Before I start celebrating all of the festive holiday-themed Romance novels you can curl up with as the weather tuns cold and the nights grow longer and you need a break from all of the forced cheer, I need to address a huge, huge mistake in last month’s column. I forgot to include My Fake …
From Mountaineers, this book is an intimate work of art elegantly inventorying the peaceful giants that give the Northwest its serene beauty. From mighty cedars to dainty scrub oaks this guide gives you everything you need to both celebrate and understand the tree species covered within. Steven Arno imparts his wealth of knowledge and Ramona …
I should perhaps be focusing on Coats’s newest book, the middle-grade fantasy The Green Children of Woolpit, but it’s just come out and well, I haven’t read it yet. But I really want to, based on how much my daughter and I enjoyed Coats’s earlier novel, The Many Reflections of Miss Jane Deming. I can’t …
This British cozy mystery series focuses on a talented but deeply flawed detective. Agatha Raisin smokes, drinks, and is incredibly vain–on the other hand, she sure loves her cats! She doesn’t do much investigating in this one, focusing mostly on her always messy love life, but as a fan I enjoyed spending time in Agatha’s …
I laughed so hard I cried. Then I went into silent laughter mode. Then I couldn’t breathe. You’ve been warned. –Kelsea A hilarious, quick read that will make you laugh from page one. The blogger Allie Brosh puts her life in the form of a comic It will make you cry with laughter and have …
This heart-breaking novel is storytelling at its best! It follows Rachel, a young Hawaiian girl whose dreams are shattered the day she is taken from her family and sent to Kalaupapa, the quarantined settlement for lepers on the island of Moloka’i. Rich in history and characters, this special story will stay with you forever. And now after …
In 1960, Steinbeck felt that he no longer intimately understood the country that he had been writing about for most of his life. Travels with Charley is his travelogue that came from his desire to see the country one last time before he died. It’s a rich perspective on America as only Steinbeck can tell it, as …
This piece was originally published on the Island Books blog. Growing up, I loved getting lost in books: It didn’t matter to me if the book was adventurous, dramatic, suspenseful, or fantastical; as long as it transported me somewhere else, I was happy. I’d be so immersed in my book that I’d barely hear my …
I first read a Josephine Tey book in 1962 and it changed my life. I became a huge fan of British history especially in the period from King Arthur to Richard III. I took a tour of the Tower of London castle/prison in August 1962. It was just before I began my junior year in …
My 20th reading of this existential classic (I read it once a year). A story whose narrator rides waves of sorrow, dread, and sometimes joy. Ultimately empty, but with hope. Exploring and explaining a world that both makes sense to human probing, but denies it at the same time. Favorite quote: “My memories are like …
