Right off the bat I should admit that I didn’t know who Charles Kuralt was when I picked up a copy of Charles Kuralt’s America on the shelves of the Friends Bookstore at Kalamazoo Public Library, while home in Michigan over the Fourth of July. His 37 years on the air with CBS didn’t overlap… Continue reading 2 Men, 2 Journeys Across America
Category: book review
Austerlitz, by W. G. Sebald
Signs you’re not reading an ordinary book: 1. You read a passage and then immediately go back to the beginning of it and read it again, slower, because it was so hauntingly beautiful that you need to re-experience it. 2. You’re pretty sure, by page 20, that the author is going to become one of… Continue reading Austerlitz, by W. G. Sebald
Tenth of December by George Saunders
I went to see George Saunders last week at Greenlight Bookstore in Ft. Green, Brooklyn. I knew it would be a popular event, but I didn’t anticipate the hundreds of people who showed up and packed the small independent bookstore beyond capacity and spilled out into the street. Joel Lovell wrote a fantastic article about… Continue reading Tenth of December by George Saunders
13, rue Thérèse by Elena Mauli Shapiro
Sometimes I buy vintage photo lots from Etsy. I love flipping through old photos of people or places I’ve never known. If it’s a person, I like to imagine what his/her life was like at the moment the photo was taken. I’ve scanned some of the photos I’ve collected, and posted them here to show… Continue reading 13, rue Thérèse by Elena Mauli Shapiro
The Heroine’s Bookshelf by Erin Blakemore
I can never resist a book about Reading, so when I saw The Heroine’s Bookshelf: Life Lessons, From Jane Austen to Laura Ingalls Wilder, I immediately added it to my Christmas wish list, and Ryan obligingly got it for me. :) Anyone with fond memories of the heroines that shaped their childhood (or adulthood) reading… Continue reading The Heroine’s Bookshelf by Erin Blakemore
Skippy Dies by Paul Murray
I’ll confess this right now: I bought Skippy Dies for the cover. I read the blurbs too, and it sounded like a good book and justified the purchase. But what really sold me on this book, above all the other books I saw while popping in and out of every bookstore I passed in Ireland,… Continue reading Skippy Dies by Paul Murray
At Home by Bill Bryson
I think it says a lot about how good At Home by Bill Bryson is that I was in the middle of it on Tuesday, August 24, when Mockingjay was released, and I didn’t want to put it down to start the final book in the Hunger Games trilogy. (I eventually did, because I wanted… Continue reading At Home by Bill Bryson
Molly Fox’s Birthday by Deirdre Madden
Molly Fox’s Birthday by Deirdre Madden is a unique book. The entire plot technically takes place on one day (would you be surprised to hear that day is Molly Fox’s birthday?), but the narrator (not Molly Fox) pauses to reminisce throughout the day and we readers travel back with her, and along the way details… Continue reading Molly Fox’s Birthday by Deirdre Madden
Packing for Mars: Review & Giveaway!
To celebrate tomorrow’s release of Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void by Mary Roach, I’m giving away an ARC copy of the book, signed by Mary Roach! Details of the giveaway are below the review. I had the pleasure of hearing Mary Roach speak at an author breakfast at Book… Continue reading Packing for Mars: Review & Giveaway!
How Did You Get This Number by Sloane Crosley
A few years ago, a book of humorous essays got a large amount of positive buzz. It was called I Was Told There’d Be Cake. Titles just don’t get much better than that. It also had a fantastic cover. Those three forces combined into one irresistible book, and I immediately bought it, read it, and… Continue reading How Did You Get This Number by Sloane Crosley
77 Love Sonnets by Garrison Keillor
During April, in honor of National Poetry Month, I read 77 Love Sonnets by Garrison Keillor. (Here’s a link to purchase this collection at an Indie Bookstore.) A modern collection of sonnets is, unfortunately, rather hard to come across. I was delighted last year to find out that Garrison Keillor was publishing a collection of… Continue reading 77 Love Sonnets by Garrison Keillor
The Postmistress by Sarah Blake
Title: The Postmistress Author: Sarah Blake Published: 2009 My edition: Putnam Hardcover 2009 Borrowed From: The Hoboken Public Library Pages: 326 Synopsis (from Strand): As the dawn of World War II sweeps throughout Europe, Americans are still relatively at ease and holding fast to Roosevelt’s promise that we’d be safe at home. Though, one American… Continue reading The Postmistress by Sarah Blake