Tag Archives: books

Something GOOD About the Good Old Days

Posted on January 31, 2012 by

Last fall I bought a used book that had once been a library book. Glued firmly to the back inside cover of the book was a neat old card (see below). I don’t visit many used bookstores, and I get most of … Continue reading →

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Ann Patchett’s “State of Wonder”

Posted on January 7, 2012 by

A couple of years back, I read and loved David Grann’s The Lost City of Z, a true story about a late 19th- and early 20th-century British explorer, Percy Fawcett, who traveled many times to the Amazon to search for a … Continue reading →

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How to Write the Opening Line of a Novel

Posted on October 15, 2011 by

This morning I finally got to sit down the Henry James’ The Aspern Papers, after letting it languish in a stack of junk for the last week. Writers, take note:  this is how to start a novel: I had taken … Continue reading →

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A Bit of a Chill at the Public Library

Posted on October 8, 2011 by

This week I was wandering through the stacks at the library hoping to find something GOOD to read. By “GOOD,” I mean that I just read Solar by Ian McEwan, and that any book that follows a read by Ian … Continue reading →

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Notes on Celebrity Memoir: Rob Lowe and Melissa Gilbert

Posted on September 1, 2011 by

I love to read, and I try to incorporate a fair amount of fiction into my stack of books that I’m reading (I usually read several books at the same time). But I do enjoy non-fiction, and I have a real … Continue reading →

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A Carnegie Library in Two Harbors, MN

Posted on August 28, 2011 by

A couple of weekends ago, Hubby, Parents, & I ended up in two Harbors, MN for a couple of hours. After looking at Lake Superior and having a quick sandwich, we decided lunch would best be supplemented not with more sightseeing, … Continue reading →

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The Gory Delights of Influenza and Bubonic Plague

Posted on March 13, 2011 by

Last year I read “Year of Wonders:  A Novel of the Plague” Geraldine Brooks, which is a story about a Bubonic Plague in the mid-1600s in England. A wonderful plot and gorgeous writing. Last month I read “The Last Town on Earth” by Thomas Mullen, … Continue reading →

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Lessons Learned, Part I

Posted on March 2, 2010 by

Motorola cell phones are unreliable. Verizon sucks. Cats are wonderful companions. Only good people deserve the companionship of cats. Zappos.com is the best e-marketplace for ordering shoes, boots, and slippers (and who knows what else). Amazon.com is OK, too, except … Continue reading →

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January Reading Project

Posted on January 13, 2010 by

I was thinking how amazing it was that the world contained so many lives. Out in these streets people were embroiled in a thousand different matters, money problems, love problems, school problems. People were falling in love, getting married, going … Continue reading →

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A Favorite Quotation

Posted on December 30, 2009 by

I’ve been carrying this quotation around on a notecard for about 15 years. Sometimes it serves a function; sometimes it just comes along with me. I use it as a bookmark for awhile, then stick in my wallet for a … Continue reading →

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