This page is all about books. Since I’ve been reading a lot more (especially novels, which I used to completely avoid, due to having read too many of my mother’s romance novels as a bored teen/young adult) in the past few years, I decided to write little reviews, or more like, my impressions of books I read. I add links to Amazon to buy them, but if you are not a fan, they sell most of them elsewhere.
Recently, I started giving them star ratings, with 5 start being the best. I wish the stars showed up on this page in all browsers, but, you take what you can get with free widgets.
You’ll notice that I tend to not read books I don’t have a chance of liking
Suggestions for new books are welcome!
Thanks to Gene Roddenberry
Lee and I have been watching lots and lots of Star Trek series for the past many months. We watch one entire series and then move on to another. So far we have watched or rewatched Picard, Enterprise, Discovery, The Next Generation, and Strange New Worlds. we have now gotten into Deep Space 9. We…
Book Report: The Language Puzzle
To say the least, as a former linguist, I was excited to find this book by a genuine researcher that claimed to explain the origins of language. And by gosh, Steven Mithen undertook a boat-load of multidisciplinary research on the history of humanity, culture, anatomy, and climate (among other things) to put together the various…
Book Report: Beaverland
I recently finished this fascinating book about beavers, which opened my eyes to a lot of possibilities for healing the earth thanks to these helpful animals. Leila Philip is a New Englander who became interested in beavers when they were in the pond behind her house, so she spent a couple of years researching Beaverland:…
Book Report: The Tree Collectors
This is the book I needed right now. I needed sweet stories of people who love trees and are willing to go to great lengths to show that love. I also needed simple but beautiful watercolors of trees and the people who love them. The Tree Collectors: Tales of Arboreal Obsession, by Amy Stewart (2024)…
Book Report: Coming Up Short
Full disclosure: Robert Reich is the American I admire most. So it’s no surprise that I hoped to enjoy his new memoir, Coming Up Short: A Memoir of My America (2025). Wow, this is an insightful book, both from a historical and philosophical standpoint. I think that, at last, I have a grasp on what…
Book Report: How the Hell Did I Not Know That?
I needed some light and humorous reading this week, so I picked up this book to read before bedtime rather than the depressing memoir I’m reading at other times of the day. How the Hell Did I Not Know That: My midlife year from couch to curiosity, by Lucie Frost, certainly provided me with laughs…
Book Report: Braiding Sweetgrass
People who know me well may find it odd that I only just finished reading Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer (2015). After all, as I mentioned a couple of days ago, it’s a Suna kind of book. Certainly, Kimmerer and I are kindred spirits, both of us seeing the natural world as a part…
Regressing to Childhood?
Maybe. I was a bit too tired to do much after I finally finished a long work day, plus it was suddenly 100° outside after a break in the weather. So I sat in my chair this evening and colored in my coloring book. It took me a few evenings to do this one, because…
Book Report: Where the Forest Meets the Stars
My friend Carolyn M recommended this book to me, because she said I had so much in common with the protagonist (and with the author). I’m glad she did, because the book is very sweet and took me down some literal memory lanes. Where the Forest Meets the Stars (2019) is the first novel by…
Reacquainting with Music of My Past
In the last few months, Lee and I have been watching documentaries on musicians from our formative years. We have similar musical tastes, so it’s easy to choose. We’ve seen some “biopix” as well, like Freddy Mercury and Elton John. Of course we saw the Bob Dylan movie, which I e mentioned that I enjoyed.…
Book Report: Forest Euphoria
Have you ever read a book and loved it so much that you just want to carry it around and share with others like yourself? I have, and it’s Forest Euphoria: The Abounding Queerness of Nature (2025), by Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian. It’s like someone wrote a book just for me about who I could have…
Book Report: Gaian Tarot
I haven’t been buying many tarot decks in the past few years. I’ve been happy with my favorite old friends, mostly Robin Wood. But last month I was intrigued by a deck my tarot friend Cat Dancing was using. I liked the nature images on the cards and the artistry of Joanna Powell Colbert, the…
Book Report: How to Lose Your Mother
Resilience. That’s the first concept that comes to my mind when I think about Molly Jong-Fast, the author of How to Lose Your Mother: A Daughter’s Memoir (2025). To have made it to adulthood as a functioning human being after experiencing her childhood defines resilience. Some people wouldn’t have made it. Sure, Jong-Fast is a…
