Three Uplifting but True-to-Life Books for You to Read during these Trying Pandemic Times
In the face of depressing news I always ask myself: What can we set against it? And I always end up with the same answer: The pursuit of beauty and [...]
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May, 2020
14
Jun, 2019
The Chore of Writing Book Reviews: Is Having to Read a Book Worth it?
I just clicked the Send button to submit my last book review. Until now I told myself that this would be my last. I don't want to have to read [...]
19
Mar, 2018
Book Companion Post: My Aunt Herta
Herta and I, Wiesbaden, 2002 Today would have been my Aunt Herta's birthday. I like to remember loved ones on their birthdays, and since Herta is one of [...]
6
Aug, 2016
I’m Reading…
{August Break 8/6: I'm Reading...} I can never just read one book! My current bedtime reading is Yossi Klein Halevi's Memoirs of a Jewish Extremist. I loved his book Like [...]
8
Dec, 2015
A Comfort Book – Ted Kooser’s Local Wonders
The other day I cast about for a comfort book, something pleasant to read in the tub after a busy day. Usually that would mean an Agatha Christie mystery for [...]
2
Mar, 2015
On Not Reading a Book
I didn't read the book for the December meeting of the Memoir Workshop I teach at StoryStudio Chicago. If the instructor doesn't read the assigned book, that's pretty bad, right? [...]
6
May, 2014
When a Book is Done
I just finished a book I really liked, one I had been meaning to read for a while, and I'm sad it's done. That's the hallmark of a good book, [...]
10
Feb, 2014
The Bookshelves of Others
The bookshelves of other people are fascinating. What do they tell you? When I'm invited to other people's homes, I appreciate when one of the rooms I get to be in [...]
1
Jan, 2014
Looking Back: My Most Meaningful Read of 2013
My most meaningful read of 2013 was, without a doubt, Julia Cameron's The Right to Write. It transformed my understanding of the creative process; it has me writing Morning Pages [...]
10
Nov, 2013
Sunday Sentence
Just sharing a stunning sentence I reread and thus I am participating in the Sunday Sentence Project (#SundaySentence on Twitter): "In the perpetual now that is book time." From Lia Purpura's [...]
15
Sep, 2013
Sunday Sentence
Thanks to Erika Dreifus for reminding me of the Sunday Sentence Project, which asks others to share the best sentence(s) they read during the past week, “out of context and [...]
4
Aug, 2013
Sunday Sentence
Thanks to Erika Dreifus, I've become aware of David Abrams’s “Sunday Sentence” project (#SundaySentence on Twitter), which asks others to share the best sentence(s) they’ve read during the past week, [...]
29
Jul, 2013
How I Found a Most Meaningful Book
Sometimes it is interesting to retrace where something began, when a meaningful connection was made. My interview with Susannah Conway appeared in the Washington Independent Review of Books last week, and [...]
11
Jul, 2013
A Lesson in Submitting
...or: How I got published in the Wall Street Journal. I'm a guest at my friend Nancy Kopp's blog today, so please head on over to discover her blog and [...]
29
Jun, 2013
Read!
Need I say more? Art book by Sue Sommers, created in the Literary Hybrid/Book Arts class at the Kenyon Writers Workshop
18
Jun, 2013
My Name on a Poster
I'm at the Kenyon Writers Workshop right now, indulging in a week focused on writing and fulfilling my obligations as a fellow. Among those obligations was giving a reading along [...]
10
Jun, 2013
Why I Won’t Subscribe to Red Magazine
There it is! The white curve of Red's R in a deeply red square in the upper shelf at Barnes & Noble, right next to the magazine named "culture." Tomorrow I [...]
3
Jun, 2013
One Benefit of Reading with a Kindle
I've discovered one definite benefit to reading with a Kindle, thanks to my friend Barbara who lent me hers so I could read a bit of a book she felt [...]
6
Sep, 2012
On Having Your Own Library
When my grandparents were expelled from their hometown in Czechoslovakia after World War II, they lost their house and all their possessions, but the loss my grandfather lamented the most [...]
17
Aug, 2012
A Book Vacation
We've been dealing with a few health issues lately (everything seems OK now), and so I've slacked off blogging, but yesterday as I retired to my bathtub with the newest [...]
21
Jun, 2012
Reading: In Love with an Old Book – E.B. White’s One Man’s Meat
Once in a while we read a classic in my Advanced Memoir Workshop, and this June the group chose E.B. White's One Man's Meat. The book proved hard to get from the library [...]
24
May, 2012
Reading: The Hare with Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal
Edmund de Waals' memoir The Hare with Amber Eyes was my favorite memoir of 2011, and yet I am still trying to figure out why because it defies so many of the [...]
10
May, 2012
Reading: At Home in the World by Joyce Maynard
I found myself developing a love/hate relationship Joyce Maynard’s At Home in the World. My Advanced Memoir Workshop had picked it for our April reading. First of all, At Home [...]
9
May, 2012
Book Covers Notecards
I usually don't feature shopping tips on this blog, but I just ordered these book covers notecards as birthday gifts for book lover friends, and I thought I'd share this [...]
11
May, 2011
Book Readers vs. Book Owners
I loved how the CEO of Penguin, John Makinson, differentiated between book readers and book owners when asked, in Monday's article in the Wall Street Journal, whether there will be a [...]
8
Apr, 2011
Book Reviews on Amazon
Danielle Ofri told my writing group back in January that those book reviews on amazon make a huge difference to a writer, not only in terms of feedback but in [...]
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