Over the holidays I went to a number of book-related holiday parties. This is not usual for me. In 2024, I joined six book clubs, only two of which I moved to the “casual” signification, as well as two writing groups. Well, when you do that, apparently there’s a lot more to do in December.…
I had some fun while reading this book. I like Victorian literature. I like Charles Dickens (‘ books. I’ve never met the man). And I love A Christmas Carol. So it was right up my alley, especially for the holidays. And when I saw Samantha Silva’s pedigree? I was intrigued, excited even. But it was…
This book is titled The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (by Barbara Robinson), but it is also the best Christmas book ever. I am not trying to be cute (exclusively). I am in love with this short, children’s chapter book. It is hilarious and poignant. It does have some outdated content, but I went into it…
I doubt that I have much to add to whatever discussion and reviews there might be of this book, but I do like to review all books I read, especially the classics. And The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg is a classic. Though at this point I suppose the 2004 Tom Hanks movie is…
One of my son’s favorite books as a child was Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, by Mo Willems. Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Sleigh! was a big seller this season, so I bought it and made my sixteen- and twenty-year-old kids sit on the floor while I read it to them. Sure,…
We’ll start with my Christmas recommendations, which won’t be tremendously different from last year’s. Here are some of the Christmas/holiday books that I haven’t yet read, but that I’m planning to read some day. Maybe not this year. So many books, so little time! But if you don’t just want to sit around reading holiday-related…
I am such a Harry Potter fan that I am almost always disappointed by J. K. Rowling’s other works, simply because they are not Hogwarts in the 90s. So let’s just take this children’s chapter book for what it is: a magical, Christmas journey into the Land of the Lost by one little boy and…
I have only been reading books specifically chosen for the new year for a few years, and so far the only real recommendation I have for you from this endeavor is Dear Ijeawele by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, though it is not a new year read as much as it is a feminist/mother-daughter/parenting read. The full…
***About 20 minutes shy of posting this, I had to close up shop and head home. In that time after, I got sick. I have been out for over a week. Let’s pretend like I posted this before then.*** Ya’ll. I know you understand how busy the holiday season can be. Also, I spent the…
I have not finished this book yet. It is a daily reading, but I wanted to get the review on The Starving Artist now (December 5th) so that if you are interested in reading it, you won’t miss Advent this year, entirely. I will update the review after I read it all, but I don’t…
Let’s just wrap up this year (which ended a few days ago, now) with a triple-review of Christmas-related reading. (For my original list of Christmas recommended reading—from which I pulled these titles for this year—click HERE.) And off we go… THE GREATEST GIFT The Greatest Gift is the story on which the movie It’s a…
For the holiday season, the entire homeschool co-op read Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. I have already reviewed this book and also a couple of the movies related to it. I also listed some more movies that are adapted from it. I imagined I would have time this year to watch all of these, but…
BRIDGET JONES’ DIARY (2001) Kicked off the Christmas season with my teen daughter’s first viewing of Bridget Jones’ Diary. It’s possible it’ll be her last, but maybe—while she’s still under my roof anyways—she’ll join me come Christmastime and I won’t have to watch “all by myself.” I believe she said it was “cute.” It is…
I read Lee Strobel’s The Case for Christmas because it showed up on the best-ofs lists for the holidays, not because I am a Christian or because I am searching for answers about God or the Christmas story. Clearly, this book—more like an extended tract—is meant for the latter. The seeker seeking around the holidays.…
I am running behind, because of the holidays, but we are nearing the end of the Christmas reading reviews. This is the second to the last. And though you tire of hearing me say it, I was surprised by this book. I don’t recall if I’ve read any Nikolai Gogol, though I am certain that…
When I finally—after years of meaning to read it—ordered Truman Capote’s A Christmas Memory from eBay, I did not expect what I got. Full disclosure: I have not read Capote, ever. I have meant to, of course, but have never gotten around to it. Yet. My impression, however, is true crime with a literary swagger.…
It only makes sense in life that the more niche-y or specific you get, the slimmer the pickin’s and the more difficult it is to find things of quality. As it is with Christmas reading. Most great authors don’t have a Christmas book. There is quite a lot written, but it is taken up largely…
ROCKETMAN (2019) So, I had heard that Rocketman was really good and that Bohemian Rhapsody was not so great, but I got them smashed together in my head—both flashy biopics of some of my favorite, classic singers/bands. I got to this one on my ever-growing list of movies to watch (when Spirited Away wasn’t available…
Well, we’re working our way around the calendar. We’ve now had Easter ham nuggets at our own, quiet Easter tables surrounded by homemade sanitizer and either a mountain of or a lack of toilet paper, birthdays consisting of only people in our “bubbles,” masked and in open parks despite the weather, Halloween picking sanitized bags…
Another week, another middle grades book under the bridge. It is true: I seem to read almost nothing but middle grades book these days. You’re just going to have to take my word for it that I have much wider interests in literature than middle grades books. However, between curriculum-writing for seventh and eighth grade…
the starving artist 