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Cynthia Anderson's avatar

The Underlined is a great title. I'm an underliner too...though my husband thinks it's terrible to write in a book. At the moment, I'm reading Maya & Natasha by Elyse Durham and underlining many beautiful lines!

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Kolina Cicero's avatar

Thank you, Cynthia! I haven't read that but I'm looking into it now. It's wild to me that people think underlining is bad for books! It's bad for me NOT to underline!

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Beth Morris's avatar

I'm a fan of the new brand, Kolina! I don't underline a ton, but maybe I'll start doing it more- you're reminding me how satisfying it is! My go-to is those little sticky flags to mark a line/section of a page I want to come back to. But it's not as precise as underlining. :)

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Kolina Cicero's avatar

Thank you, Beth! I do find underlining to be SO satisfying. I'm reading a book (Demon Copperhead) that I borrowed from a friend and therefore can't underline and it's making me anxious 🤣

I do love a sticky flag too! Whatever works for you!

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Kellie Brown's avatar

I'm reading Mornings at Seven by Eric Malpass. I underlined, "Her courage was enough to make angels weep."

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Kolina Cicero's avatar

That is stunning 🥹

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Victoria Lo Bue's avatar

i love this!!! it's so fitting and so perfect. also as a rebrander myself -- i love the fearlessness.

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Kolina Cicero's avatar

BTW I still haven’t journaled but it’s on my mind!

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Victoria Lo Bue's avatar

and i owe you full thoughts on Elena Ferrante! (just need to get on the other side of grad school in May!!)

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Kolina Cicero's avatar

Omg thank you 🥹🥹

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Amy Makechnie's avatar

It's a great title - and I LOVED Demon! Just finished Laurel Thatcher Ulrich's Midwives book on Martha Ballard. WOWOWOW.

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Kolina Cicero's avatar

Thank you Amy! I love it so much :)

Demon is amazing already and I'm only 100 pages in. I hadn't heard about A Midwife's Tale! It sounds so good, just looked it up. Going to request it from the library -- thank you!

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Amy Makechnie's avatar

The scholarship and quality of writing is astounding. I read it right after Frozen River, which is historical fiction based on the life of Martha Ballard. Fun to read right in a row. I hope you enjoy!

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Kolina Cicero's avatar

Another book for my TBR lol. Thank you! 🩷

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Michelle Martin's avatar

Kolina, congrats! I love the new look and meaning behind it. So perfectly you!

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Kolina Cicero's avatar

Thank you Michelle! It feels like a good fit. I’m so glad to hear others think it is as well! Appreciate you!

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Abigail Cerquitella's avatar

i rarely read my own physical book, its usually library or e-galley, so i don't often underline. However! I purchased a used copy of The Heroine with 1001 Faces and have been underlining (in bright pink!) allllll over the place. congrats on the rebrand

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Kolina Cicero's avatar

Are you enjoying underlining?! And in bright pink! Does it make you want to underline more??

Thanks so much, I’m excited!

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Abigail Cerquitella's avatar

for a certain type of book yes!

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Kolina Cicero's avatar

Love it 🩷

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Rebecca's avatar

Beautiful love the rebrand! And as a perpetual collector of others' words (I've got quite the quote collection); I'm really excited about the re-focus and can't wait to see what you share!

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Kolina Cicero's avatar

Thank you so much!

Where do you record your quotes?

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Patricia Zaballos's avatar

So good! Underlining is *tangible* and this is a more tangible title. It makes you conjure an image—marked up pages! I’m a big underliner too. (Currently underlining Loved and Missed, which I know I told you about, before every revision session and it helps me elevate my revising for sure.)

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Kolina Cicero's avatar

Thank you, I’m so excited about it. Ok I just need to read Loved and Missed already! I love that you read it before revision sessions. What a great idea.

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Patricia Zaballos's avatar

I only read the ones that really inspire me before I revise. They make me aspire to more ☺️

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David Nash's avatar

I love the rebrand! I'm more of a pig-earer. This week I read Name by Constance Debre. I'm picking up Eurotrash by Christian Kracht today.

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Kolina Cicero's avatar

I'm seeing Name everywhere. Did you like it? Do you recommend?

Thanks so much, I am really pleased with how the branding turned out!

