It is July. Notes on a Nervous Planet by Matt Haig is the seventh book I have read for my Pandemic Survival Book Club, which concentrates on mental health with a dash of spiritual health. This is by far my favorite of the year and I doubt that it will be unseated. It’s really a…
What do we always say first? I have been meaning to read this book for years and years. (I am middle aged. I am coming more to terms with the fact that I will not get to read ALL the books.) When the title popped up on some of the lists that I was looking…
It has occurred to me that as a blog that has spoken to self- and indie-publishing over the years and written largely about its pros, its bright side, I do not read very many self- and indie-published books. Years ago, I did that on purpose because I didn’t want to read and get stuck giving…
Now it begins. Besides reading the couple books that I am reading for book club this summer, I am going to spend the next few weeks (at least) reading for the co-op classes I’m teaching this year. I have to be ready by August, and I already am supposed to have decided on most of…
Being transparent here, when I received a triple-diagnosis on a random, summer day, I stuck my head in the sand for a few days. It seemed like a lot. I’ve had back problems my entire adult life, but when the doc said he didn’t expect to see much on the x-ray, I was blind-sided by…
My goal this year (among many other goals) is to read a writing book once every two months. So, six total. Not doing terribly when I finished the third, Ray Bradbury’s Zen in the Art of Writing in June. (Actually, that’s completely on track. I am completely not on track with most of my other…
Let’s all say it together before I get a chance to tell you again: this book is not what I expected. On America’s radar for the past ten years, this is one of those confusing all the books (or movies) with the same hot word in the title. Let’s see: Gone Girl, The Girl with…
Celebration of Discipline by Richard J. Foster is an American protestant Christian classic. Maybe even for Catholics too, I don’t know. Published in 1978, it’s the type of book that one might receive as a graduation gift or one might acquire for a small group or something. My husband’s name is on the nameplate of…
It seems like just a second ago that I received the email congratulating me on a parent-writer fellowship for the Martha’s Vineyard Institute for Creative Writing’s annual conference. I don’t say this just to brag. Along with the email were some very nice words about my writing. Along with the nice words was a comparison…
Rarely do I listen to a book as opposed to pick up a physical copy and read it with my eyeballs. (Almost never do I read with my eyes a digital copy.) The exceptions to this rule are two: one, when I have a migraine and I am laying there bored out of my mind…
I assigned two books as alternative reading for my Pandemic Book Club, for May. One of them was Deadliest Enemy. It was the one book that was holding my attention, for most of the month, but I kept sticking it on the back burner because there were always more books that I “had” to read…
I have often recommended the book Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott and thought of it warmly. I was a little surprised, then, when I pulled it off the shelf to do a re-read and a review and my notes and markings stopped about two-thirds of the way through. Hmm… So, I liked the book…
I can’t decide whether or not I like The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street by Karina Yan Glaser. I have such opposite reactions to different aspects of it. When it comes down to it, I would recommend it for its merits, but I spent the first third of the book wanting to put it down because…
A couple weeks ago I attended a (virtual) seminar. The speaker/teacher was Scott Reintgen and the title of the seminar was “How to Get an Agent and Navigate Publishing.” This was a lot to cover in an hour and a half on a Monday night, but the presentation was great and the information was quite…
April, which means we are on the fourth book for our Pandemic Book Club, that book club where we try to find mental health amidst over a year of stress, fear, isolation, strife, etc. After a couple religious books and a book about the science and biology of stress, we have now read Don’t Feed…
Treat Your Own Back by Robin McKenzie is a book that my doctor recommended to me years ago, during my first big back failure. I have a genetically “bad disc” in my lumbar region, and right after I had my second child, I found myself face-down in the mud of my driveway, unable to move…
One of my favorite books in elementary school was The Wheel on the School by Meindert DeJong. For my review of that book, see HERE. When my co-op, language arts class of middle schoolers arrived at The House of Sixty Fathers, I was excited to read something else by DeJong. And though it is from…
I have shared before that I have two main, strong, stress response behaviors: shopping and reading. This is how I cope. Turns out, when I have real, deep grief with shock, I don’t do either. I also don’t eat, which is something that has never failed me in my entire life. It’s been a week…
It’s Not Supposed to Be This Way by Lysa TerKeurst was on my TBR because I pulled it from some pandemic book club suggestions I had compiled at the beginning of the year. I started a pandemic book club in January, and It’s Not Supposed to Be This Way was our second Christian reading, our…
Every once in a while, I pull an old favorite off the shelf and give it a read so that I can review it, fresh, for you. Till We Have Faces is one of my favorite books. Never heard of it? I’m sure you’ve heard of C. S. Lewis, the Christian apologist who also wrote…