Book Report: This Dog Will Change Your Life
I was looking forward to This Dog Will Change Your Life, by The Dogist, Elias Weiss Friedman (2025), because I was in the mood for something light-hearted and perhaps funny, to take my mind off current events. Plus, as you may be aware, I’m fond of dogs. Well, the book does have dogs, many dogs,…
Book Report: Demon Copperhead
I’ve been trying to escape by reading novels. The joke’s on me, because Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver (2022) is not an escape. It’s more of a descent into hell with a really nice guy. Many of you have already read this book, but I’d been holding onto it for a while, thinking it would…
Three Significant Books
List three books that have had an impact on you. Why? I have chosen three books (I actually discuss five, but one is a runner-up and two are related) that shaped me in that magical period when I was transitioning into an adult and my capacity for intellectual growth was at its peak. Each book…
Book Report: Matriarch
I had to read it! It’s in Oprah’s book club! Oh, just kidding. I actually read a review of Matriarch: A Memoir, by Tina Knowles that made me want to check it out. Also it’s shiny and pretty. The picture frame effect is very nice Truthfully, I was very pleased to have the chance to read this…
Book Report: The Raven Scholar
Lee likes to go to the bookstore/coffee shop in Rockdale, so I went with him one day to order a book. The shop doesn’t have a big variety, mostly historical romances and fantasy. I did need something to read, so I looked at all the covers and titles of the fantasy novels, and chose this…
Book Report: Spare
I’ve read a few books lately. This was the first. I picked it up at the airport on my way to Hilton Head and finished it when I got home. Honestly, I’m not a huge fan of the British Royal family, nor do I dislike them, but I read so many conflicting reviews of this…
Book Report: The Serviceberry
This is a beautiful gem of a book. First, it’s beautiful to touch and hold. The cover is textured and has watercolors illustrating the cover. It’s even got lovely, thick paper and a nice font. That all counts with me, since I love physical books. The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World, by…
Book Report: Eve
Hey, look, I finished a book that I like enough to write about! I’d would wager (if I did that kind of thing) that any like-minded friend of mine would love Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution, by Cat Bohannon, as much as I did. It has footnotes and…
Books to Love
What book could you read over and over again? I admit it. I have read many books by Brené Brown more than once. I think people need different kinds of support at different times in their lives. When I needed to drag my self esteem out of the gutter and stop telling myself I kind…
Book Report: The Power of Trees
I started reading The Power of Trees (2021, English 2023), by Peter Wohlleben, the German forester who also wrote The Hidden Life of Trees, last year. I had to put it down, because it was so depressing. It sure sounds like Europe’s trees are messed up and not much hope is shared in this book.…
Book Report: Navigating Rocky Terrain
I got this book, with the complete title of Navigating Rocky Terrain: Caves, Karsts, and the Soul of Unseen Spaces, at the Texas Master Naturalist Annual Meeting last week. It’s a 2024 book by Laurie Roath Frazier, a fellow Master Naturalist in the chapter that hosted the meeting. She wrote the essay collection while dealing…
Book Report: Holy Sh*t
I’m way behind on book reports, and I want to catch up before I flee Texas for a couple of weeks again. So let me share this delightful volume that Lee got at the bookstore/coffee shop in Rockdale (one of the few reasons I would volunteer to go there). Holy Shit: A Brief History of…
Book Report: Tell Me Everything
I’ve been meaning to write about the latest Elizabeth Strout novel, and since I was wrong about going camping this afternoon, I suddenly have time. I guess I should have asked someone if we were leaving the day we originally planned. That’s what you get for making assumptions. I make an a** out of me.…
Book Report: Wild Old Woman
Once again, my friend Ann thrusted a book at me and said she knew I’d like it. She’s very good at selecting reading material for me. Ann said there was a part in it about Burning Man, did I know anything about it? Well, yes, I know people whose adult children go, and my jewelry…
Book Report: The Night Ends with Fire
I wanted something to read at the airport last Saturday, since I’d packed all my other reading material. I went to the Book People shop at the Austin Airport and was intrigued by a couple of novels that had nice images on the edges of the pages. They both looked fine, so I picked one.…
Do You Need a Bird Book?
