Elizabeth Willse: Freelance Writer

It’s my birthday. I have planned a day that includes delicious homemade pasta, Mexican food, and general frolics. I will also make sure I find time to do my homework. Of course, “do my homework” also means “read YA genre fiction.” I’m clearly doing something right. If you feel so inclined, please he

On Thursday I get to interview an actual teenager, a seventh grader at the school where Jennifer is the librarian. All I know about this girl is that she loves the library, and I think loves to read. My job is to learn more, maybe recommend a book? Or two? The thing about taking a [...]

The Name of the Star Maureen Johnson Putnam Juvenile 372 pages September 2011 I knew I was going to love this nicely spooky mystery, with its carefully constructed atmosphere. I loved it on a reread for class, too! It’s set at a modern British boarding school and involves Jack the Ripper style murde

It’s been about a month since I read a book where the protagonist was old enough to buy beer. In America. (Reminds me: I really need to write up a review of The Name of the Star, which I’m actually re-reading for class, and loving as much as I did earlier this year, when I [...]

Tonight’s class topic was historical fiction. (Incidentally, I will also be doing my final project website on historical fiction,  so I was keeping very, very careful notes.) First of all, what IS historical fiction… when does history start? 25 years in the past is a benchmark that came up in the re

Today, Booking Through Thursday asks: If you had to choose to live within a novel, which would it be? I saw this question earlier today, and daydreamed while I did my errands, and had entirely too much fun daydreaming some answers. What made me laugh almost immediately, was that all my thoughts hing

Had my first YA Genre Fiction class tonight, and I’m exactly as delighted as I thought I would be. I get to spend the next 6 weeks reading, and re-reading mysteries and historical fiction and science fiction and… yes, the reading list has many books that I would be delighted to read on my own [...]

I just wrote my first post for the AMACOM books blog. Job Search Books For College Graduates: a roundup of AMACOM books full of job hunting advice for new grads, and any job seekers.    

Cruising Attitude Heather Poole William Morrow Paperbacks $14.99 262 pages Thanks to William Morrow Paperbacks for sending a review copy A flight attendant tells all, from crazy passengers, to sharing an apartment in Queens with a rotating cast of coworkers, to explaining the convoluted intricacies

This afternoon, a friend asked me for advice about starting her own book blog. Because she loves books, reading, the literary world, and book reviews. Which is a great place to start. She’s not as steeped in Internet and social media culture as I am, (I think I managed to explain Twitter correctly,