Books
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Book Reviewer Fail (or, Coming Soon on #WIRW)
I spent last week at the Outer Banks of North Carolina with one eye deep in my Kindle (with many thanks to NetGalley) and the other on the ocean, scanning for shark fins. Thankfully, the only sightings were (erroneously) that of a porpoise (but you can’t be too safe), and “Bob”, served at Tortuga’s Lie full of blood-red Grenadine syrup to pour into my nine-year-olds glass of pink lemonade. (The drink is aptly named the “Near Miss”, by the way.) All in all, I worked my way through eight galleys in ten days, and I read some amazing novels that I can’t wait to share with you! Unfortunately, you’ll have to do just that: wait. Because in my…
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Beach Rubbish Picker
We have many traditions when we come to the beach. My daughter is a keen collector of beach shells, and her idea of “beautiful” is a lot less selective than that of yours and mine. To her, EVERY shell is beautiful. This results in an extensive shell collection at the end of the week, making it very hard to select a tiny few to bring home. As we flew in this year versus making the trip by car, space is at a premium, so narrowing the collection is a necessity. Another tradition we have is our evening walk on the beach. It’s quiet, with a few families lingering, some older ones…
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8 Reasons Summers Were Better When I Was A Kid
We’re nearly at a third of the way through summer vacation, and after a day like today, I have to wonder…how did my mom manage to READ so often in the summer when I was a kid? Seriously, the first two memories that come to mind when I look back at my mom during our summer vacations (when we weren’t reading) were of her (a) curled up with a book on the TV room* sofa, telling me to “put down my book and get outside”, and (b) vacuuming**. (*Why we called it the “tv room” when the entire wall the tiny TV sat upon was actually a bookshelf, and nearly every…
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What I’m Reading Wednesday: The Coincidence of Coconut Cake #WIRW
Are you hungry? I’m really excited about this week’s pick for What I’m Reading Wednesday – The Coincidence of Coconut Cake by Amy Reichert. It’s been frequently described as “You’ve Got Mail” meets “How to Eat a Cupcake”, and I would have to agree. The Coincidence of Coconut Cake is light, fun read about a restaurant owner brought down by a food critic’s untimely visit to her restaurant and subsequent scathing review. Set in Milwaukee, chef and restaurant owner Lou makes an awful discovery on her fiance’s birthday, resulting in a tumultuous night in the kitchen. Al is a British food writer biding his time in Milwaukee by writing scathing reviews of…
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What I’m Reading Wednesday: The Truth According to Us
It’s been a busy week and Wednesday just snuck up on me! How could it do that? I have a book to share with you this week that I just fell in love with! So let’s waste no more time, because I want to share my What I’m Reading Wednesday pick, Annie Barrows’ The Truth According to Us. Annie Barrows co-wrote The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, and she is the author of the Ivy and Bean children’s book series. If you were a fan of the former, well, this book has a different feel. The Truth According To Us is historical fiction set in the summer of 1938. Layla…
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What I’m Reading Wednesday: Cozy Mysteries & Meddling Detectives
I like mysteries, and I like spunky heroines – particularly the kind that never quite go looking for trouble, but always seem to fall face down into it as sure as the buttered side of your bread will hit the floor. Even more fun are those trouble magnets that just have to solve the mystery they’ve stumbled into despite the admonitions of the local police to just stay away. (Seriously…who can stay away?) Enter the “Cozy Mystery”. I confess, I’m relatively new to the term but not the genre. A “cozy mystery” falls under the heading of crime fiction; they take place in a small community, the detectives are almost always…
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What I’m Reading Wednesday – About Living Online
If you are reading this, it’s obvious you are plugged in and living online. Internet, email, social media – it’s become and integral part of our lives and unlike those of us born (more than) twenty years ago, today’s children have exposure to technology and various forms of social media starting at a very early age. This weeks picks focus on two ends of the spectrum, if you will. The first is written by a mom who, concerned by her family’s engagement in technology, makes the bold move to totally unplug. As in, from everything. The second book is one that, for those of us not willing to make that…
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What I’m Reading Wednesday – Order of Seven
While I look forward to the end of homework and packed lunches and crazy schedules, summer vacation also means the end of order as I know it. Soon, my quiet time to read and write will go hand in hand with the kidlings’ time spent with the Disney Channel or the X-Box. With that in mind, I’ve been doing even more reading than writing because I have so many great books stacked on the side table and lined up on my Kindle. One book read in record time is this week’s pick for What I’m Reading Wednesday: ORDER OF SEVEN by Beth Teliho. Reading the blurb on the back of the book, my…
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What I’m Reading Wednesday: The Truth and Other Lies
In the mood for something different? Something witty, suspenseful, and with a protagonist who is absolutely despicable? Do I have the book for you! Sascha Arango’s “The Truth and Other Lies” is a cleverly written book that proved to be impossible to put down. Henry Hayden is a famous author who lives a rather unassuming life with his quiet wife – only, the only tales that Henry is actually responsible for are the lies and half-truths that come out of his mouth when he tries to save himself from a disaster of his own making. His wife mind-bogglingly churns out one book after another, and is perfectly content to let Henry lay claim to…
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A Fit Like A Glove
If you are lucky, you will in your life find yourself in a place that just fits, like a glove, a place that wraps around you like a comfortable sweater and settles your soul. I surprised myself by discovering that one such place was the little village in Wales where we moved for my husband’s job. Where Frances Mayes found many similarities of life in a Tuscan village to the one knew as a child in the South, I too saw similarities in the rural Welsh village. It was a place filled with quirky characters, where you could hardly walk through town without encountering a half-dozen acquaintances for a chat or a…