If so, I recommend The Sibley Guide to Birds, Second Edition. It’s by David Allen Sibley. Not a surprise. I mentioned earlier this week that I read it from cover to cover (literally, since the covers and end pages are also interesting). Sibley is an incredibly talented illustrator and I have found his detailed photos…
Book Report: Prodigal Summer
Today was our day of rest, so there was no big excitement in Arizona other than a pleasant walk around Bell Rock, where I got to see and hear the beautiful desert-dwelling Scott’s Oriole. So, I’ll finally write about the most recent book I’ve read, Prodigal Summer, by Barbara Kingsolver (2000). The reason I read…
It’s All Black Beauty’s Fault
Do you remember your favorite book from childhood? Surprise! As a child I was very fond of, you guessed it, horse books. I read every horse book in the Sidney Lanier Elementary School library by third grade. The last book the librarian found was Steinbeck’s The Red Pony. She soon learned that sensitive young girls…
Book Report: Weyward
I wanted to finish this book before I went on vacation next week, so I indulged myself and spent much of the day today finishing Weyward, the debut novel by Emilia Hart (2023). My local friends who are in a book club together kept talking about “the book” and how they knew I would like…
Book Report: The Backyard Bird Chronicles
Yes, I read another bird book. The Backyard Bird Chronicles (2024), by Amy Tan (yes, THAT Amy Tan), is very enjoyable for any bird watcher or wannabe bird watcher. It’s absolutely beautiful, too, with many detailed illustrations by Tan, who didn’t start taking art lessons until she was getting on in years. You’d never guess…
Book Report: The Birds Audubon Missed
To say I enjoyed The Birds Audubon Missed, by Kenn Kaufman (2024) would be an extreme understatement. I had a great time reading it and must admit I put off important things like Master Naturalist meeting minutes and knitting to keep reading. I guess I’ve become one of his (no doubt) many fans as I…
What I Learned About Freedom from Salman Rushdie (Book Report)
What does freedom mean to you? I just finished reading Knife, by Salman Rushdie. In case you never heard of him, he’s a novelist who dared poke fun at a religious figurehead and had a fatwah put out in him. That means someone pretty humorless wanted him dead. Regardless of the merits of his writing…
Book Report: In the Shadow of Liberty
My friend Phyllis loaned me this book after a conversation we had about how history’s narrative differs depending on who’s version is being told. In the Shadow of Liberty, by Kenneth C. Davis (2016), is one of many books that have come out in the past few years that provide perspectives on events in North…
Book Report: The Promise of Unbroken Straw
I started to read The Promise of Unbroken Straw, by Ken Steele (2024) because I know the author and want to support people who are brave enough to publish their writing. I finished reading it because I was fascinated by the people and the setting of the book. Most important, Steele is a very good…
Reading? Of Course!
What book are you reading right now? It’s a good time for that question, because I started a new book a few days ago, The Invention of Nature (2015). It’s about Alexander von Humboldt, whose work was very important for people like me. I have it because folks were discussing naturalists and people who have…
Book Report: Mother Tongue
I’ve let this book marinate in my mind for a few days before writing about it. That’s because Mother Tongue: The Surprising History of Women’s Words, by Jenni Nuttall (2023), left me conflicted. It’s a good book to review on Samhain/Halloween, since it has an entire chapter on witches, and there’s a good deal of…
Book Report: Fearfully and Wonderfully Made
I finished this fascinating book a while back, but haven’t had time to write it up with so much other excitement going on. But now’s the time! Fearfully and Wonderfully Made: The Astonishing New Science of the Senses, by Maureen Seaberg has opened my eyes (senses metaphor) to all sorts of ways I can do…
Book Report: The Simple Art of Rice
Few things are as frustrating as reading a cookbook all about a specific ingredient, knowing full well that you are completely out of that ingredient. But I did it, I read this fascinating rice cookbook in one of the very few times in my adult life that I was out of rice. I thought there…
Book Report: Horse
After I finished my depressing but informative book on Florida history in Myrtle Beach, I had some extra time to read, but my huge pile of magazines was at home. But that’s why I brought my Kindle with me! I opened the next book on my list, Horse, by Geraldine Brooks (2021), and got sucked…
Book Report: La Florida
