by Agatha Christie “What I am about to write down I have never told to any living soul. I was not asked any question to which I returned an untrue answer. Nevertheless I was guilty of withholding certain facts—I do not repent of that. I would do it again. I am fully aware that in […]

When I like something, I am more than happy to spread the word. I’ve recently had a wonderful experience purchasing some literary art prints from Carl Batterbee Illustration and I wanted to share his work. I saw his Etsy store a year or so ago, recently worked with Carl on ordering some custom prints, and […]

In case you weren’t aware, Disney is releasing a live-action version of The Jungle Book this April 15th. I think most everyone who grew up watching the 1967 animated film or read the original book by Rudyard Kipling is totally stoked. I’m interested to see in what direction they take the film. Purportedly, it’s a […]

Chickpea Tomato Minestrone [adapted from Kitchen Daily] Ingredients 1 1/2 Tbsp. olive oil 1 medium onion, chopped 3 celery stalks, chopped 2 carrots, chopped 3 garlic cloves, minced 2 Tbsp. tomato paste 28 oz. can of diced tomatoes, not drained 6 c. vegetable broth (you can also use chicken broth) 1 tsp. dried oregano 2 […]

The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt illustrated by Oliver Jeffers“Hey Duncan, It’s me, Red Crayon. We need to talk.” It would be really difficult not to love this picture book narrated from the perspective of some of kids’ favorite tools–crayons. Each crayon writes a letter to their owner, Duncan, with humorous individual requests […]

I stumbled across a statue of the Greek God Pan and it reminded me of a passage from Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows. Ratty and Mole are out searching for Toad, but they meet Pan instead: Slowly, but with no doubt or hesitation whatever, and in something of a solemn expectancy, the two […]

Positive: A Memoir by Paige Rawl “I was beginning to realize that sometimes a person doesn’t get to choose whether she joins or fights. Sometimes the joining is impossible, sometimes the fight chooses you. The universe plucks you–you, specifically–out of all those souls out there and hands you something that makes fitting in and going […]

The second of three successive book review features on Ally Condie’s young adult dystopian series Matched / Crossed / Reached. Click here to read my review of Matched. Crossed by Ally Condie (Book 2 of 3 in the Matched series) “In the end you can’t always choose what to keep. You can only choose how […]

Finishing my series, here’s another scholarly volume for which I’ve served as a contributing author. Details below! I hope to have more publications to share someday soon. Edited by José Jiménez-Justiniano, Elsa Luciano Feal, and Jane Elizabeth Alberdeston Genres: Academic, Nonfiction, Art, History, Literary Scholarship Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Press Length: 325 pages Published: August 1, […]

I didn’t know how much I enjoyed nonfiction (memoir, CNF, biography, history, etc.) until I became aware of how diverse the genre could be. As an undergraduate student, if you would have asked what I thought of nonfiction, I likely would have flashed back to reading long nonfiction essays in my early American literature course […]

by Mary Kelley Mary Kelley investigates the history of women writers and why she learned so little about their role in literature while seeking her bachelor’s degree. Private Woman, Public Stage discusses the literary careers of twelve female novelists against the cultural backdrop of nineteenth-century America: Mary Jane Holmes, Maria McIntosh, Mary Virginia Terhune, Maria […]

This week I’m featuring three successive book reviews on the Matched series by Ally Condie. I listened to all three audiobooks in a matter of days. Have you read Matched or the Matched series? Feel free to comment with your thoughts about the series, other Ally Condie books, and any other YA suggestions you would […]

by Agatha Christie “Ah, non, non, not Sherlock Holmes! It is the author, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, that I salute. These tales of Sherlock Holmes are in reality farfetched, full of fallacies and most artificially contrived. But the art of writing—ah, that is entirely different. The pleasure of the language, the creation above all of […]

by J.K. Rowling In anticipation of the upcoming release of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, I’ve been rereading the entire Harry Potter series. This week leading up to its release, I have decided to post some of my thoughts on each book (or at least I’ll try–I’m still in the middle of book six). […]