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Six Albums for your Christmas Playlist
Today is the first Sunday of Advent, which means my favorite time of year is upon us. Today I’ve got six unique Christmas Albums to share with you. These are just a few of the albums I’ve listened to in recent years (my Christmas music playlist on iTunes is about 20 hours long), with two brand new […]
Book 50 Read Along: Advent 2016
Can you believe the holidays are upon us? With Thanksgiving this week and the start of Advent next Sunday, it will be Christmas before we know it. While I’d be happy to start listening to Christmas music in August, I know some people don’t want to even think about gift-buying and tree-decorating until after Thanksgiving. […]
Textbooks Fall 2016
It’s hard to imagine, but it’s that time of year again–the time when I add all of my textbooks to my “read” list and see how far I’ve gotten. I’ve written about textbooks on the blog before (Fall 2015 and Spring 2016), so this will be a nice addition to the collection. I’ll be honest–this is […]
Update: Audible Pros and Cons
A while ago I wrote a post about Audible, Amazon’s audiobook service. It turns out that particular post has been one of my most popular here on the blog, so I thought I would update that to include some more recent opinions. Let’s start by reviewing the basics. Audible is one of the top Audiobook platforms around. […]
Fall Watch List
As much as I love reading, sometimes you just need to curl up on the couch, give yourself a manicure, and watch some good TV. I thought I’d share what I’m excited about watching this fall, some literary-inspired things, and others not-so-literary! This is Us (NBC) I’ve been waiting for a while for a new […]
Sneak Peek: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
This time last year I was able to share with you a glimpse inside the first illustrated Harry Potter novel. Well, the second installment is here, so I thought I’d share some of the gorgeous illustrations with y’all!! One of my favorite things about Jim Kay’s illustrations is how he is able to breathe life […]
The Year of Lear by James Shapiro
It’s been a while since I’ve been able to write a new book review, so today I’m excited to share The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606 by James Shapiro. In case you haven’t been reading the blog long, I’m a bit of a Shakespeare-a-holic, just to warn you. I’ve written a bit about why I […]
Throwback Thursday: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Two weeks ago I started posting “throwback” posts–reviews of books I’ve read in the past that I’d still love to share with you. The first installment was Mark Dunn’s Ella Minnow Pea, and this week’s book is The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. I wrote about this book briefly when I shared […]
In Defense of Difficult Books
Tomorrow I’ll start teaching my first novel unit of the semester, Fahrenheit 451. After my students take their Unit 1 Test, we’ll look together at the introduction and first eight pages and try to set a purpose for reading. As I’ve been planning for this unit, I find myself asking “What is the purpose of […]
The Journalist and the Murderer by Janet Malcolm
If you’d asked me about my reading tastes a few years ago, I would probably not have mentioned nonfiction as one of my favorite genres. Over the last few years, however, I find myself drawn more and more to true accounts, biographies, and memoirs. I think the change in taste is partly because of my […]
Book Fifty 