I actually read a book over my time in Myrtle Beach. Impressive! I have been so overwhelmed with magazines (which I read, not just look at pictures) that I haven’t been finishing books lately. The book I read was La Florida: Catholics, Conquistadores, and Other American Origin Stories, by Kevin Kokomoo (2023). It’s not actually…
Slow News Day, Featuring Creatures of the Sky
I may have done less today than I have any day since visiting my dad and just sitting around with him. I got enough movement in, but barely. Every time I went to go outside, a band of showers passed through, but that’s okay, because the clouds were pretty. I’ll miss beach clouds. Luckily, I…
Book Report: Two Crafty Pleasures AND Temperature Blanket Update
I ordered more yarn for the popular colors in my temperature blanket, and while on the Knitpick website I saw two books that looked interesting. First, let’s see how the blanket is coming along. You can definitely see that the third part of January cooled off. The dark blue where it’s 30-35 degrees showed up…
Book Report: Lessons in Chemistry
This is the book everyone seems to be reading. I wish I’d loved it more than I do, but I don’t. Lessons in Chemistry, by Bonnie Garmus (2022) is full of varied characters and has great intentions. Garmus obviously put in a lot of work learning facts that make the novel seem realistic to fans…
Book Report: The LEGO Story: How a Little Toy Sparked the World’s Imagination
It’s a good thing I have a book report for you today, because I wasn’t in a good mood and was pretty down. But forget about that! Let’s talk about my most recent book, The LEGO Story: How a Little Toy Sparked the World’s Imagination, by Jens Andersen (2022). The translator was great, too (it was…
Quiet Times and Ci-ne-ma
Whew, did it rain a lot for the past few days. There’s not much a person with no car can do in a downpour, so I did the thing I’d say I’d do and found myself a plan B. I had Wi-Fi, and the condo place had a DVD rental station, so I’ve taken a…
Book Report: The Dictionary of Lost Words
One of the main things I’ve been doing while in Hilton Head is read. My crochet project really isn’t working out. I think I’ll try it with different yarn and do something else with the yarn I started on. Anyway, I just read The Dictionary of Lost Words (2022), by Pip Williams, an Australian novelist.…
Book Report: Byrne Your Bridges
Oh look, a book report! Since it’s been foggy for two days, I’ve been reading books on my beach trip. The first one is Byrne Your Bridges, by my friend, Liza Cameron Wasser, who lives in Germany. That explains the .de extension on her website, which is where you can buy this book if you…
Book Report: Lucy by the Sea
What? A book report? I know, I haven’t been writing many of these lately (for all two of you who read them). But, between all the crafting and horsing, there hasn’t been much reading other than the huge number of magazines (mostly about horses and houses) that I devour every month or week. For some…
Book Report: Horse Color Explored
I was looking for a book about horse breeds but didn’t find anything helpful. Most were for children. But I saw Horse Color Explored: Over 150 Breeds, Types, and Variations, by Vera Kurskaya (2017) and that piqued my interest. I was interested in knowing more about the genetics of horse colors than I’d read about…
Book Report: The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse
Five Stars Plus My friend Louise, who is a frequent commenter here, sent me this book after I’d commented that a short film based on it looked sweet. Sweet. The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse (2019), by Charlie Mackesy, is way more than sweet. Everyone with a tender heart, even one hidden…
Book Report: Block by Block Crochet
4 stars I’m too tired to write my planned post so hey, here’s a book that I just received and am already loving. Block by Block Crochet: Quilt-Inspired Patchwork Blocks to Mix and Match, by Leonie Morgan, came out in 2021. It’s a great reference book for anyone like me who likes to get creative…
Book Report: Piglet
My new blogging strategy does include continuing with book reports. They are among the least-read posts, but the people who do read them seem to enjoy them, and I like having a record of what I read over the past few years. So, let’s go! My friend Johanna recommended the book Piglet: The Unexpected Story…
Book Report: Two Horse Books That Apply to Everyone
I recently finished two books by Crissi McDonald, a horse trainer and clinician who lives in Colorado with her husband Mark Rashid, who wrote the previous books I read. I had a theme. I think they are self-published, but the quality is quite good. She must know a good proofreader. The books are Continuing the…
Information Rather Than Advice: Again
