Step into a world filled with art…and danger! Lovers of Vincent van Gogh, Lillias Trotter (a little-known artist of the Victorian era), and Georgia O’Keefe, be prepared to meet characters with the same names and the same love of art in Carolyn Leiloglou’s new book Beneath the Swirling Sky. When Vincent’s parents drop him and…
Once upon a time, there were three cousins. Their names were Izzy, Penelope, and Luke. Each one had different interests and different opinions on almost everything, but each one also awaited a happy ending to their not-so-happy romantic lives. Izzy found her bookishly-ever-after in Authentically, Izzy and now it’s her cousin Penelope’s turn to shine…
With a more specific book rating system in place last year, it wasn’t hard to skim my highest rated books and find my top ten from 2022. My children decided to join in the fun (one couldn’t keep it to ten favorites, while others were more selective).
So here we present the favorite books read and listened to in our house in 2022…
Authentically, Izzy is absolutely, positively, unequivocally delightful. Another five-star read from Pepper Basham that’s going straight to my top ten list for the year. A partially epistolary tale, featuring both a library and a bookshop. What could be more perfect?!
The Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs. Kip is a book about dying that inspires you to live.
This debut novel from Sara Brunsvold, published by Revell, won’t leave you the same after you’ve read it. A unique split-time approach, with the modern timeline covering the space of just a few weeks, the reader walks through intense emotions with Kansas City Star cub reporter Aidyn Kelley.
“Mom, I want to pre-order this so I have my own copy!” It’s the highest praise that my daughter can give a book. That and reading it over and over again. Ruth Anne has been raving about The Star That Always Stays since the first time she read it. So I decided to find out…
When Stone Wings Fly by Karen Barnett is an enthralling Smoky Mountains split-time that will tug at your heartstrings! “Her mama’s mountain rose in the distance, the forest clinging to its crumbling slopes in much the same way Rosie held fast to this house–with deep roots.” (When Stone Wings Fly) It’s 1931 and Rosie McCauley…
Have you ever heard the story of Dewey, the kitten who was dropped in the book return slot at a library in Iowa on a cold winter night? If not, you need to read Dewey the Cat.
Did you know that the majestic marble lions outside a New York Public Library building have names? World-renowned Patience and Fortitude appear in lovely picture books and even a wordless book.
I read 101 books in 2021. I wasn’t sure how I could choose a “top ten” list out of all those titles. But as I began looking at my “year in books” on Goodreads, I realized it was relatively easy to choose a list of the top ten titles I read in 2021: they were…
Snow is drifting down outside. A warm fire is burning in our woodstove. Christmas music is streaming through our speakers. It’s the time of year when I want to spend all my time curled up under a fuzzy blanket, with a mug of hot tea in one hand and a Christmas book in the other….
I would never have guessed I would be buying graphic novels for my children. But that’s because I mistakenly equated graphic novels with comics. I now know graphic novels aren’t just collections of comic strips like Peanuts or Family Circus (though our whole family loves the works of Bil Keane and Charles Schulz!); graphic novels…
When I got married, my aunt Margie gave me an aloe vera and four cactus starts–two Thanksgiving cactus, a Christmas cactus, and a traditional prickly cactus. The Thanksgiving cactuses were cuttings from a plant that belonged to Mrs. Maysel Lyon, my dad’s and my aunt’s beloved first grade teacher. (We heard many stories about this…
The End.
The End.