The first time I heard the story of the Little Engine That Could was on Captain Kangaroo. (How’s that for dating myself?!) Captain read that picture book often on his show, and 4-year-old me loved the illustrations as much as the story. Earlier this month, my oldest son Peter and I took a road trip …
Every spring Midwesterners swear that summer will never arrive. Then one night after weeks of cloudy, windy damp-cold we go to bed, and wake up the next morning to a balmy 70 degrees, a bright blue sky, and trees leafed out. It’s glorious. Last week I took out the trailer for the first time; Friend …
I can’t say I know much about midwifery, female escorts, or homeopathic practitioners, but author Chris Bohjalian’s novels–Midwives, The Guest Room, and The Law of Similars, for instance–let me step into shoes I’ve never worn. Last month I read his Hour of the Witch, a story centered on life in one of the first settlements …
What I read In June 2020 when the world was still shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a group gathered on the piazza in front of the Cathedral of St. Andrew to hold a vigil for racial justice. George Floyd had just been killed. Peaceful protests during the day turned violent at night. Tensions …
What I read For the past several years, the best sellers lists have been heavy with World War II fiction. Think The Tatooist of Auschwitz, The Nightingale, The Book Thief, All the Light We Cannot See. I’ve read and reviewed plenty on this blog. But when you read a lot there’s a kind of weariness …
Great Pause #5 A few months ago, I took my embroidery hoop in hand again after putting it down nearly thirty years ago. I’m not quite sure why I put it aside. Probably something to do with the fact that I was a single mom finishing my degree part time. That I had three kids …
What I read I’m a little late to the party judging from the nearly 13,000 Amazon reviews for Sue Monk Kidd’s Invention of Wings. The historical novel provides an imaginative back story for the Grimke sisters, Sarah and Angelina, Southern aristocrats turned Abolitionists and feminists. Kidd adds to their story a difficult and demanding mother, …
What I read I finally read the book everyone (as in nearly 20,000 reader reviews on Amazon) has been talking about–Delia Owens’ Where the Crawdads Sing. And, oh my goodness. It’s worth every bit of the chatter. You certainly don’t need me to give you a synopsis–and I won’t. Except to say it’s the story …
What I lived and what I read Last week I took my first journey out on my own in the little trailer I call Bag End. I needed to see if the story I’ve been writing was actually set in southern Ohio (it is!) and I also visited a few historical sites: Grant’s birthplace and …
I Was AnastasiaAriel LawhonDoubledayrelease date: March 27, 2018 I read Robert K. Massie’s Nicholas and Alexandra in high school when I measured books by length–the longer the better–and by heft. At nearly 700 pages (Amazon tells me the hardcover weighs just shy of two pounds) the book kept me captivated for at least a few days. …
This is my symphony 