From a young age, I aspired to be an “accomplished woman” like the heroines of 19th century European literature who managed to excel at many disparate talents and interests. I sought to be as well-rounded as humanly possible with as many activities as could fit in a day. I honestly didn’t care about perfection so…
Tag: Perception
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…
Book Review: The Dutch House
I am a sucker for an interesting book cover, so it was not really a surprise that the arresting portrait of a dark-haired girl unapologetically staring back at me caught my attention whilst I was browsing books at Barnes and Noble recently. To be honest, I’m not sure I could have just walked away from…
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…
Bright
The brightness of a grey winter sky is blinding.I can hardly manage a glance out of the window—not sure I want to anyway.The bleak greyness spreads its somber shadowson the brown grass and tangled yard clippingsI failed to discard at the end of summer. Yet for all the neutral colors of a seasonin its twilight,there’s…
Permanence
There’s nothing quite so diametrically opposed in a world of finites. And yet,there are few concepts which we both crave and fear for the marks it leaves on our bodies and souls.Permanence. Would love last to eternity and beyond as the stories promise us?Would fame follow us all the way to an end where even…
Natural Makeup
I have some thoughts on natural makeup that I’d like to share. No—this is not an influencer post nor an MLM opportunity for you to consider. I am not selling anything. All I want you to do is buy in to the notion that you (just you, not you with styled hair care or perfect…
Being alone doesn’t have to be lonely
Recently I found myself pitying a 60-something-year-old man who was eating ice cream by himself. Ohh, that must be hard, I assumed while I indulged in a latte in the coffee shop across the street. It’s sad to not have people around to share simple joys like a weekday afternoon frozen treat, I mused as…
Book Review: The Hiding Place
I remember my paternal grandmother recommending that I read The Hiding Place when I was in middle school. At that time, I had a healthy obsession with World War II era stories. I loved reading The Diary of Anne Frank and was fascinated by my grandparents’ French neighbors who had participated in the French Resistance…
L.M.Beatty 