There are five tiers of books in my world. Only the highest tier of books make it on to this blog. I thought I’d write a post today to share with you how I go about choosing books to preview on the blog. Tier 5: Never Started These are all of the books out there that I never attempted to...
The inquisitive one was on a date with a tall person originally from Puerto Rico. They talked about their book reading, their exercise routines, and their work lives. Then suddenly, the date said something that surprised the i.o. “I have a request,” said the date. “I’ve read Liza’s blog. Liza writes about you fairly regularly. You must tell Liza not...
Hi Blog Readers, I’m writing to give you an update. My memoir writing is going well. I’m about 5/8 of the way through. I have stopped writing for a bit because I need to reread some books that I read and learned from at crucial points in my life. In the meantime, I may have time to write a few...
Dear Blog Readers, I’ve been doing some soul searching over the past couple of weeks. What do I want this blog to look like in the new year? I knew I wanted to switch things up, but I wasn’t sure what that meant. So I asked you for feedback—and a big thank you to those who replied. Your replies were...
Happy New Year!! This is a good time of year to switch things up, and I’m thinking about making some changes to the blog. But first—I want your opinions. A few days ago, I set about to create a survey on SurveyMonkey. But it turned out to be more of a time suck than I had anticipated, it was going...
I have a new post up on the Silent Book Club blog. It’s called My Silent Book Club Began to Lead Itself. Enjoy! Tomorrow on Patreon for Tuesday-Thursday subscribers: reflections on the Dr. Seuss hullabaloo. . . . Will you support this blog by becoming a Patron? For as little as $3 a month, you will be rewarded with extra,...
My friend (and fellow Silent Book Club organizer) Vicki Ziegler (of Toronto) and I set each other a challenge. We decided to individually write on the topic of how to keep reading during a pandemic. We did not share our ideas with each other before writing. Only after finishing our respective pieces did we reveal them to each other. Two...
The following is a guest post by Vicki Ziegler, a book lover, blogger, web designer, social media manager, information architect, and organizer of Silent Book Club events in east end Toronto. The two of us set ourselves the challenge of writing about the same topic: how to keep reading during a pandemic. Below is her response. I’ll share mine with...
Remember Mandy Shunnarah, who wrote a guest post for this blog last week? (In case you missed it, here’s her post about how one line in a novel changed her life: This Novel Got Me My Dream Job.) Well, I also wrote a guest post for her blog. And it’s posted today. (We’re awesome mutually sharing friends like that!) The...
This is a blog post. A blog post is extant in cyberspace. The title of said blog post in cyberspace is This Is a Blog Post. This blog post is digitally located on a web server, somewhere on planet Earth. This blog post may have made its way into your email inbox, through means that are quite cryptic to me,...
Are any of you book lovers struggling, as I am, to read the books on your bedside table right now? I’m drawn to the news, to the big topics of the day. I was commiserating with a friend about this, and she spontaneously thought up a list of readings, ranging from centuries ago to the present day, having to do...
I have never seen the river so calm and clear. I had to take a picture. Maybe it will inspire a blog post? A reader of this blog recently sent me this message and photo. Yes, inspired! Let’s take time to appreciate the aspects of our lives that are calm and clear. Further, let’s strive to bring calmness and clarity...
Speaking of ranters, today I’d like to introduce to you a writer I adore. Like me, she writes a blog for people who like to read, write, and think. Unlike me, she doesn’t restrict her rants to Christmas Day. They come all year round! And if you happen to be a writer, she’s def someone to have on your radar....
Hello, friends! Well, well, well. . . . This is like Hello, World! all over again. It’s been a while since I’ve written to you. But, no, this isn’t my first blog post. However, . . . this lapse in posting is not mea culpa! Exactly three months ago—on September 11th, believe it or not—something fell and hit me on...
Check out my new article on the Silent Book Club blog. It’s called Where Have You Been All My Life? Have you ever experienced a stunning moment when you felt struck by the simplicity of an idea, and instantly sure of your next move? I did, two years ago. Read all about it here! In the meantime, as you’re reading...
Books are timelessly trendy . . . though it doesn’t always feel that way. Read more about this topic in my new post on the Silent Book Club blog. It’s called “The Timelessness of Books.” Check it out here. Let me know your thoughts on this topic after you read the article!
What do women really want? Flowers? Chocolate? Doors opened for them? To be tied up on a train track and saved in the nick of time? Honestly, I have no idea. I have a hard enough time figuring out what I want—let alone all women on earth! So let’s talk about something I do know about: what you want. You,...
