About

Jump to: Who I am | What you’ll find here | What you won’t find here | About the name | Some favorite authors | Some favorite poets | Around the internet

Review Policy

Who I am
Hello! I’m Maureen. I often go by Maureen E online, to distinguish myself from other Maureens and because my last and middle names both begin with E.

I work as a library assistant, which is great! I love libraries, especially public libraries.

I grew up in the Midwest US–not as boring as people think–before going to college in Oregon. When I graduated, I moved to Indiana, because I am a Midwest girl at heart.

In spring 2009 I studied abroad in London for three months. It was an absolutely incredible experience. I chronicled it all here.

I am Eastern Orthodox and go to a parish in the Bulgarian Diocese. My faith is incredibly important to me, though I don’t talk about it often here.

I am currently trying to take myself seriously as a writer. This has its up days and down days. I write mostly prose in the speculative fiction direction, though in the past I have dabbled in poetry.

You can reach me by e-mail at elvenjaneite AT gmail DOT com.

What you’ll find here

Mostly book reviews. My reviews usually reflect my reading habits, which are fairly eclectic. They tend to center on “genre” fiction (a label I find annoying as everything is a genre), especially science fiction and fantasy. But I do love a good mystery, or historical fiction, or…

I particularly focus on upper middle-grade and young adult books. I’ll read almost any genre in those categories, provided I think the book is well written. Since I started working in a children’s room, I’m also doing a Picture Book Monday feature once a month, looking at juvenile books.

Feel free to check out the Index of Book Reviews to get a better sense of what I talk about.

Cooking and crafty topics do occasionally pop up, as do things I’ve found online and a rare personal entry or two.

What you won’t find here

Anything overtly political. Not my ball of wax. While I may express some political opinions, it will not be the focus of any post. I also try to refrain from being overly negative, although if I have problems, especially with a book I’m reviewing, I will say so.

About the name

It comes from a Dylan Thomas poem “In My Craft or Sullen Art”:

In my craft or sullen art
Exercised in the still night
When only the moon rages
And the lovers lie abed
With all their griefs in their arms,
I labour by singing light
Not for ambition or bread
Or the strut and trade of charms
On the ivory stages
But for the common wages
Of their most secret heart.

Not for the proud man apart
From the raging moon I write
On these spindrift pages
Nor for the towering dead
With their nightingales and psalms
But for the lovers, their arms
Round the griefs of the ages,
Who pay no praise or wages
Nor heed my craft or art.

Favorite Authors (a partial list)
Classic literature: Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, Elizabeth Gaskell, Elizabeth Goudge, Rumer Godden
Classic children’s lit: L.M. Montgomery, Maud Hart Lovelace
SFF: J.R.R. Tolkien, Lois McMaster Bujold, Ursula Le Guin, Patricia MdKillip
Contemporary mg/YA: Robin McKinley, Megan Whalen Turner, Elizabeth Wein, Sarah Rees Brennan, Diana Wynne Jones, Madeleine L’Engle
Mysteries: Dorothy Sayers, Josephine Tey’
Historical: Rosemary Sutcliff and Georgette Heyer

Favorite Poets (another partial list)
John Donne, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Elizabeth Dickinson, Christina Rossetti, Dylan Thomas, W.B. Yeats, W.H. Auden, T.S. Eliot, e.e. cummings, Wallace Stevens, Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Around the internet
Goodreads
Twitter
Pinterest
Ravelry

I am on LiveJournal, but unless you’re a pretty frequent commenter here, it’s unlikely that I’d add you (it’s much more personal than this blog).