by Barbara the Bibliophage | Oct 31, 2017 | LEARN: Chronic Illness
If healthcare in the United States frustrates you, An American Sickness: How Healthcare Became Big Business and How You Can Take It Back by Elisabeth Rosenthal is the book for you. It alternately made me furious, sad, and empowered me to ask a thousand more questions...
by Barbara the Bibliophage | Oct 29, 2017 | RELAX: Fantasy, Horror, Sci-Fi
Elizabeth Kostova dives deep into the history of Dracula in The Historian. It’s slightly more than 700 pages, and yet Dracula is a minor character. This was my second reading, done together with friends from Litsy and organized by Ami at Literature Goals. When I...
by Barbara the Bibliophage | Oct 28, 2017 | MISCELLANEOUS
Two years ago, our 18-year old granddaughter died in a one-car accident. At the time, I was blogging regularly about chronic pain, health, and wellness. I had self-published a book, Kick Pain in the Kitchen, some months before. And then my creative juices died along...
by Barbara the Bibliophage | Oct 24, 2017 | RESIST: Social Justice
During 2017 I’ve made a specific effort to broaden my reading experience, with emphasis on balancing my white, middle-class education and upbringing. I’ve tried to choose classics written by African Americans, historical works, as well as books that...
by Barbara the Bibliophage | Oct 23, 2017 | RELAX: Fantasy, Horror, Sci-Fi
Susan Hill’s gothic horror book, The Woman in Black, is a perfect late October read. It’s the time of the year when I think about finding ghosts and goblins in my books. I listened to this as an audiobook, read by Paul Ansdell. His narration was spot on...
by Barbara the Bibliophage | Oct 22, 2017 | RELAX: Memoir
Firoozeh Dumas’ memoir about growing up Iranian in California, Funny in Farsi, is a lighthearted look at her 1970s and 80s immigrant experience. Imagine moving to a country where you don’t speak the language, and everyone is geographically challenged with...
by Barbara the Bibliophage | Oct 20, 2017 | RELAX: Memoir
I picked up I feel Bad About my Neck by Nora Ephrata on a Sunday afternoon when I needed a little levity. Having loved her movies but never read her books, this was a happy find at a library book sale. And it did make me laugh some, and groan quite a lot. Sometimes a...
by Barbara the Bibliophage | Oct 19, 2017 | RESIST: Politics, RESIST: Social Justice
To say Ta-Nehisi Coates covers a lot of ground in We Were Eight Years in Power is a true understatement. This book has done more to explain to me the state of the U.S. today than several of the other books I’ve read since the election combined. Coates reaches...
by Barbara the Bibliophage | Oct 16, 2017 | RELAX: Fantasy, Horror, Sci-Fi
Monstress Volume Two continues Maika’s journey for answers that Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda brought us in the first volume. Volume One is subtitled “The Awakening,” because Maika is beginning to discover her two identities. Volume Two is subtitled...
by Barbara the Bibliophage | Oct 14, 2017 | RELAX: Other Relaxation
In Alan Bradley’s charming tale, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, Flavia de Luce is a tween on a mission. At just eleven years old, she’s precocious in the extreme. And when she finds a dead body in the cucumber patch, she feels compelled to...
by Barbara the Bibliophage | Oct 12, 2017 | RELAX: Fantasy, Horror, Sci-Fi
Author Jac Jemc describes the house in her book, The Grip of It as having windows that distort the view beyond them. That’s very much how this short novel itself feels. I never quite got a grip (pun intended) on what was happening, nor did the main characters....
by Barbara the Bibliophage | Oct 8, 2017 | RELAX: Fantasy, Horror, Sci-Fi
The Boy Who Drew Monsters by Keith Donohue is the story of the Keenans—Tim, Hollie, and Jack Peter. Also figuring in the plot are their neighbors Nell, Fred, and Nick Weller. The two families are year-long residents along the ocean in Maine’s...
by Barbara the Bibliophage | Oct 3, 2017 | RELAX: Historical Fiction
With Girl in Disguise, Greer Macallister brings us a rip-roaring heroine caught up in a tense and fast-moving world. I read the book in just over 24 hours, which is not normal for me. Definitely a fun, unputdownable choice! Kate Warne is a widow in Chicago just before...
by Barbara the Bibliophage | Oct 1, 2017 | RESIST: Feminism, RESIST: Politics
What Happened, Hillary Rodham Clinton’s exposition on the election cycle of 2016 proves her to be a great political thinker. That she’ll not also be a great political leader is the result of many things, and she willingly takes personal responsibility...
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