Category: You Decide

The two books I am highlighting in this post were both published in October of 2021. While they cover two different time periods–Renaissance Europe and Revolutionary America–the authors have painstakingly researched and intriguingly presented information that some of us may not have known. The first book is by a prize-winning author who is also a professor at the University of South Carolina. Woody Holton teaches

Beautiful Country, Qian Julie Wang This book is the memoir of an undocumented immigrant who grew up in New York City. Julie Wang went from a childhood of poverty and fear to graduate Yale Law School and Swarthmore College. She is currently a civil rights litigator. Critics praise her book for its poignancy and liveliness. Another memoir-type book is The Boys by the Howard brothers.

I’m just wondering how many of you enjoy listening to books rather than reading them? Some people don’t think that ‘listening’ to a book really counts as having ‘read’ the book. Critics of audiobooks feel as if listening to a book is somehow akin to cheating or perhaps reading the Cliff Notes. The publishing business surely doesn’t think that way. Along with Amazon, they have

After reading and discussing Of Women and Salt, several members of the Sandcastle Book Club remarked that they were ready to read some “happy” books. While I agree with them, I’m not sure what a happy book is. I recently read two books that are certainly light in nature and touted to be ‘feel good’–Anxious People by Fredrik Backman and Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

Two new books explore the subjects of evangelical religion in the South and revered preachers from Texas. Both books tell a story of the daughters of these preachers and how their faith in God is shaken when their faith in their fathers is destroyed. One family is white and the other is Black. Both books are debut novels for the authors. If you don’t know

Maggie Shipstead is an author I had not heard much about. It seems she has written two other noteworthy books: Seating Arrangements, a romantic comedy set in New England, and Astonish Me, a novel about the complex world of ballet. Her new book, Great Circle, has been getting a lot of attention and rave reviews. It’s heralded as the best book of this summer, and

If you enjoyed Martha Hall Kelly’s bestseller Lilac Girls, you are bound to appreciate her new book Sunflower Sisters. In this book, Kelly weaves together the lives of three women during the Civil War. She tells the stories of a Union nurse, an enslaved African American and a Southern plantation mistress. Sunflower Sisters – by Martha Hall Kelly Description Martha Hall Kelly’s million-copy bestseller Lilac Girls introduced

(submitted by Madeleine Kaye) How literature — yes, literature — can help you better connect with others Mar 9, 2021 This post is part of TED’s “How to Be a Better Human” series, each of which contains a piece of helpful advice from people in the TED community; browse through all the posts here.  Pete Ryan Greetings from an evangelist for a declining field: literature!  English majors,

First of all, several questions: 1. What is a utopian novel? 2. What is a dystopian novel? 3. What is AI? The answers: A science fiction or other form of speculative fiction that portrays a pleasant reality. A science fiction or other form of speculative fiction that portrays an unpleasant reality. Artificial intelligence or intelligence manufactured by a machine that is programmed to think and