These "clubs" happen twice a year, each time focusing on books published in a particular year between 1920 and 1980 or so. It's always so interesting to read the variety of reviews! Thanks so much to Simon and Karen for hosting. I don't always manage to be organized enough to join, but this time I … Continue reading #1962Club: A Murder of Quality
During our fall break, we went to Meiringen in the Bernese Oberland -- a place we'd been wanting to visit for a while. Located beyond Interlaken, at the other end of the Lake of Brienz, it's a renowned destination for both skiing and hiking. It's also famous as the place where Sherlock Holmes met his … Continue reading Postcards from Switzerland: Meiringen
Literature I only finished five books this month, though one of them was actually four books in one. Then there were a couple of much-anticipated recent releases -- one of which I thought was worth the hype, and the other not. Some rereading, which brought me comfort and also a bit of discomfort. And a … Continue reading Month in Review: September 2023
In my last Make me read it poll, blog readers selected Sweet Bean Paste as the book I should read next, out of several that I'd recommended to the library. And I enjoyed it, but I find that I do not have much to say about it. It was a heartfelt little tale about prejudice … Continue reading You made me read it, and Around the World update
What? Prince Harry's royal tell-all Spare, a spiritual memoir? I admit that I did not initially pick it up as one. But as I read, it made me think about the role of royalty in regard to spirituality. For that alone, I decided to count it for my spiritual memoir challenge -- in the category … Continue reading Spiritual Memoir Review: Spare
I'm very pleased that I finished reading Krabat by Otfried Preußler this summer. Taking it slowly, one part per month, helped me get through and feel that I'd made a real step in German fluency. Here follows my summary of the third part in German and English, and some final thoughts in English. Nach Michals … Continue reading Krabat: The Third Year
Summer is over, and it's time to wrap up my 10 Books of Summer challenge. I packed my list with books I wanted to complete for various other challenges -- The #LoveHain readalong, #ReadingtheMeow in June, Read All Around the World, Spiritual Memoir Challenge, and StoryGraph Onboarding Challenge -- or that had been on my … Continue reading 10 Books of Summer / Summer in Other Languages Wrap-Up
The online magazine Motherwell, which describes itself as "telling all sides of the parenting story," has published an essay I wrote about reading to my son, titled "Why it's important to read aloud to our teenagers." Here's how it starts: “Mom, could you read to me?” Virus-ridden and miserable, my son was lying on the … Continue reading Over at Motherwell: Bringing back read-aloud time with a teenager
In August I sent the first issue of my new newsletter, which includes extra content for readers who'd like to go a bit beyond the blog. It includes news about my forthcoming book publication, as well as links, photos, poetry, and more. You can check out the first issue here, and if you'd like to … Continue reading Month in Review: August 2023
It's been an exciting month - we decided to move to a new apartment, so August is going to be very busy. I'm taking the month off from blogging, accordingly. I'll be back in September once I get settled. However, I do plan to start sending out a new monthly newsletter. My first issue will … Continue reading Month in Review: July 2023, and blog break
