Book Review: Tom Lake

Earlier this year I read The Dutch House by Ann Patchett and absolutely loved the storytelling. You can read my full review here, but my overall description would be that the novel was a poetic ode to family in all its beauty and complexity. The book felt rich. I am always years behind on best-seller…

Book Review: The Nine

I wouldn’t call myself a history buff, but I have always been interested in looking back to learn about the world through the lens of historical documentation. In school, I really loved history assignments, literature reviews, biopics, geography challenges and researching about any topic that brought me back into a previous time. But for some…

Book Review: Till We Have Faces

There are some books that keep you turning their pages long past your bedtime and then make you ponder their plots as you dream throughout the day. I recently discovered that Till We Have Faces, by C.S. Lewis is one of those books for me. I actually bought my copy of the novel a while…

Book Review: Color—A Natural History of the Palette

As I have expanded my artistic career over the past few years, I’ve taken a particular interest in the materials I buy. Wanting to sell quality art made with quality materials, I usually conduct research before restocking paper, paints, canvases, pens and packaging supplies to consider multiple options. I not only want to invest in…

Book Review: Lost Illusions

A few years ago, I read (and totally enjoyed) Père Goirot, one of Honoré de Balzac’s most famous novels in his massive work, La Comédie humaine, which is comprised of 90 novels featuring 2,000 characters who cross between the books. As a lover of classic European literature (my favorite book is Les Misèrables), I was…

Book Review: So Long as It’s Wild

Ever since the book So Long as It’s Wild: Standing Strong After My Famous Walk Across America (2023)by Barbara Jenkins was announced, I’ve been highly anticipating reading it. A few years ago, I read (and loved) To Shake the Sleeping Self, written by one of her sons, Jedidiah Jenkins. From following both Jedidiah and Barbara…

Buy the Book

A few years ago, I came across Bookshop.org. This online book retailer sources its stock from local bookstores, some of which don’t have the means to maintain their own online storefronts or might not have the ubiquitous reach that mega retailers have. Beyond the benevolent idea that my shopping would benefit small-to-medium sized businesses, I…

Sitting, Waiting, Wishing

I love an end of the year reflection post. I also love a song lyric that feels so relevant to a moment in time it’s as if the lyricist wrote it just for me (thank you Jack Johnson, circa 2005). So, here I am at the end of 2024—sitting, waiting, wishing only good things for…

Book Review: Wintering

In mid-November, a friend of mine randomly said, “I have a book I think you’d like.” If you’ve ever been the recipient of that kind of statement, you may understand the slight bristling that I initially experienced. How does she know what kind of book I like to read? I thought, while also gamely writing…