Two years ago, I set out to add reading back into my life as a practice and a habit — one that inadvertently pairs well with my other established habit of reflective writing. First and foremost, I read and write for my own benefit. The pursuit of knowledge and wisdom is one selfish act that…
Tag: book
Book Review: The Actor’s Life—A Survival Guide
I have been a fan of the American version of The Office since I first saw an episode (roughly 2007). My extended family was collectively enjoying downtime on Christmas break and my uncle popped in a DVD disk of the show. I followed The Office throughout high school and college, frequently quoting memorable lines with…
Book Review: The Bourne Supremacy
This time last year, I was writing a review for The Bourne Identity, the first in Robert Ludlum’s trilogy. As I discovered while reading that book, the storylines of the book and the movie series are incongruent. Other than being fairly similar in the characterization of the main character, Jason Bourne, the screen writers really…
Book Review: Born a Crime
From comedian and talk-show host Trevor Noah, Born a Crime is a delightful look into the formative years of one of America’s favorite comedic expats. This was yet another book on my reading list that I will honestly admit I didn’t buy until the most recent explosion of racial tension in America occurred earlier this…
Book Review: Just Mercy
In Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, attorney and founder of the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), Bryan Stevenson, recounts his experiences working to appeal the sentences of prison inmates, particularly those on death row. While this book was another on my books to read list for quite some time, the current atmosphere of…
Book Review: Sense and Sensibility
I really love Jane Austen’s books – or at least most of them. I did not mean to read two Austen books back-to-back, but I became really disenchanted with the nonfiction bore I kept attempting to finish reading (and I was feeling the “do more of what you love” empowerment) so I threw my reading…
Book Review: Northanger Abbey
Pride and Prejudice and Emma, two of Jane Austen’s other books rank as two of my favorite novels of all time. Recently I remembered that I’ve owned a tattered copy of Northanger Abbey for years, but I hadn’t actually read it yet. Honestly there’s no better time to visit Austen’s world than the holidays when…
Book Review: The Devil in the White City
This book was referred to me way back when I lived in Paris. A classmate knew I was from the Chicago-ish area and asked if I had ever read Erik Larson’s narrative on “murder, magic, and madness at the fair that changed America.” I hadn’t yet, but when I was told that the book was…
Book Review: The Bourne Identity
I remember when The Bourne Identity movie came out. My dad and I agreed that it was SO GOOD. My mom, on the other hand, was appalled. She had read the book first and claimed that the film depicted a wildly different story line. I ignored her and continued blissfully enjoying the entire Bourne film…
Book review: Into the Wild
Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer (1996), was a bummer of a book. Describing the ultimately fatal journey of a disillusioned, middle-class young man into the Alaskan wilderness, the book seeks to explain how and why Chris McCandless died. Through interviews with the family members he abandoned on the East Coast and the friends he…
L.M.Beatty 