This book was recommended to me last year, when I raved about Code Name Helene, a fictionalized story about a real-life World War II hero, Nancy Wake. A Woman of No Importance is a biography of Virginia Hall, one of the first and most recognized female undercover agents in France during World War II. Her…
Your first reaction to reading a book about the history of infectious diseases might be “why would I want to read that right now?” But this book was fascinating. It was published in 2017, well before COVID, yet it has so much to say about people react to the threat of infectious disease, and how we should…
This is my second book by O’Neill, and while it wasn’t nearly as powerful as Asking for It, it still kept me thinking well after I put it down. O’Neill draws characters that feel very real, and her books leave an emotional impact. Only Ever Yours is set in a dystopian future where girls are…
This week’s Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, is about our reading goals and challenges for 2021. In my last post, I wrote about my reading and blogging trends in 2020, so now it’s time to think about what I want out of the coming year. It’s not quite a “top ten” list;…
At the beginning of 2020 I focused on four challenges: Read Harder, Reading Nonfiction, Reading Around the World, and reading books I already owned. My goal in January was to keep things a little simpler. And then 2020 happened. I ended up reading a lot more for comfort this year, but still read a lot…
Every year I try to read as many books as possible that are set in other countries. I keep track of each new country read as part of the five-year Reading Around the World challenge. And I joined a book club that reads books by women authors from other countries. In 2020 (so far) I…
I’m always sad when summer ends, but this has been a really strange summer. 2020 can’t end soon enough for me. What a truly horrible week. On the personal side, I actually have some positive news. I applied for a promotion at work and will now be managing a group of programs and a staff…
I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book, but I ended up finding it both fascinating and moving. I knew it was about a true-life group of people in the Appalachians with blue skin, and it was also about the historic Packhorse Librarians, women who delivered library books on horseback to families in the…
Romance novels are my comfort reads. Typically, I don’t read many of them. While fun to read, they rarely stick with me. A lot of romances follow predictable patterns and rarely surprise – although I could argue that’s exactly why they are comforting. But this year, anxiety levels have been way higher than usual —…
I always read a lot in summer, because I like to sit outside and read, even in the heat, and thanks to audiobooks I can read while I garden. This was a really good reading month, mainly because of the diversity of authors and locations I read about, including China, Russia, Mexico, the Dominican Republic,…
I started reading this book a few months ago, and then decided I needed to wait until I was in the right frame of mind. This is a tough read that will take you right back to September 11, 2001. It’s a vast collection of eyewitness accounts of what people experienced that day in New…
I’m so happy it’s finally summer! This year, I’ve been avoiding TBR lists and trying to take some of the pressure off of what and how I read. But I’ll make an exception for the 20 Books of Summer Challenge, hosted by Cathy at 746books.com, because it’s a pretty laid back challenge and summer feels…
I read, breathe, and live in bookish worlds.
Book Reviews & The Written Word
"Books are a uniquely portable magic" - Stephen King
*somewhere to collect my (mostly) bookish thoughts*
"She had read novels while other people perused the Sunday papers" - Mary Elizabeth Braddon
A Classic Literature Journey
Thoughts on Literature, Expressing Creativity, Being Authentic
books, libraries, life
Reading, Writing, Cats - Life is pretty good.
Books and Beverages
