Rewiring your brain

One of the first posts of this blog featured the effects of reading on emotional intelligence. The entry referenced Jessica Stillman’s article about how reading a variety of different authors and genres can make one more emphathetic. Stillman has once again reported on findings having to do with the positive benefits of reading. In a newsletter entitled “Inc.” (February 22, 2021), Stillman cites research done

A holiday giggle

You have heard the phrase ‘truth is stranger than fiction’, right? Well these book titiles ARE fiction, at least some of them, and they are strange. Since I’m not sure about the sensitivity level of some of my subscribers, I won’t be posting all of them! How To Make Money In Your Spare Time Still Stripping After 25 Years (Quilt In A Day) The Beginner’s

Choose a Christmas Story

A Vintage Christmas–A collection of holiday stories and poems. This is a perfect book for someone who just loves Christmas. Miracle on 10th Street, Madeleine L’Engle This book includes excerpts from different works by L’Engle, including reflections on Advent and Epiphany. A Christmas Memory, Truman Capote Capote remembers his Chrismases while growing up in Alabama. The Mistletoe Murder, P.D. James The book is a real

The 10 Best Books of 2021

Editors at The Times Book Review choose the best fiction and nonfiction titles this year. Nov. 30, 2021 FICTION How Beautiful We Were By Imbolo Mbue Following her 2016 debut, “Behold the Dreamers,” Mbue’s sweeping and quietly devastating second novel begins in 1980 in the fictional African village of Kosawa, where representatives from an American oil company have come to meet with the locals, whose

Christmas Specials

Consider giving at least some of the people on your list a recently published book for Christmas.  Don’t know what he or she might like?  My friend Becky Peace and I have concocted a list for your perusal, so take a look.  Remember, you can always buy the book from Indigo Books in Freshfields.  If they don’t have the specific book in stock, they can

2021 National Book Award Winners Announced

The following post is borrowed from the Seabrook Island Tidelines post of November 20, 2021–In 1950, the National Book Awards were established to celebrate the best writing in America. Since 1989, they have been overseen by the National Book Foundation (NBF), a nonprofit organization whose mission is “to celebrate the best literature in America, expand its audience, and ensure that books have a prominent place

Rapid Response

From Madeleine Kaye– Frances: Your post inspired me to search reviews of “The Sentence”, and both the NY Times and the Washington Post gave it such raves that I’m suggesting it for our local book club. It also reminded me of one of the most intriguing “pandemic” books I’ve read in years: “The Dog Stars” by Peter Heller. The Minneapolis Star-Tribune gives this description: In

Name That Line

Several writers had popularized the phrase ‘dark and stormy night’ before this Dickens-era author used it to begin his popular novel. Your challenge is to name the author and the book that contains what many have described as the ‘worst sentence in the English language.’ It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents—except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by