To all you readers who love independent, wickedly smart female characters, appreciate science, and love historical women’s fiction … HALF LIFE by Jillian Cantor is for you!
This is my favorite Jillian Cantor book to date (and I’ve loved them … Read more...
You don’t have to be a fan of the Bard – or even familiar with Shakespeare’s plays – to enjoy HAMNET by Maggie O’Farrell. The writing and sensory description is incredibly effective, the emotion palpable.
While this novel should … Read more...
I’m not sure where to start with THE YIELD. It struck many a nerve for me. Even though the setting is Australia, so many of the concerns past and present are mirrored in America (and the natural resource issues parallel … Read more...
I knew I needed to read THE THIRTY NAMES OF NIGHT by Zeyn Joukhadar the minute I saw the artwork. Yep. A gorgeously rendered, watercolor bird wing. Pair that (and an elusive bird thought not to exist by science) with … Read more...
This book — FALL BACK DOWN WHEN I DIE by Joe Wilkins… What a masterful blend of character-driven, literary fiction (with poetic, melt-in-your-mouth sentences). Combined with the intense pacing of more commercial fiction, this is a book you don’t want … Read more...
MIGRATIONS by Charlotte McConaghy is the kind of book that is the reason why I read: to slip into the skin of a character and fully inhabit her anguish, joys, thoughts, fears… to be transported to a different setting that … Read more...
Oh, my… this novel — THE MERCIES! The atmospheric setting, the writing, the characterization, the story… I was swept away and transported from the first lovely sentences:
… Read more...Last night Maren dreamt a whale beached itself on the rocks outside her
To the delight of fans, Detective Laci Jolett is back in action in Book/novella #3 of Suzie Ivy’s K9 Forever Series — THE FOREVER FRIEND.
This time it’s drugs in the local high school that has two students in the … Read more...
CODE NAME HELENE by Ariel Lawhon was the right book at the right time for me – the story of a tough-as-nails woman whose struggles and bravery make our shelter-in-place woes seem trivial. (Yes, the fictional story is – remarkably … Read more...
If only there were “Here Thanks To Nature” tags attached to everything everywhere as a reminder that our very lives are utterly and completely dependent on nature — not technology…
… Read more...I would feel more optimistic
about a bright future for
I received THE BOY, THE MOLE, THE FOX AND THE HORSE by Charlie Mackesy as a birthday present earlier this week and likely would never have picked it up on my own. What a little gem I’d have been missing. … Read more...
In the introduction to WORDS: Essays on Writing, Reading, and Life, Jessica McCann shares with the reader a core belief that is as intricately a part of her personal journey as it is her writer’s journey and forms the basis … Read more...
What first drew me to FAMILY OF ORIGIN by C.J. Hauser? When I saw it at an indie bookstore, the jacket was face-out, displaying the frilly butt of a diving duck. Score. This could be right up my science- and … Read more...
I often don’t review the nonfiction books I read, but I felt this one was important to share. BOOST YOUR BRAIN is an older book (published 2013) I downloaded on my iPad years ago when it was on sale. It’s … Read more...
As ANIMALIA by Jean-Baptiste Del Amo promises by its title, it is, on the highest level, about animals – specifically, about the complicated and often brutal and indifferent historical treatment of animals by farmers. But it’s also about people, an … Read more...
In a letter to a grieving father, Albert Einstein shared his thoughts on the human disconnect between the narrow “universe” we are imprisoned in and “Universe” of nature we need to “widening our circles of compassion” to live in:
“A … Read more...
THE SPEED OF LIFE by Anne Pete is a compelling debut novel and a must read for anyone who loves the Arizona desert, strong but vulnerable female characters, and moving personal journeys.
The biggest fear most of us have is … Read more...
Eat Complete by Drew Ramsey, MD effectively details the importance of nutrients and the role they play in brain health. After working with mood and anxiety disorders in patients, Ramsey began researching nutrition and how it affects the brain. His … Read more...
Katy Simpson Smith, once again, beautifully weaves nature alongside the lives of her characters in her second novel – FREE MEN is based on actual figures in history – about a disparate group: runaway slave, white man, Creek Indian (and, … Read more...
In AN EXPERIMENT IN CRITICISM, C.S. Lewis answers the question of Why We Read and also provides the answers to why all forms of storytelling are so important:
… Read more...“We seek an enlargement of our being. We want to be more
How timely was AMERICA WAS HARD TO FIND? It was published on May 14, 2019 and the 50TH anniversary of the Apollo 11 Mission was July 20, 1969. One of the main characters is a fictitious NASA astronaut who took … Read more...
Harriet Gross is professor of psychology, as well as acting pro vice chancellor and head of the College of Arts, at the University of Lincoln in the UK. Her latest book is The Psychology of Gardening (2018).
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A Nappuccino is the combination of a 20 minute nap and a pre nap coffee to create a short, strategic, restorative break without the post nap inertia.
But the key ingredient in a “Nappuccino” is timing. The whens matter.
Daniel … Read more...
I am SO fortunate to have gotten my hands on AMERICAN DIRT by Jeanine Cummins in advance of publication (thanks to my book angel). It was THE way to wind down the reading year: to be totally absorbed in a … Read more...
Timely. Terrifying. Heartbreaking. Yes, THE WILDLANDS by Abby Geni with its examination of human impact on the natural world is timely. The wildlife and environmental realities it highlights are terrifying. And the characters – a family of orphans – suffer … Read more...