I love dull, bleak winter days. I pull them around me like a warm blanket and read to my heart’s content, or almost, thankful for the quiet before the hectic days consume my time again, and the little space the season allows to breathe, refresh, and read. I finished a few books I’ve been reading… Read More February’s Reading Adventures
Profoundly life changing things happen in ordinary ways—at least that is my experience. I’m sure, in my ten-year-old eagerness to enter into a new story, I checked To Kill a Mockingbird out from the library without any inkling of the effect it would have on my life. I doubt if I had finished the first… Read More A Salute to Harper Lee
Last week, I interrupted the fascinating advice of an uneducated grandmother to her minimally educated daughter from A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. One page of Shakespeare per day, is her counsel. Here is the second of the two essential books recommended for the mother to read to Francie, who is a baby at the time… Read More A Second Visit to Brooklyn, Part 2
I made a friend in junior high who I got to visit with again just a few weeks ago. There have been more than four decades between visits and yet her impact on my life has been powerful. She was there for me during a rough time back then and offered me wisdom, courage and,… Read More A Second Visit to Brooklyn
A question I am fond of asking friends or strangers is, “So, what are you reading?” This is a great source for future reading, often taking me down trails I would otherwise not have ventured upon to discover hitherto unknown regions in literature. January is traditionally a good month to get some reading in, though… Read More So Far This Year
A reminder: Our postponed January Book Sale Update will be MONDAY, February 1st at 10:00 am EST. A new addition to our sale pages will be in place at that time– I’ve added pictures of every book! I hope you’ll check back on Monday to browse our offerings and hope you’ll find some new treasures… Read More February Book Sale
As I write, the temperatures in Virginia rival the bitter winters of the far north. My children and I just finished reading a book about a hero of those brutal, wintry regions. Canada values the feat of courage and fortitude displayed by one of her pioneers so much that a statue stands on the bank… Read More Winter Inspiration for the Entire Family
I just read the opening chapter of Far From the Madding Crowd, my book club’s next selection. The one word judgment pronounced by the farmer glimpsing the girl in the story for the first time is “vanity.” I’m sure the rest of this novel will bear out this truth, but Hardy is letting me know… Read More First Impressions
I often joke that I’m waiting for a “normal” school year to pass, one without interruption of moving, family death or illness, or other significant event that interferes with our daily routine. I always seem to have to be carrying on school lessons in the midst of something pressing or unusual or distracting. It is a peril of homeschooling.… Read More Staying on Track
In the long, long story in which we are characters, the turning of a new year is like the opening of a new chapter in the story of our lives. Only a reader knows the thrill of excitement opening the cover and turning to the first page of an unread book brings. The book itself may be new or… Read More New Books, New Friends, and a New Year