The Beauty of What Remains (NetGalley) Susan Johnson Hadler She Writes Press Writer Susan Johnson Hadler’s father died in WWII when she was only three months old. Because he was killed in a mine explosion, there were no remains to inter and his wife was sent only his personal effects: socks, glasses, a sewing kit, a …
I have long wanted to visit the Laura Ingalls Wilder Little House sites scattered around the Midwest and decided this summer was the time to start with a quick trip to Pepin, Wisconsin—which also, coincidentally enough, is the closest to my West Michigan home. One thing you should know about Little House Wayside, as the Little …
Cider With Rosie Laurie Lee Open Road Media When I opened the email last month, it was clear I’d missed out. According to Amazon’s Daily Deal blurb Laurie Lee’s Cider With Rosie was “an instant classic when it was first published in 1959 [and] one of the most endearing and evocative portraits of youth in …
A Million Miles In a Thousand Years Donald Miller Nelson Publishing Most people assume that as a teacher, I’m the one who instructs. And it’s kind of implicit in the teacher-student relationship, I agree. But as I move into my twenty-third year of teaching (good heavens!), I find that dynamic is often flipped, and it’s my …
The Lady in the Van Alan Bennett After I read Alan Bennett’s delightful The Uncommon Reader (review link here) I do what all readers do, I assume—I ran to get my hands on another of the author’s works. The library had a copy of a two-fer: The Clothes They Stood Up In (another novella) and …
I drink my morning coffee with Steve Innskeep, my drive home is accompanied by Here and Now’s Robin Young, and I fix dinner or grade papers to the sound of Robert Siegal and Melissa Block. It’s not that I have a seriously packed social calendar, though. Rather, those are the NPR program hosts that make …
I’ve had a quiet love affair with Ray Bradbury for some time now. I actually think I love the man more than his books—or is it that I love his books because I adore the man? What’s odd is the fact that I don’t really like science fiction. I mean, Star Trek Next Generation is …
Crunchy Cons by Rod Dreher Crown Forum, 2006 For the past year, I’ve been reading Rod Dreher’s posts on American Conservative. I came to Dreher’s column after I read the account he wrote of his sister’s battle with cancer in The Little Way Of Ruthie Leming which I wrote about on this blog nearly a year and …
Zen Under Fire by Marianne ElliottSourcebooks 2013 Marianne Elliott documented human rights violations in Afghan prisons and police stations and trained local law enforcement officers and prosecutors about human rights and Afghan law. Her life, first in Kabul, and then in Herat, was one of contrasts. Rules and procedures narrowed her freedom: she needs a driver or …
Behind the Beautiful Forevers Katherine Boo There’s probably nothing I can say about Katherine Boo’s Pulitzer Prize winning book about a Mumbai slum, Behind the Beautiful Forevers that other reviewers haven’t already–the book gives us a staggering view of the poorest of the poor in India. Annawadi, a sprawling slum that sprung up around the Mumbai …
This is my symphony 