HOW TO FIND LOVE IN A BOOKSHOP by Veronica Henry (2016)
September 2021 I didn’t expect to like this book. I liked the “bookshop” part, but if the “love” part was too mushy or maudlin, I’d set it aside. I decided to read a little to get the tone of the book; give it a fair chance. I’m so glad I did! Nightingale Books is a place I’d like to go, and the people and their stories are lovely and...
THE PARIS LIBRARY by Janet Skeslien Charles (2021)
August 2021 In 2010 Janet Skeslien Charles began working as the Programs Director at the American Library in Paris where she learned the history of this wonderful Library founded in 1920. The years of Nazi occupation of Paris and their effect on the Library especially drew her interest. A lot of research into those years supplemented with her own...
THE PARIS HOURS by Alex George (2020)
THE PARIS HOURS by Alex George (2020) July 2021 Paris in 1927 was perhaps the most exciting and vibrant city in the world. It was a magnet for talented artists, musicians, writers, and various other creative souls. Hemingway had just married his second wife and birthed a new novel. Gertrude Stein was famous for her salon and for investing in...
Women War Photographers in WWII and Vietnam
THE WOMEN WHO WROTE THE WAR by Nancy Sorel (1999) AND YOU DON’T BELONG HERE by Elizabeth Becker (2021) June 2021 I dedicate this month’s blog to the memory of murdered Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi and to the courage of jailed Belarussian dissident journalist Roman Protasevich. Earlier this year I saw an interview with Elizabeth...
THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY by Matt Haig
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig (2020) May 2021 Nora Seed’s life was on a downhill trajectory. She was being professionally treated for “situational depression,” but it wasn’t really helping. She lost her job and her only paying piano student, so had no income. Her best friend was 10,000 miles away in Australia. Her brother, upset over her...
LITTLE BOY by Lawrence Ferlinghetti
LITTLE BOY by Lawrence Ferlinghetti (2019) April 2021 Lawrence Monsanto Ferlinghetti, perhaps the best-known American bookstore owner/publisher of the second half of the 20th Century, died on February 22, 2021 at the age of 101. He was also a poet, novelist, artist, iconoclast, WWII veteran, self-described “dissident romantic or romantic...
Courageous Librarians
THE GIVER OF STARS by Jojo Moyes (2019) and THE BOOK WOMAN OF TROUBLESOME CREEK by Kim Richardson (2019) March 2021 How exciting that we have TWO BOOKS to read about this month! By some gift from the Universe, both books about the same obscure subject were published within months of each other. I’ve found no evidence that Moyes and Richardson...
HONORING BOOK WORLD PASSINGS
HONORING BOOK WORLD PASSINGS February 2021 This month I’m deviating from my usual book review to honor two special people in the book world who passed away recently. One was a famous author known throughout the world. The other was a bookseller none of us here have heard of, but whose story reflects the courage and commitment sometimes needed...
BECOMING by Michelle Obama
BECOMING by Michelle Obama (2018) January 2021 Young Michelle Robinson had carefully planned her life: good education, career, home ownership, children. While she did achieve those goals, it was done in a way that she never could have imagined in her wildest dreams. In fact, her life took a path that wouldn’t even have been available to her...
THE BOOK OF TWO WAYS
THE BOOK OF TWO WAYS by Jodi Picoult (2020) December 2020 We finally made it to the last month of 2020, a year that has seemed like a decade with all its changes and upheavals. As we take time to reflect upon what we did and what remains to be done before 2020 ends, we should also look ahead to contemplate what we want to accomplish in 2021. ...
