From July of 2013 to August of 2015, I worked in a history library as an intern for a remarkable scholar who has become one of my dearest friends. Her name is Jenny, and she is fighting leukemia again. I don’t want to focus on her illness, however. I want to focus on her influence... Continue Reading →
From as early as I can remember, I was taught to be proud of my Spanish heritage. My siblings and I all have Spanish middle names. “You are a quarter Spanish,” my mother would always say. My dad would teach me words and phrases, and Spanish colors and numbers were a regular part of my... Continue Reading →
I've been hearing buzz about Ta-Nehisi (pronounced Tah Neh-hah-see) Coates's work for a few months now, so I decided to "read" his book Between the World and Me (2015) by listening to it while driving to and from school. It is a heavy book, one that I wish I had been able to take notes... Continue Reading →
Yes, I’m obsessed with Laura Ingalls Wilder. It began when I was a young girl staying up late to read her books. It has grown since I’ve read those Little House books to my daughter. And now that I’ve visited her home at Rocky Ridge Farm in Mansfield, Missouri, I can’t stop reading about her.... Continue Reading →
There are two ways I could go in reviewing The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing (2015) by Marie Kondo. I could rave about what great ideas this book contains for organizing and tidying and how when reading it I felt motivated to clean my house and let go... Continue Reading →
Every two months, a group of bloggers reads a book with word “wife” in the title, and we attempt to answer the following two questions in our posts. 1. What does this book say about wives or about the experience of being a wife? 2. In what way does this woman define “wife”—or in what... Continue Reading →
I loved this book! I absolutely loved it. Yes, it was a collection of essays about author Mary McCarthy’s childhood that at times were written intellectually, but it had the charm and flourish of her creative voice. After each chapter, she included a commentary chapter, explaining how much of the essay was true and how... Continue Reading →
I’ve frequently mentioned Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide (2009) by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn here on my blog, but I haven’t ever given it a thorough review. This is because the first time I read it, I listened to it in my car, and I didn’t take notes,... Continue Reading →
Thunderstruck (2006) by Erik Larson started slowly. It took me a few months to read it, because I kept losing interesting during the first half of the book. It is about the collision of two events in the early 1900s. One is the invention of the wireless, which Marconi invented and perfected. His ability to... Continue Reading →
I've got a lot of great posts from the early days of my blog, when nobody was following me. I thought it would be fun to revisit some of my favorites from those days. So today's post is a repost. It originally appeared the first day I started my blog, January 4, 2012. ....... I... Continue Reading →
The Bookshelf of Emily J. 