Happy December 12th, fellow readers! I am a huge fan of The Popcast with Knox and Jamie – a pop culture podcast with the objective of educating listeners on “things that entertain, but do not matter.” If you haven’t already subscribed, I recommend doing so immediately. Knox McCoy, one of the hosts, recently wrote a…
Tag: 12 Days of Books
The 12 Days of Books of 2018: Book Four
Hannah Brencher is a light in this world, and her words are often the flashlight that pierces through the darkness. Her latest book, Come Matter Here: Your Invitation to Be Here in a Getting There World is the perfect gift for that special millennial in your life. Here’s the official blurb: Life is scary. Adulting is…
The 12 Days of Books: Day 8
For me, it’s always fun to read a play just for fun – as a director and writer and theatre professional, when a play finds it’s way into my hands is usually for research, so when I get the opportunity to read the words of a new playwright, it feels like Christmas! SWEAT is one of…
The 12 Days of Books – Day 12
The twelfth book of Christmas is The Heroine’s Bookshelf: Life Lessons, from Jane Austen to Laura Ingalls Wilder by Erin Blakemore. This book is the second heroine-centric book on our 12 Days list, following up Day Three’s account of How to Be a Heroine. If I had my way, I would swap the titles of these two…
The 12 Days of Books – Day 11
The eleventh book of Christmas is The Camel Bookmobile by Masha Hamilton. “Deep in the heart of the dusty Kenyan desert a train of heavenly laden camels wind their way slowly through the bush. The camels’ panniers are stuffed to bursting, not with grain or medical supplies, but with books of every imaginable variety. Mididimc…
The 12 Days of Books – Day 10
The tenth book of Christmas is The Bookshop Book by Jen Campbell. “Every bookshop has a story. We’re talking about bookshops in barns, disused factories, converted churches and underground car parks. Bookshops on boats, on buses and in old run-down railway stations. From the oldest bookshop in the world, to the smallest you could imagine, The Bookshop…
The 12 Days of Books – Day 9
The ninth book of Christmas is Shakespeare Saved My Life: Ten Years in Solitary with the Bard by Laura Bates, an English professor at Indiana State University. “Shakespeare professor and prison volunteer Laura Bates thought she had seen it all. That is, until she decided to teach Shakespeare in a place the bard had never been…
The 12 Days of Books – Day 8
The eighth book of Christmas is A Jane Austen Education: How Six Novels Taught Me About Love, Friendship, and the Things That Really Matter by William Deresiewicz. A few years ago, I read Excellent Sheep by Deresiewicz and had mixed feelings about his opinions. That book was about the current structure of post-secondary education in…
The 12 Days of Books – Day 7
“To discover a new writer you love is like discovering a whole new country.” – p. 4 The seventh book of Christmas is Why I Read: The Serious Pleasure of Books by Wendy Lesser. From the start, Lesser told the reader that the book they were about to read might be inconclusive. She spends…
The 12 Days of Books – Day 6
“Reading well, which means reading actively, is thus not only good in itself, nor is it merely a means to advancement in our work or career. It also serves to keep our minds alive and growing.” – p. 336 The sixth book of Christmas is How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent…