As summer approaches, people start to think about beach reads. What exactly is a beach read? Does it have to be set in a beach community? Should it have sand on the cover? Does it have to be a light read? Must it be a romance? Does it have to be written by Elin Hilderbrand? Well, I am proposing that we completely rethink beach reads. Read anything you want in the summer. Make anything into a beach read. Now there’s an idea. Let’s create beach […]

April is National Poetry Month. I have so much respect for poets. No writing seems harder to me than writing a poem. I would never, ever attempt to write a poem Although, I must confess that I have written the occasional horrible Haiku. But wait, there is one type of poetry anybody who can read can write: Book Spine Poetry.  The idea is very simple. Create a poem using book titles. Here are a few I wrote:   One Italian Summer Killers of the Flower […]

To celebrate Women’s History Month, let’s discuss books about real women. They can be biography, autobiography, memoir, graphic memoir, historical fiction, or even non-fiction expose. I am going to ramble here about some that I have enjoyed across many of these genres. Let’s start with me as a little girl devouring The Story of My Life by Helen Keller. I loved this book and after I learned about her, I worshiped Helen Keller. I still think she is a wonderful role model for any young […]

Valentine’s Day is upon us. The stores are filled with regular shaped candy in heart-shaped boxes and heart-shaped candy in regular shaped boxes. For us book lovers, it is time to talk about romance novels. This is the perfect topic for me to write about, since I only read romance novels when a book group requires it. Therefore, I am always surprised by the wide variety of types of romance novels out there: Sports Romance – love a jock Regency Romance – love a duchess […]

Groundhog Day is supposed to make us think about spring being right around the corner, but thanks to Bill Murray, it instead makes us think of reliving a part of our lives. I am one of those people who rarely rereads a book–why read something you have already read when there are so many books you haven’t read? However, I know I am in the minority. Many readers go back to their favorites and reread them again and again. It is comforting, you know you […]

I started 2023 with high hopes. I would read 100 books, I would do a Quarter Cannonball, and I would complete the cool Passport challenge (see Passport challenge wrap up). Instead, I posted fewer reviews than ever before (although I did read 100 books). However, it was a great Cannonball year for me. I wrote Cannonball diversions throughout the year. I had fun cohosting a couple of Cannonball zooms (and participating in a few others). Most of all, I made great connections with my fellow […]