In one of the two holiday movies I watch without fail, It's a Wonderful Life, lead character George Bailey is a man who has always resented his meagre, small town life until he gets a chance to see what said town would have been like if he'd never been born. George discovers that he actually … Continue reading 2020 Reading List – The Final
Novels
The Wheelhouse Project: Story
Go here for an introduction to the Wheelhouse Project. I read a lot and fairly widely. I really like books. Which means that when thinking about which of Nancy Pearl's four Doorways to reading—Story, Character, Setting, Language—I react more with, "Yes, those," rather than identifying with one alone. That said, I find one of these … Continue reading The Wheelhouse Project: Story
Raincheck
Reading Friends: I had family in town this weekend so did not find time to get a post together. Briefly though, I want to recommend a remarkable novel that I loved: Normal People by Sally Rooney. This story of young lovers showcases the bonehead ways that people often act when figuring out how to be … Continue reading Raincheck
Anne vs. Emily*
As a child, I was verbal, bookish, imaginative, romantic, and creative. (Also bossy.) When I cleaned the bathroom, I imagined myself as a tragic princess-type, a la Cinderella or Sara Crew. When I washed dishes I pretended it was hard, closeknit olden times and I was someone like Laura Ingalls or Jo March. These heroines … Continue reading Anne vs. Emily*
Rest, Toni Morrison
Attempting to gather thoughts on Toni Morrison and her legacy I mentally cautioned myself to avoid being hyperbolic. But then I realized it's not hyperbole when someone was a genius, a luminary, and a sage. I first read Morrison as an undergraduate English major at a small state school in very white Utah. I knew … Continue reading Rest, Toni Morrison
Odds and Ends
Short post this week as I’m noodling on a couple of more substantive pieces that are not yet ready for public sharing. Here are some snapshot reviews of a few things I’ve read recently. Heart Berries by Terese Marie Mailhot – This slim memoir lays bare a woman’s issues with love, motherhood, and mental health, … Continue reading Odds and Ends
When Books are Just Fine
I've read several books this year that were fine. Serviceable. Some even contained elements to admire. I wasn't mad at them. They were fine. But I don't read to read books that are fine. I read to be moved, to be entertained, to be inspired, to be impressed, to be wound around unexpected corners of … Continue reading When Books are Just Fine
Mid-Century Macabre: Shirley Jackson and Josephine Tey
I have a brilliant friend whose bailiwicks include mid-twentieth century fiction and depictions of madness. Shirley Jackson, unsurprisingly, is a favorite. The only things I'd read of hers before were "The Lottery," (#iconic) and The Haunting of Hill House (1959), which I read as a teenager and barely remembered. But inspired by my friend, I … Continue reading Mid-Century Macabre: Shirley Jackson and Josephine Tey
On ‘Lost and Wanted’
I wasn't sure, at first, how I was feeling about Nell Freudenberger's Lost and Wanted. It seemed like a textbook case of why teachers give the advice to "show don't tell." But I found myself identifying with the structured, reserved, cerebral narrator and drawn in by the topical structure—astrophysics—for which I have a novice's fascination. … Continue reading On ‘Lost and Wanted’
Dogs, Coffee, & Books 