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David Nash's avatar

I liked “Love Me Tender” better. In Name I thought there should have more story and less soapbox. Name is more about her family history then her (the narrator / Debre) personal struggle to live the lifestyle she wants or her discovery of her orientation as in her first novel, Playboy. In Name, she seems at peace with herself. Her writing style is still very distinct, so I think there’s a lot to learn in terms of her voice and the disjointed story telling. Fans of her first two novels will definitely read, but I’m not sure if there’s a wider appeal. She was born with a silver spoon in her mouth and her parents used it to shoot up.

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Kolina Cicero's avatar

I can’t tell if I’m completely fascinated or entirely uninterested 🤣

You do a good job of explaining it, regardless.

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Alyson Mosquera Dutemple's avatar

Loved this post. I thought I was the only one who found pencils in my sheets! Three cheers for underlining. (I'm also a fan of writing notes in the margin. My last post was all about how my daughter discovered my high school margin notes and then became pen pals with teenaged me!)

Also, Demon Copperhead is AMAZING, and the book I most recently dogearred and underlined is Lorrie Moore's Birds of America.

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Kolina Cicero's avatar

Okay I'm not the only one finding writing utensils in my bed?! Love that.

I can't think of anything more meaningful than your daughter becoming pen pals with teenaged you. That is so special! And it makes me want to write more margin notes (I do but they're not extensive) so my kids can read them once they're older and (hopefully) interested in literature.

I'm so looking forward to reading more Demon Copperhead. Haven't read Birds of America but I do love Lorrie Moore!

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Alyson Mosquera Dutemple's avatar

Thanks, Kolina! And congratulations on the rebrand. Just make sure the pencils you lose in your sheets aren't too sharp! And happy underlining :)

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Kolina Cicero's avatar

Haha for real. And thank you!

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Sue Likkel's avatar

I love this!!!! I'm of the same ilk. For me it's an x in the margin or a s for simile, m for metaphor, etc. As an Eng teacher, my lit anthologies are annotated and it's so fun to teach students how to do it so they'll be life-long underlines.

I'm reading the fabulous, too-few-people-know-about, The Choice by Dr. Edith Eva Eger. I haven't been so caught up in a book in years. I hope others read it...it's a must-read if there ever was one.

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Kolina Cicero's avatar

I love that system! Do your students have any fun creative ways to annotate?

I hadn't heard of The Choice but now I MUST read it. Man's Search for Meaning is one of the few books I say everyone has to read in their lives. It seems like this is the same. Thank you for introducing me to it!

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Martha's avatar

Love the rebrand!! Love the name and LOVE the colours - 10/10!!

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Kolina Cicero's avatar

Thank you Martha! I am so stoked about it! 10/10 from you makes me feel like I am winning!

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Laura Weber's avatar

Congrats! This brand is so perfectly YOU. I’m reading, among other things, “Play it as it Lays” by Joan Dideon (thanks for the borrow). I jotted this quote in my journal - “I mean, maybe I was holding all the aces, but what was the game?”

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Kolina Cicero's avatar

Thank you! I love it SO MUCH.

That line is amazing and if I didn’t underline it (did I?) I remember thinking it was fantastic.

Are you enjoying the book overall? Is it your first Didion? I can’t recall if you’ve read her before.

Thanks for the love! 🫶🏽

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Laura Weber's avatar

My first Dideon read. I’m such a babe in the literary woods! I am enjoying it.

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Kolina Cicero's avatar

I will hold your hand!

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Amanda Karch's avatar

Yes, yes, yes!! Obsessed!

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Kolina Cicero's avatar

😆😆😆 Thanks Amanda! I've been so excited to share the rebrand!

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Lee Cooper's avatar

I’m not an underliner and I love your new title. Congrats. Demon Copperhead was one of my favorites of 2024. I’m currently reading book two of The Eastern by Deborah Gould. A late nineteenth century telling of life along the Eastern River in novel form.

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Kolina Cicero's avatar

Thank you, Lee! I'm not even 100 pages into Demon yet but of course I know how great it will be. I haven't read Deborah Gold. Are you liking it?

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Lee Cooper's avatar

I thoroughly enjoyed book one, the early years. I’m early into book two but it’s the same five families and their struggles with life and death and weather and all that it takes to manage within a small farming community.

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Kolina Cicero's avatar

Color me intrigued!

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Lee Cooper's avatar

Deborah Gould’s Book Two, follows the lives of the same families through the third generation, where younger members are leaving to get off the farm. Hopefully today’s young people who are coming to Maine to farm will be able to make it work.

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