I already knew, before beginning the book Digital Minimalism, that its author Cal Newport is no fan of social media. He argues against it regularly on his blog. Yep, he draws a distinction between social media and blogging. For example, in his recent blog post On Blogs in the Social Media Age, he explains why popular blogs are more likely...
Hello, book lovers! Today I’d like to share with you a hodgepodge of tips and reminders. TIPS: Articles for Lifelong Learners I am excited to announce that I have added a new page to my website called Tips. It’s in the navigation bar at the top of every page. Here I will offer various articles for lifelong learners. Because these...
I know, I know—we were in the middle of a series of posts about Émile Zola’s The Ladies’ Paradise, but I’d like to hit pause on that to share some exciting news with you all: I have acquired my first byline! So, apologies, but you will have to live in suspense as regards the nineteenth-century novel I was previewing—it’s a...
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- Book Previews (242)
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- Incidental Musings (114)
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Books previewed
Unwinding Anxiety Judson Brewer
The Confidence Men Margalit Fox
Liberation Day George Saunders
Pandora’s Jar Natalie Haynes
Night of the Living Rez Morgan Talty
The Journalist and the Murderer Janet Malcolm
Mislaid Nell Zink
Exercised Daniel E. Lieberman
Lapvona Ottessa Moshfegh
Empire of Pain Patrick Radden Keefe
Furious Hours Casey Cep
First Person Singular Haruki Murakami
Klara and the Sun Kazuo Ishiguro
Dead Souls Sam Riviere
The Pale King David Foster Wallace
Lightning Flowers Katherine E. Standefer
Beautiful World, Where Are You / Normal People / Conversations With Friends Sally Rooney
Swan Dive Georgina Pazcoguin
A Passage North Anuk Arudpragasam
Lucky Jim Kingsley Amis
Projections Karl Deisseroth
The Indian Lawyer James Welch
Atomic Habits James Clear
The History of Philosophy A. C. Grayling
Dusk, Night, Dawn Anne Lamott
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Philip K. Dick
Nothing to See Here Kevin Wilson
Change Damon Centola
Homeland Elegies Ayad Akhtar
Becoming Attached Robert Karen
Piranesi Susanna Clarke
Don Quixote Miguel de Cervantes
Solitary Albert Woodfox
Girl, Woman, Other Bernardine Evaristo
Enlightenment by Trial and Error Jay Michaelson
Death in Her Hands Ottessa Moshfegh
The Cooking Gene Michael W. Twitty
The First Bad Man Miranda July
Upheaval Jared Diamond
A Journal of the Plague Year Daniel Defoe
Creatures Crissy Van Meter
Indelicacy Amina Cain
Say What You Mean Oren Jay Sofer
Habits of a Happy Brain Loretta Graziano Breuning
Bad Behavior, This Is Pleasure Mary Gaitskill
The Brother Gardeners Andrea Wulf
Severance Ling Ma
How to Be an Antiracist Ibram X. Kendi
The Museum of Modern Love Heather Rose
Why I Write George Orwell
The Woman Destroyed Simone de Beauvoir
Educated Tara Westover
The Gift Hafiz
The Collected Schizophrenias Esmé Weijun Wang
Your Duck Is My Duck Deborah Eisenberg
Sapiens Yuval Noah Harari
Milkman Anna Burns
Under the Banner of Heaven Jon Krakauer
Waiting for Bojangles Olivier Bourdeaut
A Mind Unraveled Kurt Eichenwald
Eugénie Grandet Honoré de Balzac
The Body Keeps the Score Bessel van der Kolk, M.D.
