Category: book review

At the Existentialist Café by Sarah Bakewell

I absolutely loved Sarah Bakewell’s book about philosopher and essayist (and just general hero of life) Michel de Montaigne, How to Live: A Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at An Answer. It’s a brilliant account of Montaigne’s philosophy, and Bakewell did an exemplary job of making a book about a 16th century… Continue reading At the Existentialist Café by Sarah Bakewell

The Creative Tarot by Jessa Crispin

I am new to the tarot. Over the past few years, some of my friends and acquaintances have started to study / read the tarot, and my initial skepticism turned into curiosity as their approach showed me that it doesn’t have to be about “predicting the future.” You can take the tarot as seriously (or… Continue reading The Creative Tarot by Jessa Crispin

Review: Rising Strong by Brené Brown

I’m going to start this post off with two confessions: I had never read anything by Brené Brown prior to deciding to pick up Rising Strong. I’d barely even heard of her. This now feels like an egregious oversight on my part. I hesitated before deciding to read Rising Strong. The title and description kind of made… Continue reading Review: Rising Strong by Brené Brown

My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout

“You will have only one story,” she had said. “You’ll write your one story many ways. Don’t ever worry about story. You have only one.”  Elizabeth Strout is the Pulitzer Prize winning author of the beautiful short story collection, Olive Kitteridge. Her latest novel is My Name is Lucy Barton, a short, moving novel about a… Continue reading My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout

The Road to Little Dribbling by Bill Bryson

The Road to Little Dribbling is a return to travel writing for Bill Bryson, the genre that made him famous. His last few (excellent) books have been non-fiction microhistories: he’s tackled the life of Shakespeare, the history of our homes and the things in them, and guided us on a tour of the eventful summer… Continue reading The Road to Little Dribbling by Bill Bryson

Mr. Splitfoot by Samantha Hunt: Review & Giveaway

Sometimes reading diversely can simply be about reading books outside your normal reading comfort zone. Mr. Splitfoot by Samantha Hunt met that criteria for me. It lies somewhere within the mystery / supernatural / gothic ghost story spectrum, and those who’ve gotten to know my taste in books over the years here will probably know those… Continue reading Mr. Splitfoot by Samantha Hunt: Review & Giveaway

Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert

“If you’re alive, you’re a creative person.” Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert is not meant to be a “how to” book, it’s meant to address the hang ups that most often prevent people from pursuing a creative life, and to motivate us to explore the creativity within us. Usually those hesitations take the form of… Continue reading Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert

The Penguin Lessons by Tom Mitchell

Here’s what I think you need to know about this delightful book: 1. First of all, I need to thank Lauren for putting this book on my radar. You should head to her review for a longer, more thoughtful review than this one. 2. What you’ll find inside this true story is this: a young… Continue reading The Penguin Lessons by Tom Mitchell

Felicity by Mary Oliver

“If I have any secret stash of poems, anywhere, it might be about love, not anger.” – Mary Oliver  Mary Oliver, one of my very favorite poets, has already graced us with a wonderful bounty of beautiful poems about the natural world and the joy of being alive in it. In her latest collection, she finally is… Continue reading Felicity by Mary Oliver