• more about #shelfdiscovery
    Snowbunny: I feel like I should reread that book, I seem to have missed out on major themes from when I was a child. more »
    saintestella: this entry made me cry. i love henry sugar that much. to know there was a possibility of escaping the world with a turtle...Roald Dahl was a very la... more »
    laughingacademy: I adored "The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar" when I read it as a 10-year-old. My favorite moment was the morning after he’d broken the bank at his ... more »
    Hana Maru, used up old slutbag on the pole: I wish I hadn't read this, or his other adult stories as a child. Things like The Swan, and a story in another book about the guy murdered for his sk... more »
    squirrelcop: Do any of these stories involve a boy, at some point in the story, collecting discarded cigarette butts from the side of the road to create a giant ci... more »
    happysquid: Suggestion suggestion for next FINE LINES: can we look at Eva Ibbotson? I sort of think of her as the mirror image of Roald Dahl - her books are magic... more »
    stacyinbean: I went through a major Roald Dahl phase in 4th or 5th grade and convinced my parents to buy me all of his books. I'll admit this one and Switch Bitch ... more »
    dianersb was bit by a zombie: I loved Roald Dahl as a kid, and yet somehow I missed this one. *scampers off to check it out from the library* more »
    whatwouldjanedo: When I was in fifth grade this was THE book to read. Almost every girl in the class did a book report on it at some point, including one who made a po... more »
    sallyfloyd: Ben and Maria were my model for what I wanted my marriage and subsequent domestic life to be like. Ben was my template for a husband in 6th grade. Th... more »
    rocknrollunicorn: This has got to be my favorite YA book ever. And I usually tended to read horror novels. I bought a used library copy last summer and re-read it, and ... more »
    JennyTeflon: The image that sticks with me the most from A Summer to Die is an ill Molly lying on a sofa in the kitchen. I dream of having a sofa in my kitchen for... more »
    emilyanne: oooh I just got back from Barnes and Noble and Shelf Discovery is very prominently displayed on their new paperbacks table, which made me unnecessaril... more »
    corruptsuperspy: Is this the book in which the dying girl gets a nosebleed and her sister wakes up and there's blood all over the wall and the bed? Because I read that... more »
    RudyWaltz: Oh, man. I actually just re-read this not so long ago and was thrilled that it's as wonderful as I remember it being. Yes, the characters are much m... more »
    bangers: I read the title as "the Nature of Unleavening" and hoped it was a YA book on the intricacies of baking matzoh and the struggles of being a young Jewi... more »
    Flackette Goes Retro: THANK YOU LIZZIE! This was one of my favorite YA books. What I really remember is how the younger sister (thank you for reminding me that her name is ... more »
    CatherineSloper: Oh. My. God. Inspired by the teen diaries entry, I was just looking through my journal from when I was 13 and found this entry, from 4/8/91: "Reading ... more »
    Zombie Ms. Skittles: Oh sure. It's always the BLONDE who has to suffer. What'd the blonde ever do besides being blonde (and stealing the boyfriend in Jacob Have I Loved)? more »
    Plum-Pie: Oh dear God. I'm going to be sobbing all evening now - I borrowed this repeatedly from my secondary school library and have been waiting for you to do... more »
  • #finelines

    The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More: Bully for You

    The 1945 Roald Dahl short-story classic involving but not limited to a turtle, a yogi, and a terrible swan song. More »
  • #finelines

    A Summer To Die: The Nature Of Unleaving

    Welcome to 'Fine Lines', the feature in which we give a wrinkled look at the books we loved as youth. Today, Lizzie Skurnick rereads Lois Lowry's tearjerker 'A Summer to Die', in which — spoiler alert! — the girl dies. More »
  • #finephonelines

    Programming Notes

    Heads up: Fine Lines' Lizzie Skurnick is on NPR's Talk of the Nation today (3pm EST) to discuss her book of essays on young adult literature, Shelf Discovery...which means that you can call in to join in the discussion. [NPR]
  • #finelines

    Fine Lines Quiz Spectacular: Partial Coverage

    I'm not sure if you've heard anything about it but...our old, wrinkled pensive Fine Lines feature has spawned a brightly covered book, 'Shelf Discovery, out today! Want to show your YA chops and win a copy? Please click through... More »
  • #shelfdiscovery

    To All Her Fans, With Love From Lizzie

    Lizzie's first review: "this...frequently hilarious omnibus of meditations on favorite YA novels dwells mostly among the old-school titles from the late '60s to the early '80s much beloved by now grown-up ladies." Book here. [PW]