Gather 'round…
Man, do I love a good book. I haven't been hitting the fiction very hard lately--I always wonder at the ebb and flow and general chaos of my reading tendencies--but I feel myself headed back down some excellent fiction roads. Thank God. Every now and again, fiction is the quickest way to my heart. I... Continue Reading →
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie My rating: 5 of 5 starsAccording to Goodreads, Agatha Christie is the best-selling author of all time. Yeah. I can believe that.This was my first exposure to The AC, and well, I wasn't disappointed. Riveting. Funnily enough, it reminds me of Ellen Raskin's The Westing Game, that... Continue Reading →
I love Annie Dillard. Non-Fiction, anyway. I can't speak to her fiction. But her NF is brilliant.It's interesting to me how I can forget things so easily. I was in the middle of An American Childhood when it had to go back to the library many months ago, and I never did get it back. Plum... Continue Reading →
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz My goodreads rating: 5 of 5 stars I've been on a serious non-fiction jag. Kind of a non-reading jag, really. Summer and all that, I suppose. Not sure how it throws me so far off kilter, but it does. Regardless, when fall... Continue Reading →
Accidental Saints found its way into my library hold shelf a while back. I didn't review it. Not because it wasn't good. Just because I didn't. I can do that sometimes... read a book and not even have the decency to write about it. Apologies. I loved it. Nadia Bolz-Weber is a foul-mouth overly-tatted rough-and-tumble... Continue Reading →
Anyone noticed that big burning ball of gas in the sky lately? I forgot what it's called. Vocabulary failures aside, it is welcome here. The endless gloom was starting to wear. It's just straight up cruel to go through peak colors in Wisconsin in the rain. In other news... I just started Brene Brown's Braving the Wilderness. It was... Continue Reading →
All the Crooked Saints by Maggie Stiefvater My rating: 5 of 5 stars Can I give it six stars? Eight? I need more stars. A few weeks ago I was driving across the Colorado desert with my 18yo and she suddenly drops into a reminiscent haze in the midst of the red rocks and tumbleweed.... Continue Reading →
I didn't read much as a kid, beyond a library of Garfield and Shel Silverstien (both quality literature I still stand by as my foundation). Over the years, there were a few school-mandated books (Island of the Blue Dolphins? This is honestly the only one I remember), but I read them begrudgingly at best, and they never... Continue Reading →
Winterdance Gary Paulsen My Goodreads rating: 5/5 Stars Oh, Gary Paulsen is a gem. I laughed so hard. It took me back a handful of years to the several times I read Paulsen's Harris and Me to my kiddos. Rip-snortin' funny. And wonderful. Paulsen regales with stories of his journey to and through the Iditarod, and doesn't... Continue Reading →
The School of Essential Ingredients Erica Bauermeister My Goodreads rating: 3/5 stars Well, I dunno. I was reading along, and I will definitely admit Essential Ingredients made me hungry, but about midway through all I could think of was: Where is the plot? I was growing increasingly suspicious that I was stuck in a book... Continue Reading →
Perfect by Rachel Joyce My rating: 2 of 5 stars I loved Harold Fry. I loved Queenie Hennessey even more. Perfect is not Harold and it is not Queenie. This Fourth of July weekend I was asked why I only write positive book reviews. I've said it before, but I'll say it again; I'm not... Continue Reading →
Small Victories: Spotting Improbable Moments of Grace by Anne Lamott My rating: 5 of 5 stars My first Anne Lamott. I know. But it is. I loved most of it. I love her brokenness shining forth unapologetically, unabashed vulnerability, and snarky humor. Thus, Anne Lamott is a hit. But I do have to say that... Continue Reading →
Tales From the Nexus 