Book Review

Manet and Modern Beauty

Manet and Modern Beauty: The Artist’s Last Years, edited by Scott Allan, Emily A. Beeny, and Gloria Groom, is the catalogue for the eponymous exhibit of Édouard Manet’s later works. Filled with lush color representations of the paintings and ephemera on display, the expansive book also delights with authoritative, informative essays for those who mightContinue reading “Manet and Modern Beauty”

A Belated Happy Cranberry Thanksgiving

I meant to write this post before Thanksgiving. Clearly, I didn’t get around to it. Sorry. But since I was thrilled to recently run across this well-loved secondhand copy of Cranberry Thanksgiving, a book I fell for when I was a little girl in New Jersey, I still want to blog about it. You areContinue reading “A Belated Happy Cranberry Thanksgiving”

A Virtual Book Launch Party/Live Twitter Chat Today for Chicken Soup for the Soul: Dreams and Premonitions

Join us this afternoon over on Twitter at 3 pm for a virtual book launch party. If I understand correctly, this is a Chicken Soup first. Be a part of history in the making (and ask some questions as well) as we discuss our stories and dreams and premonitions in general. As you know, I’m a proud contributorContinue reading “A Virtual Book Launch Party/Live Twitter Chat Today for Chicken Soup for the Soul: Dreams and Premonitions”

Writing and Little Women

I’m reading Little Women with an online group, and in my excitement I went to dig out my copy only to discover — gasp — that I couldn’t find it. The novel is one of the foundational books of my childhood, of my life. That I couldn’t find a single copy in our house shockedContinue reading “Writing and Little Women”

The Monkey Mind and Reese’s Peanut Butter Hearts: It’s All Writing

I’m not writing a dissertation, so you might wonder why I recently picked up a book called Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day by Joan Bolker at the library. Of course it was the word “writing” that drew me. What kept me interested was its intriguing, fresh writing tips. A few months agoContinue reading “The Monkey Mind and Reese’s Peanut Butter Hearts: It’s All Writing”

A Backrub Book Review: Amy Tan’s The Valley of Amazement

I adore Amy Tan. There. I said it. Call me biased, but there isn’t a word she has written that I don’t just love. And in case you doubted her coolness ratio, she’s also in a rock band! Her latest novel, The Valley of Amazement was a Christmas gift from my husband, Barry. We wereContinue reading “A Backrub Book Review: Amy Tan’s The Valley of Amazement”