hours than with a good book and a pint of ice cream. She is currently working on her own writing project on New Age spirituality.
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