I forgot to celebrate the occasion, but the 1st of January marked 10 years since I started my first book blog, The Emerald City Book Review. Though the Emerald City has morphed into the Enchanted Castle, I've been blogging for a whole decade now. I've gotten so much out of this hobby, and I am … Continue reading Celebrating 10 Years of Blogging
Even though I own the Library of America edition of the Hainish novels and stories by Ursula K. Le Guin, I'd not read most of the contents, or had extremely hazy recollections. So when Chris of Calmgrove organized a readalong, I was all for it. Over the course of 2023 I read several novellas and … Continue reading #LoveHain: A Human Universe
Literature I've already been reviewing my entire year's reading this week (see fiction; nonfiction, but here's what I read in December, 2023. I ended the year with quite a lot of good reading -- aided by being on vacation for the last 10 days. A dramatic shot of the Faroes -- when not raining it … Continue reading Month in Review: December 2023
In 2023 I decided to transfer my reading records to The StoryGraph - I still use Goodreads for selected reviews, but I wanted a non-Amazon-owned place to keep records, mainly for myself. After a full year of using The StoryGraph, here's my assessment: What I like Clean and simple interface. Easy to keep track of … Continue reading My #StoryGraph Year
Though doing these lists is a lot of work, I value the opportunity to look back and reflect on my year's reading. Everything has a role to play, not just my favorites, and it's interesting to see the patterns that evolve as I read my way along. This year I made a conscious effort to … Continue reading 2023: My Year in Nonfiction
In the midst of my fiction and nonfiction review posts, I couldn't resist joining in with this Top Ten Tuesday topic, to share some of my favorite books of 2023. It was hard to pick only 10, so I somewhat randomly chose from my top reads of the year. I could do another one or … Continue reading Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite books of 2023
I'm celebrating the New Year by sharing my list of all the fiction books I read in 2023! As you can see, I read quite a lot of books from other countries, which was wonderful. These were some of my most memorable reads of the year and I can highly recommend most of them. I … Continue reading 2023: My Year in Fiction
Well, I tremendously enjoyed rereading The Wonderful Wizard of Oz this month. And here are the posts I found, please add yours in the comments if I missed it: Entering the Enchanted Castle Howling Frog Books Staircase Wit Puss Reboots The Book Stop Rosie Amber Literary Potpourri The Bookworm Chronicles Pages Unbound As a bonus, … Continue reading #Ozathon24: December Wrap-Up
Authors Publish Magazine has just posted an essay of mine that mused on the question: "Is an unpublishable book worth writing?" This came up in connection with my personal experience of writing an entire book I didn't feel able to submit for publication. Was that a waste of time? As I looked into the experiences … Continue reading Over at Authors Publish: Is an unpublishable book worth writing?
This poem was written after a retreat at the Alcyon Center in Maine some years ago. Walking their outdoor labyrinth brought me this experience of how confusion and disintegration can be transformed when we simply focus on our next step, one at a time. As we enter into the turning point of the year, in … Continue reading Labyrinth
