Words Matter

I know you have heard the phrase ‘words matter.’ And yes, indeed, they do. Words can harm or charm, encourage or outrage, inspire or deflate. OK, enought of that!! Some words are simply overused, misused or useless, and the folks at Lake Superior State University have, since 1976, vented about the most tiresome examples of such. Each year they publish a list for The Banished

Young Author Makes the News

Peg Michel sent me the following NYT article about a little boy with a big imagination and a clever marketing scheme. Read the below excerpt and follow up by viewing the February 3rd 6:30 NBC Nightly News story about– An 8-Year-Old Wrote a Book and Hid It on a Library Shelf. It’s a Hit. Dillon Helbig, a second-grader from Idaho, wrote an 81-page book about

Books into Movies

Anxious People, by Fredrik Backman The movie is streaming now on Netflix It starts off a bit confusing but has a universal theme. Trust me on this! The Nightingale, by Kristen Hannah Release date?  Who really knows?  It seems that the movie has been made but not released.  It stars Dakota Fanning and Elle Fanning.  The last information mentioned December of 2022.  Honestly, I’m not

Good News

Anyone who watches Lester Holt’s Nightly News knows there is usually a piece at the conclusion of the show that features some ‘good news.’ Last week he told the story of a teenage girl who is spreading hope and love with gifts of books. Hopefully you can see that clip by clicking below. Don’t forget to turn up your volume and enjoy! https://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/maryland-teen-s-personal-tragedy-inspires-book-donation-drive-131477061690

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

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