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 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...
Book Review: Vampires in the Lemon Grove by Karen Russell
Eight quirky stories fill the pages of Vampires in the Lemon Grove by Karen Russell. Looking back over the list of titles, I only was drawn into three of them. And I had major objections to one. So it often goes with short story collections. But I expected more from...
Book Review: The Demon Under the Microscope by Thomas Hager
Thomas Hager writes a compelling medical and scientific history in The Demon Under the Microscope. Subtitled From Battlefield Hospitals to Nazi Labs, One Doctor’s Heroic Search for the World’s First Miracle Drug, its scope is incredibly wide. This book is the perfect...
Book Review: To Converge and Disconnect by Eric Ballein
To Converge and Disconnect is a very short debut novella from Eric Ballein. Set in a small town outside Las Vegas, it primarily occurs on a single day. The main character is a young Sherriff’s deputy named Royal Fields. He’s feckless, immature, and not especially...
Book Review: The Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler (Earthseed #1)
I have a love / hate relationship with The Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler. I love the book and hate how much I think her speculative fiction feels like our 21st century reality. Butler creates a world, set in our near future 2025, where anarchy reigns. I also...
Book Review: The Sea Was a Fair Master by Calvin Demmer
Calvin Demmer creates a gruesome collection of flash fiction in The Sea Was a Fair Master. With 23 stories, the book numbers just 83 pages. Each word is considered and not one is wasted. I’m in awe of the atmospheric, creepy tales he creates in so few words. The...
Book Review: The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
Way way backlist book The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett is an stirring historical fiction novel. It evokes a variety of emotion from the reader, as its characters go through many decades of life in Middle Ages England. But I’ll admit some of my emotions were...
Book Review: Be Your Own Superhero: A Road Map to Resilience When Faced with Chronic Dis-ease by Barbara Appelbaum
Barbara Appelbaum has lived through, and with, some significant challenges in her life. Diagnosed with MS in her early forties, she’s taken an integrative approach to treating the disease. She also made some huge life changes in response to her diagnosis, including...
Book Review: Leave Me by Gayle Forman
Gayle Forman captures the overwhelm of managing life and acute illness in her novel Leave Me. The protagonist Maribeth Klein is a 40-something mom of twins when she has a heart attack. Like many women, Maribeth has no idea her heart is in acute distress. She keeps...
Book Review: Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman
In Norse Mythology Neil Gaiman takes readers to the worlds of Asgard, Midgard, and Jotunheim. It’s a fun romp with gods, giants, and dwarves. If you’ve watched the recent Marvel Comics movies, you’re familiar with the names Odin, Thor, and Loki. And Freya’s name has...
Book Review: A Higher Loyalty by James Comey
Former FBI Director James Comey tells his side of the story in A Higher Loyalty. Plus, he details the big cases that he was part of before the whole Trump White House debacle. He’s a surprisingly good writer, and I enjoyed this book. In addition to the investigations,...
Book Review: Americanah by Chimimanda Ngoszi Adichie
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie portrays two Nigerian young people through the pivotal years of teens and twenties. But it’s much more than a coming of age story. It’s more of a “coming into your full self” kind of story, especially because it includes so many...
Book Review: The Girl Who Smiled Beads by Clementine Wamariya
The Girl Who Smiled Beads: A Story Of War and What Came After from Clemantine Wamariya is the moving memoir of a Rwandan refugee. In truth, it’s the story of Wamariya, her sister Claire, and a variety of other family members. But it’s told by Wamariya, who was...
Book Review: Keep Marching: How Every Woman Can Take Action and Change Our World by Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner
If you’re looking for concrete ideas about everyday activism, read Keep Marching: How Every Woman Can Take Action and Change Our World by Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner. The author breaks down today’s most critical human rights issues, and provides an action plan. Keep...
Book Review: The King of Bones and Ashes by J.D. Horn
J.D. Horn begins a new series with The King of Bones and Ashes. Set in post-Katrina New Orleans, Horn introduces us to the Marin family, young, old, and not entirely alive. This is definitely an atmospheric, Southern gothic-tinged fantasy. The Marins are part of the...
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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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