Description: Renowned knitter and author Clara Parkes ponders the roles knitting plays in her life via 22 captivating, poignant, and laugh-out-loud funny essays. Recounting tales of childhood and adulthood, family, friends, adventure, privacy, disappointment, love, and celebration, she hits upon the universal truths that drive knitters to create and… Read more »
In A History of the World in 6 Glasses, Tom Standage explores the history of six influential beverages: beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, and Coca-Cola (and by extension, Pepsi and other colas.) He examines each drink meticulously, exploring how it was discovered and rose to popularity, and how it influenced… Read more »
September 19 is Talk Like a Pirate Day, so here’s a list of pirate books to get you in the mood. Cover links take you to Goodreads. (Note: I haven’t read a lot of these, so read at your own risk, me hearties!) For children (of all ages): For older… Read more »
Publisher’s description: “Our lives are so filled with junk from the past-from dried up tubes of glue to old grudges-that it’s a wonder we can get up in the morning,” exclaims motivator, best-selling author, columnist, and life coach Gail Blanke.“If you want to grow, you gotta let go,” is Blanke’s… Read more »
Category: Nonfiction; science Publisher: Little, Brown, & Company (2010) Book Source: Public library (audiobook) The Periodic Table is one of man’s crowning scientific achievements. But it’s also a treasure trove of stories of passion, adventure, betrayal, and obsession. The infectious tales and astounding details in The Disappearing Spoon follow carbon,… Read more »
Category: Nonfiction Subject: Writing, creativity, and creative block How I got the book: Public library The Sound of Paper: Starting From Scratch is a series of related chapter or essays on creativity and creative blocks. Author Julia Cameron (The Artist’s Way) begins each essay (or chapter) by musing on some… Read more »
“Top Ten Tuesday” is a weekly blog feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week’s theme is Top Ten Beach Reads. This is the first time I’ve participated. First a confession: I don’t really like the beach. I don’t like being hot, I sunburn quite easily, and I’m… Read more »
Below Stairs is the memoir which (in part) inspired both Upstairs, Downstairs and Downton Abbey. Born in 1907 to an impoverished family, Margaret Powell relinquished a scholarship she couldn’t afford to take up and entered domestic service as a kitchen maid — the lowest of the female servants — at… Read more »