Another thing they used to say in La Leche League was that we preferred to give information rather than advice. I’ve talked about this before, but I have feelings about it. So here I am again. When we were helping women with their babies, we’d let them know what we knew, what the current research…
Book Report: A Journey to Softness
Yes, indeed, I read another book by Mark Rashid. A Journey to Softness: In Search of Feel and Connection with the Horse taught me a lot about horses, but also gave me a huge insight into dealing with people that I think will come in handy during the hard days I see coming. I will…
Book Report: Whole Heart, Whole Horse
Here’s a short book report, since I talked about this book in a recent post already. Whole Heart, Whole Horse: Building Trust Between Horse and Rider, by Mark Rashid (2009, 2014) is another book that helps you put a finger on what’s going right and what’s going wrong with your relationship to your horse. And…
How Nature Deals with Trauma
You may remember that a couple of days ago we were surprised by a fire alarm in the building where we are staying, right in the middle of important meetings I was supposed to be holding. Going down all those stairs, then trying to train people in software from an overly sunny condo balcony was…
Book Report: Horses Never Lie
I read another horse book on my way to South Carolina, Horses Never Lie, by Mark Rashid (2011) (Sara tells me it’s pronounces Rash-idd). It’s the kind of book I enjoy reading, with lots of stories used to make the point, rather than a lot of pontificating and such. It also backs up my gut…
Horses Can Learn by Observation
For the five of you who read my review of Horse Brain, Human Brain from this morning, you might find what happened this afternoon really interesting. The author of that book, Janet Jones, claimed that horses can learn from observing other horses. She shared that she’d seen horses learn to open gates and do ground…
Book Report: Horse Brain, Human Brain
There haven’t been many book reports lately, thanks to all that knitting of baby blankets I’ve been doing in my off times. But I did manage to get through Horse Brain, Human Brain, by Janet L. Jones, and I’m glad I did. Anyone who rides, trains, or just loves horses will want to read this…
Book Report: Phosphorescence
My husband, Lee, heard some people talking about this book on one of his podcasts, so he ordered it for me as a Christmas present. He said it just sounded like something I’d enjoy, and he was right! I’m so glad to have come across Phosphorescence: A Memoir of Finding Joy When Your World Goes…
Book Report: Oh, William!
Another Elizabeth Strout book is now under my belt. I started it a while ago, then a few other things pushed their way into the queue. I was also savoring it. I do love to read the words of the fictional Lucy Barton, and that’s what all of Oh, William! is. Elizabeth Strout could make…
Book Report: Atlas of the Heart
Here’s the review of Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience, by Brené Brown (2021) that I promised recently. I think I am growing tired of self-help books or something, because this one didn’t impress me as much as some others I’ve read. There were good parts to this…
Book Report: The Lincoln Highway (or a Fine Way to Spend a Couple of Days Off)
It’s been a while since I did a book report, but no, it’s not because it took me that long to read The Lincoln Highway, by Amor Towles (2021). I spent the last number of weeks knitting and reading magazines (and I admit, not reading very much of Oh, William, by Elizabeth Stroud, to savor…
Book Report: A Year in Provence
This is certainly not the kind of book I usually read, but it’s what the Bobcat neighborhood book club chose, and I want to stay in the book club, so I read it. As many of you who read this book years ago already know, A Year in Provence, by Peter Mayle, came out in…
Book Report: Anything Is Possible
Here’s one more Elizabeth Strout book. This is not exactly a sequel, but it builds upon the events and actors in My Name Is Lucy Barton. Anything Is Possible impressed me, because it has the same people in it, but is a completely different type of book than the book about Lucy. Here, you hear…
Book Report: My Name is Lucy Barton
I’ve been knitting a lot in my spare time, but I need a break sometimes. Good thing I brought a bunch of books with me to Colorado. At least three of them are books by Elizabeth Strout, who wrote the Olive Kitteridge books I enjoyed so much. The first one I read is My Name…
Book Report: The Heartbeat of Trees
Yes, indeed, I read another tree book. In fact, I read another tree book by one of my favorite tree-hugging authors, Germany’s Peter Wohlleben. This one, The Heartbeat of Trees: Embracing Our Ancient Bond with Forests and Nature (2021), is the English translation of his latest book from 2019. It’s theme is that we are…
Book Report: Fuzz
