When we put our house back together in December, we saved our library for last. The reason was two-fold. First, we had our bookshelves re-stained and they weren’t finished until late December. Second, we wanted to take …
A Few Days of R&R
From the last weekend in September of last year to the end of 2022, we hardly stopped. Some was planned travel. Some was not. There were the usual holidays and the accompanying busyness, and there was the puppy—and all that …
The Stories in Old Books
From Inspired by Life . . . and Fiction this week: As you know, I’ve been cataloguing the books in my library. I got about half done via barcode, but the other half? Too old for barcodes! So I’ve been inputting them manually, …
My Goodreads Rating System
I ran across a social media post last week asking how you rate books on Goodreads. It’s a topic I’ve thought a lot about so I thought I would address my personal thoughts on this here.For me, ratings of books are complicated …
July Reads
When it came time to compile this post I was surprised at how many books I’d finished this month. And there were some great ones! So let's go! A Rose Among Thornes by Terrie Todd I actually read this one back in April, …
C.S. Lewis and The Reading Life
I'm over on Inspired by Life ... and Fiction sharing a few of my favorite C.S. Lewis quotes on reading. Come see if you can identify with any of them! …
June Reads
Ah, June. You brought me some great reads! Everything from a classic to contemporaries to historicals. Howard’s End by E.M. ForesterI do love this story. I think it is such an interesting character study. Lots of …
March Reads
This is going to be a loooooong one, folks! Because to me the words “quarantine” and “social distancing” translate to “guilt-free reading time.”So here goes for March!First, a couple of dense but fascinating history/biography …
Until the Dawn by Elizabeth Camden
There are many, many authors I enjoy reading, but there isn't the time to read every book they produce. But there are a few authors whose books I will not miss--even if I can't get to them until months (or sometimes years!) …
Austen in Austin, vol. 1
I confess, I do love the reworking of classic stories. One of my favorites was a production of Shakespeare's The Two Gentlemen from Verona set in Vernon, Texas, in the 1800s. So when few friends of mine teamed up to rewrite …