Like it or not, school is in session or nearly so. Homeschooling moms all over the country are scurrying to make final book choices. The last question turned in for my summer reading input concerns books for mom: “What should we moms be reading? How many books and on what subjects?” Good question. I am… Read More What About Mom’s School Books?
The long, hot month of July has flown by in a blur of constant activity. Summertime is when we are busiest in the library, preparing for a new year by processing new books and new members, consulting with moms to help them prepare for the coming school year, and recording podcasts for the fall. I… Read More July’s Reading
Everyone who has traveled a long distance with children knows the universal question: “Are we almost there?” I confess to wondering this as I reread George MacDonald’s children’s tale, At the Back of the North Wind. An experienced reader, I kept trying to recall the plot and to predict the wind up. After awhile, I… Read More Are We At The End?
“I’d love to hear a post on reading in stressful times.” was a request of a long-time follower of Living Books Library. I understood. I have lived through some stressful times myself. Reading helps. Let me be more exact: reading is a survival technique. Through nearly 40 years of marriage, six children, aging parents, 20… Read More Reading Under Stress
Recently my youngest child and I finished reading The Return of the King, Tolkien’s last volume in The Lord of the Rings. Three years ago, we began with The Hobbit, then moved into the trilogy, so it has been a long journey, a journey through hundreds of pages. I wonder how many hours of my… Read More Speed Reading
The other day my son said, “I wish we could know the future.” Who, as a young person, hasn’t wished the same at some time? We who are older and wiser, as in, more experienced with some of the things the future brings that we are glad not to have known ahead of time, thank… Read More The Courage Found in Reading
Good question. I am asked this often, most recently, with the request for very specific answers. The short answer is, “Any which way I can.” If you live to read, or more accurately, live by reading, books are everywhere and strategizing how to spend time in them is as habitual as sleeping, eating, brushing teeth.… Read More How Do You Fit Reading into Your Busy Life?
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
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