I’m always torn when I finish a good read– on one hand, it feels like an achievement. It’s nice to see how a story ends, plus I know a new book is waiting for me– but on the other hand, I’ve spent so much time with the characters & now the story is over! It’s…
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“When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives means the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand.” -Henri Nouwen This quote introduced chapter thirty, titled…
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When I pick a work of fiction to read, I tend to pick a story with a bit of whimsy, a dash of hope, & a spoonful of wit. I feel all the feelings long after that last page comes to a close, so I want to choose my feelings wisely. This book went against…
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If you’re familiar with the book-turned-movie, Under the Tuscan Sun, well this is the same author. Frances Mayes took me to Italy for an entire blessed year– to San Rocco, to be exact– a small village tucked away in the rolling hills of Tuscany. Commence your Italy playlist search on Spotify. Kit, a Florida native,…
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It’s 1952 deep in the marsh of Barkley Cove, a small town on the coast of North Carolina. Kya, six years old, watches her mother walk down their sandy path, never looking back. Soon enough, her four older siblings all leave, too– even Jodie, the brother she was closest too. All because of an angry…
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1940. New York City. Theater life. And the tagline: You don’t have to be a good girl to be a good person. I’m in. Give me all the pages, Liz. I fell in love with this author when I was in college & read about her travels in Eat, Pray, Love. And again when I…
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It’s present day, & Monsieur Jean Perdu, fifty years old, runs his book barge on the Champs-Elysées called the Literary Apothecary. He has the unique gift of asking a few specific questions of his individual customers & then prescribing a specific book to cure his or her emotional ailment. Books are his entire life, especially…
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There are a lot of books on my to-read list that I’m itching to get my hands on. This wasn’t one of them. Back in April, their names popped up on two separate podcasts I subscribe to, & the little description in the episode bio intrigued me, so I gave both podcasts a listen (That…
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For at least two years, I’ve been saying I need to read more fiction. Read more fiction. Read more fiction. And it’s not that I’ve ever disliked fiction. There have just been so many memoir & essay-style books I’ve wanted to get my hands on, & reading hasn’t exactly been a speedy top priority over…
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I had the privilege of attending Margaret Feinberg and Jonathan Merritt’s writing conference in Atlanta back in 2015. It was my first time to fly solo, rent a car by myself, & sleep in a hotel room alone. I only had one semi-meltdown when I couldn’t find where to return the rental & thought I…
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