It Was Me All Along (Blogging for Books) Andie Mitchell Clarkson Potter Food. It’s memories of family–weekday meals of tuna casserole or Sundays at Grandma’s with her special golumpki. It’s the comfort of ice cream after a bad break-up or chocolate chip cookies after an trying day at work. Food is the Saturday night entertainment …
All the Light We Cannot See Anthony Doerr Scribner It won the Pulitzer. Was shortlisted for the National Book Award. Spent 118 weeks on the New York Times Bestseller list. Wiser readers than I have written more eloquently about Anthony Doerr’s magnificent All the Light We Cannot See, so there’s no reason to write what you …
In a perfect world my book club reads fascinating contemporary works (but never the best sellers) with a few classics thrown in to make sure we’re well-rounded and culturally literate. Leaders rotate–everyone takes a turn–and prepare diligently: a review shared, a YouTube video discovered, an NPR interview served up. We are astute. Serious. Profound, even. …
My favorite place to walk in Our Fair City is an urban park set just outside of downtown–I think of it as a little Central Park, although I’ve never been. Riverside Park has winding paved paths curving around and through lagoons, wetlands, and a spectacular tree canopy. I watch the geese, roller bladers, bikers, and …
The Invoice Jonas Karlsson Hogarth How do you measure happiness? By the number of friends you have? Or the prestige of your job? Maybe you’re happy if others think highly of you or praise you. Maybe happiness is related to the neighborhood you can afford or the make and model of your car. Smart people …
The Trouble With Goats and Sheep (NetGalley) Joanna Cannon Scribner Mrs. Creasy has gone missing and the entire estate is abuzz. Especially the residents of the Avenue. Mrs. Creasy was friend (confidant, even) to all–and knew the secrets that lived behind closed doors. She knew the secrets of number 8 and number 12 and even …
True confession: I’m a woman of a certain age and I don’t color my hair. For a few years back in my 40s, I did highlights, mainly because I felt so pampered at the salon. But I don’t do the all-over douse-it-out bit that so many women do when they see those kinky, silver strands …
In some ways, my life–the life I live now as a teacher and writer–began in a bookstore. When I turned thirty and my last babe was potty trained, I started working part time in an independent bookstore. It was the late eighties and I’d been a stay-at-home momma for several years. It was time to …
After three driving days and 18 hours in the car, I was toast. I haven’t traveled alone in, like, ever. No college road trips because I was married and having babies. No divorcee road trips because I was scraping together a living and raising three kids. So this was a new adventure. But I have …
Twenty-five years ago I was newly divorced, a single mom of three, and holiday weekends had a tendency to drag on. Add to that I had just broken up with my boyfriend and a little diversion was in order. My dad, never real keen when it came to understanding relationships, thought an hour ride in his classic …
This is my symphony 