Sunday Salon – Review of “The Last Child” by John Hart

This is a thriller/ mystery about abducted and missing children, but it stands head and shoulders above other treatments of that theme. There are no gruesome details, but there is rich characterization and subtle psychological exploration of the characters. And there is plenty of riveting suspense. Thirteen-year-old Johnny Merrimon has a twin sister, Alyssa, but [...]

June 13, 1865 – Birthday of William Butler Yeats

The Irish poet and dramatist William Butler Yeats is one of the foremost figures of twentieth-century literature. He was born into the Anglo-Irish landowning class and educated in Dublin. He was much taken with the Celtic Revival, a nationalist movement which sought to promote the spirit of Ireland’s native heritage. His writing at the turn [...]

Influence of Other Blogs on Purchasing Decisions

I haven’t been very diligent in reporting how I make my purchasing decisions lately, but I can truthfully say almost all of it comes from recommendations of other bloggers. Here is an example of only one location in our house of a stack of TBRs: This photo is taken from the couch in front of [...]

June 12, 1967 – The Supreme Court Decided Loving v. Virginia

Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1 (1967) was a landmark civil rights case in which the United States Supreme Court declared Virginia’s anti-miscegenation statutes unconstitutional, overturning Pace v. Alabama (1883) and ending all race-based legal restrictions on marriage in the United States. Chief Justice Earl Warren, writing for the Court, declared that statutes preventing marriage [...]

Bookstores, Bookstores, Bookstores

This is a meme I picked up from The Boston Bibliophile, here. Bookstores, Bookstores, Bookstores What’s your favorite bookstore? I love the University of Wisconsin –Madison bookstore – I love to go down to the lower level and look at all the half-priced books that were used for classes (includes a lot of great fiction [...]

Review of “Spiced” by Dalia Jurgensen

This is a book I kept setting aside. True stories of a pastry chef? I love sweets, but how interesting could this be? But something about the author’s mischievous smile on the cover kept drawing me back to the book. Dalia Jurgensen gave up an office job to work in restaurants in various cooking jobs [...]

C.O.R.A. Diversity Roll Call Meme #8: Got Poetry?

This is a twice-monthly meme hosted this time by Color Online, an online community committed to the promotion, empowerment, and political awakening of young women. C.O.R.A. stands for Color Online Reader Activist. The theme this time (posted here) is on poetry. The questions we are asked to address include any of the following: Today’s assignment [...]

Review of “The Actor and the Housewife” by Shannon Hale

Becky Jack is a happily-married wife and mother of three (and very pregnant with her fourth) when she manages to sell a screenplay in Los Angeles. She flies out to L.A. to negotiate with the agent, but the meeting is broken up when heartthrob Felix Callahan walks in, and the chemistry between Becky and Felix [...]

Free Delivery of Books from the U.K.

If anyone is interested in a book that cannot be found in the U.S., such as Star Gazing by Linda Gillard (see my review here), it turns out you can order it from the U.K. and get free shipping! What a deal! Browse or do a search here at The Book Depository Company. Prices are [...]

Color Online Summer Book Drive

Susan of Blackeyed Susans Blogspot is asking everyone’s help for a book drive. She runs a community nonprofit library, Alternatives for Girls. She writes: “We have a solid collection of multicultural literature because our girls need to know the world is larger than the city boundaries. Still, there are areas I struggle to fill: new [...]