After the last book I read, I needed something a little more light-hearted to entertain me. I’d been hearing good things about Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law, by Mary Roach, so I chose it from the “Books to Read” stack in my office. At least I knew I’d enjoy holding it, because the fake…
Book Report: Coffeeland
I managed to get through this very dense book by taking breaks for light-hearted magazine reading every couple of days. Coffeeland: One Man’s Dark Empire and the Making of Our Favorite Drug, by Augustine Sedgewick (1920-21). It’s the second of the books I decided to read after they were referred to in This Is Your…
Book Report: Olive Again
I didn’t think I’d love the writing in a book as much as I loved Olive Kitteridge, but here I am, prepared to gush over Olive Again, by Elizabeth Strout, the woman of the bestest words ever. I keep reading paragraphs over and over, just marveling at how Strout manages to capture the inner lives…
Book Report: A History of the World in 6 Glasses
You know a book is good when you start repeating things you learn in it to everyone you talk to. This one, A History of the World in 6 Glasses, by Tom Standage (2006), is one of those books, all right. I never would have even heard of it, but it was referred to in…
Book Report: Olive Kitteridge
A friend recommended I read the books by Elizabeth Strout on Olive Kitteridge, because I said I was interested in good character development. I ordered them, and just finished Olive Kitteridge. It’s a quiet masterpiece. The book is a series of short stories, sort of, though the same people in a small Maine town appear…
Book Report: This Is Your Mind on Plants
Oh, that Michael Pollan. He’s gonna convert us all to lovers of mind-enhancing substances, I think. His latest offering on this topic, This Is Your Mind on Plants (2021), makes me want to run out and try peyote, so it’s lucky that I am too white to get ahold of it (as you find out…
Book Report: Before We Were Yours
I’ve been hearing about this book for a long time and just hadn’t gotten around to reading it yet. So, when it was suggested for the September neighborhood book club book, I was fine with it. Before We Were Yours, by Lisa Wingate, was very popular when it was published in 2017, and many of…
Book Report: A Girl Is a Body of Water
I was sort of sad to finish my latest relaxation read, A Girl Is a Body of Water, by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi, because I sure was enjoying my education in the culture, food, and clothing of Uganda. Basically, all I knew about Uganda before was Idi Amin, and he certainly isn’t something worth representing an…
Book Report: The Four Winds
Finally, I was able to read a neighborhood book club book again. The Four Winds, by Kristin Hannah (2021) is set in the 1930s, during the Great Depression and the horrible Dust Bowl times in Texas, Oklahoma, and surrounding states. It’s definitely not a feel-good beach read, though there is plenty of goodness in it.…
Book Report: Green: The History of a Color
This is the fourth book in the series of books by Michel Pastoureau that detail how colors have been perceived and used through European history that I’ve read. It’s convenient that I was reading this along with the Greenlights book, which has all the green print and green pages. I find the color series really…
Book Report: Brood
It’s rained nearly all day again today. The younger folks saw it was going to rain yesterday and took off for the beach, leaving us hermits to fend for ourselves. Lee was handed a bunch of paperwork before Kathleen left, so he had a project. All my original plans for the weekend were outdoor ones,…
Book Report: Greenlights
Did you think I wasn’t reading anymore? Not the case; I’m reading a long-ass book about working equitation and a book in my color series, on green. But, this green-themed book showed up yesterday, so I diverted to read it on a very rare rainy July day. I didn’t jump to read Greenlights, by Matthew…
Book Report: Finding the Mother Tree
My excuse for not finishing this one sooner is that I was trying to catch up on magazines, thanks to all the “subtle” hints that I have too many piles of them. I did at least get all the horse and decorating magazines finished, so last night I got myself to the end of Finding…
Book Report: How Stella Learned to Talk
Oh goodness, what’s not to like? A book about a dog named Stella who’s half American Cattle Dog? A book about language acquisition? A book with scientific evidence to back it up? Nice people to read about? For all the “yes” answers this book provides, I rather raced through How Stella Learned to Talk: The…
Book Report: Susan, Linda, Nina and Cokie
With all this extra time at the beach and having mostly run out of things to do that actually appeal to me, I’ve had a lot of reading time. I bought three books on Amazon a few days after we got here, and have already finished two of them. The minute I heard that Susan,…
