Lose Yourself in the World of Books
I've slowly but surely been making my way through the four major Obama White House Staffer memoirs - first was Who Thought This Was a Good Idea?, followed by this one, next will be Thanks, Obama (my coworker Su's favorite), and last The World as It Is. Synopsis In 2012, Beck Dorey-Stein is working five part-time jobs and… Continue reading From the Corner of the Oval by Beck Dorey-Stein
A Family History I've been half-heartedly participating in a book club that used to be mine and has now migrated into someone else's, but I've still had a foot in the door. When a fellow member picked Jell-O Girls for today's discussion, I was thrilled to finally read nonfiction AND get to talk about it. Downside, my opinion and… Continue reading Jell-O Girls by Allie Rowbottom
Rampant & Ascendant Unicorns are a pretty hot topic these days so I figured it was time to honor someone who led the charge for unicorns before the train even left the station. Rampant Synopsis Forget everything you ever knew about unicorns… Astrid Llewelyn has always scoffed at her eccentric mother’s stories about killer unicorns. But… Continue reading Killer Unicorns duology by Diana Peterfreund
A Discovery of Witches, Shadow of Night, The Book of Life Back in January 2013 I was trying to find a new favorite book (which never works, you can’t force it) and I had been eyeing A Discovery of Witches for a while and decided to take a chance on it. I read the first… Continue reading All Souls Trilogy by Deborah Harkness
One of my grandmothers grew up in Germany in the 1930s and 1940s, specifically in Nürnberg and the surrounding countryside. She doesn't talk about it. As such, I have spent my entire life fascinated by the stories of German children between 1933 and 1945. I don't remember the first book I read that fit the… Continue reading Four Perfect Pebbles by Lila Perl & Marion Blumenthal Lazan
Real Stories from History Without the Fairy-Tale Endings I found this book on my very first visit to the Strand in New York City right after I finished student teaching. I’ve always loved multi-story books about historical women. Additionally, while reading this book at the Greyhound station in New York City while waiting for my… Continue reading Princesses Behaving Badly by Linda Rodriguez McRobbie
I love a good fairy tale adaptation and when I first heard the true story of the Little Mermaid, I became a bit obsessed with all accurate adaptations. Synopsis Princess Margrethe has been hidden away while her kingdom is at war. One gloomy, windswept morning, as she stands in a convent garden overlooking the icy sea,… Continue reading Mermaid by Carolyn Turgeon
I picked this book up a few years ago at my favorite local bookstore (where I now work). It was shortly after I moved to the southeastern part of Pennsylvania and I was really lonely, trying to make friends and I was drawn to the story (and admittedly the cover – I’m a sucker for… Continue reading My Name is Memory by Ann Brashares
One of my GED students from Brazil recommended this book to me as the author is from her home country (though she read it in English) and she really enjoyed the premise. I agreed to read it in an effort to continue to encourage her to read in English, but I was not quite as… Continue reading Brida by Paulo Coelho
I love any book set in Europe during World War II, it is by far one of my favorite time periods to read about. I requested the audiobook from the library to listen to while driving to and from work and I wound up enjoying it so much, I bought the actual book as well.… Continue reading At the Water’s Edge by Sara Gruen
Celebration of Books 