*** Thanks to social media, I saw that Lorie Lewis was working on an art project to help combat gun violence. (Unsurprisingly, if you know Lorie, we met some years ago volunteering for an arts organization.) She was kind enough to meet me at a cafe to tell me about what she’s been up to … Continue reading Wings4Peace: Our Q&A with Founder Lorie Lewis →

*** NOVEL: Beezus and Ramona AUTHOR: Beverly Cleary YEAR OF PUBLICATION: 1955 REVIEW:  *** My younger daughter is a big fan of the Junie B. Jones series of books.  I don’t mind them, particularly, but they’re not my favorite, so I thought I’d introduce her to some older books about a difficult girl. As we … Continue reading On Our Bookshelves: Beezus and Ramona →

This isn’t quite a picture book.  It isn’t quite a chapter book for children.  And it’s not quite a graphic novel, either. 

A friend of mine said that The House in the Cerulean Sea was a hug in book form.  And that is pretty much an accurate description of this sweet and comforting novel.

*** BOOK: The Art of Eating AUTHOR: M.F.K. Fisher YEAR OF PUBLICATION: 1954 REVIEW:  *** I recently read M.F.K Fisher’s As They Were, a collection of essays written between 1935 and 1982, which at least purports to be an informal autobiography.  It’s not: it’s a collection of disparate pieces, some excellent, some less so, and … Continue reading On Our Bookshelves: The Art of Eating →

Lives in Writing is a rather good compendium of essays about authors and their work, written by David Lodge, a fine writer himself, with illuminating insight on biographies, autobiographies, biographical fiction, memoirs, correspondence, and diaries.

The Jane Austen Book Club isn’t a reimagining of one of Jane Austen’s novels.

*** NOVEL: The Franchise Affair AUTHOR: Josephine Tey YEAR OF PUBLICATION: 1949 REVIEW:  *** The Franchise Affair is beautifully written, a mystery well-told.  It’s considered a classic in the genre, one of the Crime Writers’ Association’s Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time and one of the Mystery Writers of America’s Top 100 Mystery Novels … Continue reading On Our Bookshelves: The Franchise Affair →

*** NOVEL: Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors AUTHOR: Sonali Dev YEAR OF PUBLICATION: 2019 REVIEW:  *** Pride and Prejudice gets an Indian-American California makeover here, with a gender-swapped version of the classic story.  It’s an easy, breezy read, and rather silly and predictable, but there are times (like these) that readers want the comfort of … Continue reading On Our Bookshelves: Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors →

Brandon Stanton’s gift to the world is a collection of stories and connections, those gifts from the universe amplified and shared.