In my family, we never arrive or leave each other’s homes empty handed. If it isn’t being used, or you can’t use it up, you share it. Sharing is just part of being in my family. Books. Recipes. Food. Magazines.

My grandmother was infamous for always having some bit of advice she’d “clipped out of the paper just for you.”

And what is my favorite thing to share?

Books, of course.

As an avid reader, I end up with stacks of novels. (Yes, I still read paper. I just am not an electronic fan.) So before they get stacked so … Read more »

When I travel (which I will be this coming week) I inevitably take three books with me. One for the outbound flight. One for the return flight. And a backup book in case Book A or Book B is, well, a dud.

I think sometimes I spend more time picking my three books than I do all the other things that go into planning a trip–booking everything, making arrangements, packing, et al.

Those three books get A LOT of consideration.

But here is my dilemma with this lot.

Egads, what to read first? This is like the gold strike of … Read more »

I have not had much time to read lately. Well, that isn’t entirely true. I’ve been reading, but its been piles and piles of research books. Like histories of Chinese laundries in the west. And histories about Wyoming. And women’s history books. Immigrant diaries.

But in between some heavy and fascinating research, I’ve been slipping away to read Jane Kirkpatrick’s A Light in the Wilderness. It won the WILLA award in 2015 and is based on the real life events of Letitia Carson, a freed slave who came west over the Oregon trail with her white husband. It … Read more »