An Ode to Susan Elizabeth Phillips
I met Susan Elizabeth Phillips at a writer’s conference one year and told her the first book of hers that I read (Fancy Pants) was one of the most entertaining novels I’d ever read and still today it would rank high in my top twenty. The other nineteen books would also be largely made up […]
Another Summer
It’s that time of year when I crave a beach book. Something fun, light-hearted that gives me a mental vacation. So wandering my favorite independent bookstore, Barrons, the other day. I bought three books from Vickie’s summer reading table. I just finished, Another Summer. Georgia Bockoven’s novel about a house and it’s summer renters was […]
Songbird Under a German Moon
This novel by Tricia Goyer has special meaning for me because a) its set in an area Mel and I lived twenty years ago b) I’ve sat through one of Wagner’s Ring operas in that Festspielhaus c) I chatted with her for research purposes related to this novel. On top of it being a sweeping […]
Recent Books
Since school has wrapped up for summer, and I finished edits on a novel with my editor, I’ve actually had time to read. Of the four books I will list one I loved, one made me laugh out loud and two I had to work to finish. Jacqueline Winspear’s The Mapping of Love and Death […]
Two Books in One Week!
Okay, that might not be a real impressive statistic,but in light of the hectic schedule around my house (grad parties, church events, recitals, etc.) it’s a feat. I received a copy of Lisa Wingate’s soon to be released novel, Beyond Summer (the cover is pretty) and started in immeadiatly because I love everything she writes. […]
Castle
Late on Monday evenings, I hike back up the stairs to post some of my favorite lines from the previously watched Castle episode on ABC. I’m not sure how this Facebook status turned into something people expect, but I’ve had folks say they look forward to reading which dialogue I liked best. One friend even […]
Water for Elephants
I bought this book on one of the sale bins at a big box store–surprised that it was there. Wasn’t that like finding a diamond in the straw field? I’d heard people chat up the novel, so I paid all of $5.99 and brought it home where it collected dust on my reading table for […]
Musings from a Southern state of mind
I’ll be honest, I usually post if I have some literary reason to do so–books to review, movies to grouse about. But I’ve been so swamped with end of the year activities related to my son’s high school graduation and my 15-year-old daughter’s dramatic life (drill team tryouts, formals, boyfriends, hormones, grades, driving, etc… ) […]
She Walks in Beauty
She Walks in Beauty is the title of Siri Mitchell’s gilded age, historical fiction novel–it’s also one of the most delightful lines of poetry ever penned. And Lord Byron factors into this novel via a first edition keepsake for our main character, Clara. I’d love to go on and on about Siri’s engaging characters and […]
Whistlin’ Dixie in a Northeaster
I bought Lisa Patton’s debut novel (in hardback, no less) the other day and started reading it even though I have a perfectly good stack of books collecting dust on my nightstand. And do you want to know why Whistlin’ Dixie in a Northeaster was a line-jumper? Because it’s all about Southern girls. Memphis girls, […]
