The Death Penalty is an issue that doesn’t seem to have received much national attention in recent elections or debates in the US. (However I’ve only lived in states without the Death Penalty – there is likely more local debate in states still practicing Capital Punishment.) It also sometimes seems that many Americans look at the… Continue reading 13 Ways of Looking at the Death Penalty by Mario Marazziti
Category: book review
That’s Not English by Erin Moore & an Interview with an Englishman
When I first heard about That’s Not English: Britishisms, Americanisms, and What Our English Says About Us by Erin Moore, I knew I had to read it immediately. My boyfriend is English, and over the year+ that we’ve been dating we’ve had a lot of spirited fun debating our language and cultural differences, confusing each… Continue reading That’s Not English by Erin Moore & an Interview with an Englishman
Better Than Before by Gretchen Rubin
(Author photo above is by Joi Ito // CC BY 2.0) I really like Gretchen Rubin’s two previous books on happiness, The Happiness Project and Happier at Home. I was very excited to learn she was releasing a new book about habits: Better Than Before, and signed up to receive a review copy from the publisher. It’s… Continue reading Better Than Before by Gretchen Rubin
My first journey to Earthsea
Nearly 10 years ago, right at the time one of the later Harry Potter books was coming out, I was home visiting my parents in Michigan so that I could attend a midnight book release party with my Mom. (Yes, I traveled 700 miles to go to a book release party.) My Dad has always… Continue reading My first journey to Earthsea
The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy by Rachel Joyce
In The Wave in the Mind, Ursula K. Le Guin explores in one essay the “unquestioned assumptions” in literature – the ways in which mainstream literature – the kind that gets widely featured and celebrated and awarded – often wrongly assumes that readers relate to a limited “type” of characters. The books featured as “of general interest”… Continue reading The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy by Rachel Joyce
The Wave in the Mind by Ursula K. Le Guin
I added The Wave in the Mind: Talks and Essays on the Writer, the Reader, and the Imagination by Ursula K. Le Guin to my To Be Read list after reading Eva’s post about it on A Striped Armchair. I checked out a copy from the library, but after reading the first essay I knew that… Continue reading The Wave in the Mind by Ursula K. Le Guin
On downsizing material possessions, and The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo
“I have reached the stage now where luxury is not in fine possessions but in carefree possessions, and the greatest luxury of all would be the completely expendable.” – Nan Fairbrother, The House in the Country One major thing that traveling around the world with just a backpack for 8 months taught me was that… Continue reading On downsizing material possessions, and The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo
Bouquet of Red Flags by Taylor Mali
“A poem is the perfect place to celebrate imperfection and exult in the ways you fall short of being the person you want to be.” – Taylor Mali Bouquet of Red Flags is Taylor Mali’s third collection of poetry, and I bought it as soon as it came out at the end of last year.… Continue reading Bouquet of Red Flags by Taylor Mali
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
When I’m reading a book that will end up being one of my all time favorites, I usually realize that fact while I’m reading it. It’s not a realization that comes at the end, on the last page. It’s a magical feeling that exists while I’m reading every page. I call it magical because when everything I want in a… Continue reading Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Letters of Note by Shaun Usher
My health insurance incentivizes preventative care – they sent me a $20 Amazon gift card for getting a flu shot. Strange, but ok! I put it towards buying Letters of Note: An Eclectic Collection of Correspondence Deserving of a Wider Audience, compiled by Shaun Usher. It had been on my wish list most of the year, and… Continue reading Letters of Note by Shaun Usher
Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed
In the introduction to Tiny Beautiful Things, Steve Almond says that this book will “endure as a piece of literary art, as will Cheryl’s other books, because they do the essential work of literary art: they make us more human than we were before.” That’s really all you need to know about this book: It will… Continue reading Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed
The Rosie Project and The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion
Earlier this summer while road tripping around the US, I read The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion. I kept seeing piles of copies of it in bookstores, displayed on tables and prominently promoted. But it looked a little too “fluffy” for me – I was totally judging a book by its cover and title. Then… Continue reading The Rosie Project and The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion