Have you ever gotten the feeling when reading a book, that what is in your hands is an earlier written manuscript that the author has revived now that they are famous? That’s my take on Rebecca Wells’ newest novel The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder.
Wells’ is best known for her humorous depiction of the life-long friendships of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. I’ve read all three of these and loved two of them. However, I just didn’t feel like the quality of writing in Crowning Glory matched that of her earlier …

Earlier this year I was introduced to Wally Lamb via the audio version of The Hour I First Believed. She’s Come Undone is an earlier work that was also chosen as an Oprah Book Club selection, and between the two, I want to gobble up everything Lamb has written.
She’s Come Undone follows Dolores Price – at first a young girl with the typical struggles of getting along with school mates and parents who don’t get along with each other, but who is eagerly awaiting the responsibility of being a …

When I started listening to David Sadaris’ Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, I felt like asking, “Where has this guy been all my life?” In defense of Sadaris, he’s been on my radar for years, I’ve just never taken the time to pick him up. And maybe I’m glad I waited for this opportunity because listening to him read these episodes about his life was hysterical.
Let me back up a bit. This piece is a collection of autobiographical essays – episodes from Sadaris’ life as a gay, …

Margaret Atwood’s award winning The Handmaid’s Tale is the type of novel that is so full, so rich with material, it is almost hard to know where to start talking about it.

Atwood’s dystopian novel portrays a world where women have been clearly sectioned off into a few limited roles: – Martha’s (household maids), the Aunts (head mistresses of the girls’ schools where they are indoctrinated), Wives (married to Commanders – the powerful men), and Handmaid’s (concubines of the Commanders.) This is the story of one handmaid – known as “Offred,” …

Sorry for the lapse in reviews last week! I was on our annual vacation with my family. I posted pictures last year and if I can get it together, I’ll post a few from this year as well.
And while I wasn’t blogging, I was reading. I marked three off of my TBR Challenge pile. (One was The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which I did review already.) In addition, we ate at a fabulous restaurant, and I took pictures for a review, so I’ll be working on that post as …

Sorry for the lapse in reviews last week! I was on our annual vacation with my family. I posted pictures last year and if I can get it together, I’ll post a few from this year as well.
And while I wasn’t blogging, I was reading. I marked three off of my TBR Challenge pile. (One was The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which I did review already.) In addition, we ate at a fabulous restaurant, and I took pictures for a review, so I’ll be working on that post as …

Sorry for the lapse in reviews last week! I was on our annual vacation with my family. I posted pictures last year and if I can get it together, I’ll post a few from this year as well.
And while I wasn’t blogging, I was reading. I marked three off of my TBR Challenge pile. (One was The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which I did review already.) In addition, we ate at a fabulous restaurant, and I took pictures for a review, so I’ll be working on that post as …

Sorry for the lapse in reviews last week! I was on our annual vacation with my family. I posted pictures last year and if I can get it together, I’ll post a few from this year as well.
And while I wasn’t blogging, I was reading. I marked three off of my TBR Challenge pile. (One was The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which I did review already.) In addition, we ate at a fabulous restaurant, and I took pictures for a review, so I’ll be working on that post as …

Last year I felt like I barely got in on the tale end of Book Blogger Appreciation Week (BBAW), so this year I’m excited to be getting involved at the beginning. It is a “virtual” celebration of the community of book bloggers, and there will be special posts, awards and giveaways throughout the week.

If you want to learn more, you can go directly to the page or tomorrow night join Nicole from Linus’s Blanket for a special That’s How I Blog as she answers questions about BBAW.
On a different but …

Stieg Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is not my first choice in genre. That said, I really enjoyed this book. It has gotten pretty high praise – including one fellow reader friend who said it was the best book he’d ever read. While I’m not going to go that far, I will say that for me it was a great change in pace. 

This is the first of a trilogy that, sadly, were left unpublished at the time of Larsson’s death in 2004. Based on this novel, the trilogy …