Welcome!
I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t reading at least one book. I devour them, make time for them, hunt for bargains, and love to talk with other readers like you.
When I was trying to sum up my favorite 2016 reads, I realized I read mostly in three categories: books I learn from, books I use to relax, and books that are about resisting patriarchy, racism, and the status quo. So, that’s how I’m organizing my blog posts here. (I hope you’ll check out my favorite 2017 reads also.)
I’m also the author of the Amazon best-selling Kick Pain in the Kitchen, about how to find holistic pain relief.
Find me at Goodreads and on the Litsy app as BarbaraTheBibliophage!
Book Review: A Quiet Genocide by Glenn Bryant
A Quiet Genocide from new author Glenn Bryant is a quiet book. Right up until it punches you in the gut. It’s historical fiction with a topic I’ve never seen broached. And I’ve read WW2 stories for decades now. It opens in post-WW2 Munich with the Diederichs. They’re...
Product Review: LiteraryBookGifts.com
Do you love bookish gifts and products? Right, I know you do. Me too! So I was super excited when Melissa from LiteraryBookGifts.com reached out to me for a review. (I'm not an affiliate, nor do I receive any compensation when you order. I just like her products.)...
Book Review: Sick: A Memoir by Porochista Khakpour
Porochista Khakpour spends much of her book, Sick: A Memoir, talking about relationships. Sometimes it’s her parents or girlfriends. But more often it’s the men in her life. I’ve seen reviewers bemoan this. But here’s what I think. A single young woman, battling...
Book Review: How to Change Your Mind: The New Science of Psychedelics by Michael Pollan
To learn what the latest Michael Pollan book, How to Change Your Mind, is about just check out its subtitle: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence. Pollan creates an epic book. It’s part...
Book Review: Beach Town by Mary Kay Andrews
Mary Kay Andrews offers us a pleasurable trip to Beach Town in this romancey, character-driven read. I’m not much of a “chick lit” or romance reader. But our #Booked2018 challenge includes a “beach read” prompt. So I decided to go literal and pick a book with “beach”...
Book Review: His Bloody Project by Graeme Macrae Burnet
His Bloody Project is historical fiction from author Graham Macrae Burnet that reads like true crime. But the crime was committed in 1869 in Culduie, Scotland. It’s a tiny burg between the poetically-named Toscaig and Camusterrach. Yes, I indulged my habit of checking...
Book Review: Russian Roulette: The Inside Story of Putin’s War on America and the Election of Donald Trump by Michael Isikoff and David Corn
Veteran reporters David Corn and Michael Isikoff present solid, meticulous reporting in Russian Roulette. They tell the story of Donald Trump’s myriad connections to Russia, both before and during the 2016 election cycle. They integrate this into the Russian...
Book Review: Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler (Earthseed #2)
Parable of the Talents cements Octavia Butler as one of my favorite speculative fiction authors. The second and final in the Earthseed books, Talents offers a disturbing view of the near future. At the end of Book #1, Parable of the Sower, Lauren Olamina, her husband...
Book Review: 32 Yolks: From My Mother’s Table to Working the Line by Eric Ripert
Eric Ripert and his book 32 Yolks made me think about my own knife skills. And how pathetic they are. This enticing memoir, subtitled From My Mother’s Table to Working the Line, tells the story of his early life and career beginnings. It’s an enjoyable read, even when...
Book Review: A Very Expensive Poison by Luke Harding
Luke Harding takes us back to London of 2006 with his fascinating review of the death of Alexander Litvinenko via A Very Expensive Poison. The book covers about ten years of not just murder investigation but Russian internal and international politics. Harding’s bona...
Book Review: On Our Terms: Empowering the New Health Consumer by Glen Tullman
Overview On Our Terms: Empowering the New Health Consumer is written by corporate CEO Glen Tullman. His theorizes that we are moving into an era of health consumers, rather than patients. Considering patient comes from the Latin word meaning suffering, I’m willing to...
Book Review: Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo
Katherine Boo won the 2012 Nonfiction National Book Award for Behind the Beautiful Forevers. Subtitled Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity, it is an intensely challenging book. Beautiful Forevers tells the story of a select group of slum dwellers. They live in...
Book Review: A Pomegranate and the Maiden by Tamara Agha-Jaffar
Tamara Agha-Jaffar just released the audiobook version of her first novel, A Pomegranate and the Maiden. The story draws directly from Greek mythology, particularly the story of Demeter and Persephone. Young Kore is the daughter of the Goddess Demeter and Zeus, King...
Book Review: Anything is Possible by Elizabeth Strout
Elizabeth Strout invites us to visit small-town Illinois in Anything is Possible. It’s like being the new guest at your sister-in-law’s summer picnic. You meet one person, and spend a little time together. When they’re done telling you a story, you’re spun among the...
Book Review: A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
With her novel, A Little Life, Hanya Yanagihara makes a beautiful piece of pottery. Then she drops it on the floor, where it shatters into pieces. Yet before the book finishes, Yanagihara has created what the Japanese call kintsugi. Kintsugi is the art of taking...
Graphic Novel Review: Upgrade Soul by Ezra Claytan Daniels
Ezra Claytan Daniels is both author and illustrator of the new graphic novel, Upgrade Soul. In it, Hank and Molly decide to undergo an experimental procedure to regain their youth. Daniels tells how this long-married couple makes such a momentous decision. He shows...
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I will definitely recommend Kick Pain in the Kitchen to my patients: Those who are looking to avoid pharmaceutical treatment and those who want to combine western medicine with alternative therapies.
Jane A. Swartz
ARNP, MSN, Rheumatology Nurse Practitioner
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