The Bookshop Penelope Fitzgerald
Digital Minimalism Cal Newport
The Sisters Brothers Patrick deWitt
Dare to Lead Brené Brown
My Year of Rest and Relaxation Ottessa Moshfegh
Almost Everything Anne Lamott
Born to Run Christopher McDougall, Bruce Springsteen
The Ladies’ Paradise Émile Zola
The World Beyond Your Head Matthew B. Crawford
All the Birds, Singing Evie Wyld
Barracoon Zora Neale Hurston
Dandelion Wine Ray Bradbury
JavaScript & jQuery Jon Duckett
Home Fire Kamila Shamsie
The Weather Detective Peter Wohlleben
Play It As It Lays Joan Didion
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck Mark Manson
Convenience Store Woman Sayaka Murata
Perfect Me Heather Widdows
Sorry to Disrupt the Peace Patty Yumi Cottrell
Why Buddhism Is True Robert Wright
What Is Real? Adam Becker
Kudos Rachel Cusk
The Days of Abandonment Elena Ferrante
F*cked Corinne Fisher & Krystyna Hutchinson
Searching for Stars on an Island in Maine Alan Lightman
Wide Sargasso Sea Jean Rhys
Infinite Jest David Foster Wallace
A Room of One’s Own Virginia Woolf
The Confidence Men Margalit Fox
Liberation Day George Saunders
Pandora’s Jar Natalie Haynes
Night of the Living Rez Morgan Talty
The Journalist and the Murderer Janet Malcolm
Mislaid Nell Zink
Exercised Daniel E. Lieberman
Lapvona Ottessa Moshfegh
Empire of Pain Patrick Radden Keefe
Furious Hours Casey Cep
First Person Singular Haruki Murakami
Klara and the Sun Kazuo Ishiguro
Dead Souls Sam Riviere
The Pale King David Foster Wallace
Lightning Flowers Katherine E. Standefer
Beautiful World, Where Are You / Normal People / Conversations With Friends Sally Rooney
Swan Dive Georgina Pazcoguin
A Passage North Anuk Arudpragasam
Lucky Jim Kingsley Amis
Projections Karl Deisseroth
The Indian Lawyer James Welch
Atomic Habits James Clear
The History of Philosophy A. C. Grayling
Dusk, Night, Dawn Anne Lamott
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Philip K. Dick
Nothing to See Here Kevin Wilson
Change Damon Centola
Homeland Elegies Ayad Akhtar
Becoming Attached Robert Karen
Piranesi Susanna Clarke
Don Quixote Miguel de Cervantes
Solitary Albert Woodfox
Girl, Woman, Other Bernardine Evaristo
Enlightenment by Trial and Error Jay Michaelson
Death in Her Hands Ottessa Moshfegh
The Cooking Gene Michael W. Twitty
The First Bad Man Miranda July
Upheaval Jared Diamond
A Journal of the Plague Year Daniel Defoe
Creatures Crissy Van Meter
Indelicacy Amina Cain
Say What You Mean Oren Jay Sofer
Habits of a Happy Brain Loretta Graziano Breuning
Bad Behavior, This Is Pleasure Mary Gaitskill
The Brother Gardeners Andrea Wulf
Severance Ling Ma
How to Be an Antiracist Ibram X. Kendi
The Museum of Modern Love Heather Rose
Why I Write George Orwell
The Woman Destroyed Simone de Beauvoir
Educated Tara Westover
The Gift Hafiz
The Collected Schizophrenias Esmé Weijun Wang
Your Duck Is My Duck Deborah Eisenberg
Sapiens Yuval Noah Harari
Milkman Anna Burns
Under the Banner of Heaven Jon Krakauer
Waiting for Bojangles Olivier Bourdeaut
A Mind Unraveled Kurt Eichenwald
Eugénie Grandet Honoré de Balzac
The Body Keeps the Score Bessel van der Kolk, M.D.
The Bookshop Penelope Fitzgerald
Digital Minimalism Cal Newport
The Sisters Brothers Patrick deWitt
Dare to Lead Brené Brown
My Year of Rest and Relaxation Ottessa Moshfegh
Almost Everything Anne Lamott
Born to Run Christopher McDougall, Bruce Springsteen
The Ladies’ Paradise Émile Zola
The World Beyond Your Head Matthew B. Crawford
All the Birds, Singing Evie Wyld
Barracoon Zora Neale Hurston
Dandelion Wine Ray Bradbury
JavaScript & jQuery Jon Duckett
Home Fire Kamila Shamsie
The Weather Detective Peter Wohlleben
Play It As It Lays Joan Didion
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck Mark Manson
Convenience Store Woman Sayaka Murata
Perfect Me Heather Widdows
Sorry to Disrupt the Peace Patty Yumi Cottrell
Why Buddhism Is True Robert Wright
What Is Real? Adam Becker
Kudos Rachel Cusk
The Days of Abandonment Elena Ferrante
F*cked Corinne Fisher & Krystyna Hutchinson
Searching for Stars on an Island in Maine Alan Lightman
Wide Sargasso Sea Jean Rhys
Infinite Jest David Foster Wallace
A Room of One’s Own Virginia Woolf
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