This book is Pan’s memoir of a year when she decided to challenge herself to live like an extrovert. She explains that there’s nothing wrong with being an introvert, only she’s an excessively shy one (a “shintrovert” as she calls herself), which means she’s probably missing out on friendships and career opportunities by not engaging…
Last month my husband and I traveled to Chile, Argentina, and Brazil. Instead of writing book reviews, which I’m not really feeling at the moment, I thought I’d share our trip instead (this also gives me an opportunity to weed through our many photos). I’ve wanted to see South America for a long time. The…
On our trip to London and Spain we saw a lot of cool things, especially in the areas of art, architecture, history, and wine. But here’s the bookish side of our travels: Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote, is clearly Spain’s favorite literary son; I lost count of the times I saw a sculpture…
Wanted to share a bit about our vacation in Hawaii. I feel a little guilty posting this, since you didn’t get to go. But Hawaii is one of the most beautiful and interesting places on earth. If you think Hawaii is just about beaches and Mai Tais, you’d be wrong! I have admit, I’ve been feeling…
Just as with One Day, Nicholls surprised me. This book was so much more than I expected, even though Nicholls tells you in the first couple of pages exactly what it’s about. Us is the story of Douglas, in his fifties, whose wife wakes him up in the middle of the night to tell him…
For some reason I always get “bloggers’ block” when I get home from a vacation. Why is that? I have no idea. I’m great about setting up posts while I’m away, and then I figure I’ll just pick back up once I get home. But when I get back I just can’t concentrate. I’m supposed…
I had a hard time getting into this book at first, but once I did I absolutely loved it. Astray is a collection of short stories that are all based in historical fact. Donoghue says in the afterword that she collects interesting facts and anecdotes when she’s doing historical research, so she turned these into…
It’s Monday, and here’s what I’m thinking about – VACATION! Our months-of-planning trip to Italy happens this Thursday. Mentally, everything else is taking a back seat. Our weekend was filled with must-dos, from confirming with the cat-sitter to making last minute itinerary changes. My big question for all of you is, what books should I…
Greetings from Budapest! It’s hard to believe our two week vacation will be drawing to a close in a few days. It’s been an exhausting and enriching experience. We’ve explored three major European cities in the last nine days, each with its own language, history, and currency. My math skills have been sorely tested on…
Woo hoo! In three days I’ll be on vacation! The husband and I are taking a LONG awaited and much-needed two week trip to Eastern Europe. We’re seeing Prague, Krakow, Budapest and Slovenia. I hope to soak up a lot of history and culture and explore some of my Eastern European roots. While I don’t…
This weekend I was in the great state of Wisconsin and I wanted to highlight two of the bookstores I visited. One of my favorite used bookstores is in the Milwaukee International Airport, called Renaissance Books. I LOVE the idea of a used bookstore in an airport – who needs used books more than travelers? …
The Book Stop 