Book Report: Yellow, the History of a Color
There’s a reason you haven’t had any book reports in the past week or two, and that’s because it’s taken me a while to get through Yellow, the History of a Color by Michel Pastoureau (2019). This is one in a series of works by this French author, all of which detail how a particular…
Book Report: Inclusion
I just finished Inclusion: Diversity, the New Workplace and the Will to Change, a 2016 book by Jennifer Brown of JBC (Jennifer Brown Consulting). I had a kind of odd experience reading it. I’d be all interested in a part, then it would feel repetitious and I’d zone out. That’s unusual for me. There is…
Unconscious Bias? Just Ask Marcus Aurelius
My spouse, Lee, has been studying Stoicism for the past year or two. He really enjoys The Daily Stoic podcast, by Ryan Holiday, who happens to be my boss’s best friend. Small world! Who knew? Holiday has a new book of meditations out, with new translations of the Stoics into modern English by Stephen Hanselman.…
The Unpopular Kid at School
That’s who I feel like this morning. We invited a lot of people to join a book club on unconscious bias at work. There are two meetings, one early and one at mid day, so people in different time zones can attend. There were at least ten people who accepted, were tentative, or hoped to…
Book Report: The Nature of Oaks
Admission: I only gave this book 4 stars because I wanted it to be longer. I dwell on every word Doug Tallamy writes, so I selfishly want more of them. The Nature of Oaks: The Rich Ecology of Our Most Essential Native Trees is his latest book, and it was only published two days ago.…
Book Report: Everyday Bias
Did you think I was finished with unconscious bias books? You’d be almost right. I just have this one more book to talk about before I move on to books about diversity and inclusion. Totally different, yep. This one’s really good, though, even though it talks about many of the same topics as the previous…
Book Report: A Short History of the World According to Sheep
I buy most of my books from Amazon, and they, of course, keep track of your buying history. They know I like books on wool, sheep, knitting, and so on, so I got this book, A Short History of the World According to Sheep, by Sally Coulthard (2020), on Amazon’s recommendation. I also thought the…
Book Report: Blind Spot
Hooray, it’s time for another in my series of reviews of books on unconscious bias. I had to give this one five stars, because I learned so dang much from Blind Spot: Hidden Biases of Good People, by the thoughtful, introspective, and extra-scientific duo Mahzarin R. Banaji and Anthony G. Greenwald (Tony) (2013). I’m not…
Book Report: Biased
It’s time for another in my series of book reports on unconscious bias. This one’s a little different from the previous ones, because it covers mostly just one racial bias, the one against Black people, particularly in the USA. Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, and Do, was written by…
Book Report: Women Talking
Wow. There are so many things to say about this book that I’ll never get them all said! After I read All My Puny Sorrows, I wanted to read more from Miriam Toews, and selected this one, Women Talking, after reading the intriguing reviews. I said All My Puny Sorrows was a jewel of a…
Book Report: Augie and Me
I usually don’t do two of these per day, but I’ll be really busy at work next week, so let’s take advantage of the weekend! I spent most of yesterday reading this charming book. Augie & Me: Three Wonder Stories, by R.J. Palacio, is a companion to the beautiful young adult novel, Wonder, that I…
Book Report: A Simple Favor
It’s time to report on all the books I read while I was freezing or had no power. The first one, A Simple Favor, by Darcey Bell, is the next neighborhood book club selection, and was recommended by neighbor Ruth C’s daughter. It says it’s soon to be a major motion picture, and I can…
Book Report: The Leader’s Guide to Unconscious Bias
At least you get a lot of reading done in bad weather! I zipped through the second of the unconscious bias books I bought to review for work. The Leader’s Guide to Unconscious Bias: How to Reframe Bias, Cultivate Connection, and Create High-Performing Teams, by Pamela Fuller and Mark Murphy with Anne Chow, is from…
Book Report: Sway
When you’ve got to stay in side and try to keep warm, you can read! Yesterday, I finished Sway: Unravelling Unconscious Bias, by Pragya Agarwal. It’s another big ole book with an academic focus, but I learned a lot about all kinds of bias and how it’s formed. The author shared some helpful personal stories…
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The Hermits' Rest 