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, 2018, 2019, and 2020 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!
Cultish — Amanda Montell (Book Review)
Amanda Montell explores the unique ways cults use language to control their followers in her 2021 book Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism. As you’d expect, she includes the phenomenon of some well-known quasi-religious organizations like Scientology and Jim Jones’...
Memoirs in Essay Form—Madden and O’Farrell (Book Reviews)
There’s nothing like sinking into a satisfying essay based memoir. Whether it’s following a cult survivor or a famous Hollywood star, slipping under another person’s skin is one of my favorite bookish pleasures. And sometimes memoirists step away from the simple...
Kelley Armstrong — A Rip Through Time (Book Review)
In A Rip Through Time, Kelley Armstrong creates Vancouver police detective Mallory Atkinson. Mallory is visiting her gravely ill grandmother in Edinburgh, Scotland. The year is 2019. Until one evening when Mallory goes jogging and unexpectedly finds herself waking up...
Genealogy — Personal, Societal, and Professional Perspectives
I recently read a few books that examine our individual and collective fascination with genealogy. At our house, we talk often about our ancestors and what we know or don’t know. Our son decided yesterday to start filming his dad when these discussions happen. Because...
The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story (Book Review)
The essays in The 1619 Project, created and edited by Nikole Hannah-Jones and the New York Times Magazine, are more vital reading than ever. This week’s events at the Supreme Court have proven that. We’re watching the dismantling of privacy and human rights here in...
Stolen Focus by Johann Hari (Book Review)
I read Johann Hari’s new book, Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention—And How to Think Deeply Again, to improve my focus. I thought Hari would primarily provide specific, actionable strategies. While Stolen Focus does some of that, Hari predominately offers deeper...
The Dragon Republic by R.F. Kuang (The Poppy War #2) — Book Review
The Dragon Republic is R. F. Kuang’s second book in her Poppy War trilogy. We follow the young shaman and soldier named Rin, along with her various friends and enemies. As expected, this book deals with the military and political fallout of book one (The Poppy War)....
Lauren Hough — Leaving Isn’t the Hardest Thing (Book Review)
Lauren Hough shares her outspoken and unique voice in the essay collection Leaving Isn’t the Hardest Thing. It’s a memoir that wanders (in the very best way) through the various chapters of her life. Listening to the audio version, narrated by Cate Blanchett and the...
The Fervor by Alma Katsu (Book Review)
In The Fervor Alma Katsu blends lesser-known World War II history with Japanese folklore and the horror of racism. This relatively short book introduces Meiko and her young daughter Aiko. Meiko came to Seattle as part of an arranged marriage to another Japanese...
Levi Vonk with Axel Kirschner — Border Hacker (Book Review)
Levi Vonk is a young anthropology student investigating migrant caravans in Mexico. Early in his process Levi meets Axel Kirschner, whose story includes time in the US, Guatemala, and travel through Mexico. Their experiences form the core of their book, Border Hacker:...
R.F. Kuang — The Poppy War (Book Review)
R. F. Kuang deftly combines history and fantasy in her epic The Poppy War, set in an alternative Asia. Based primarily in the China-inspired country of Nikan, it follows the ascendance of young military student Fang Runin, known as Rin. She’s an orphan living in a...
Valerie Biden Owens — Growing Up Biden (Book Review)
Valerie Biden Owens offers readers insights into her family, political and otherwise in upcoming her memoir, Growing Up Biden. As the younger (and only) sister of President Joe Biden, she has a unique story to tell. At its heart is a deep trust between family members....
Libby Copeland — The Lost Family (Book Review)
Libby Copeland considers all the ways consumer DNA testing has changed our lives in The Lost Family: How DNA Testing is Uncovering Secrets, Reuniting Relatives, and Upending Who We Are. She interviews scientists, career genealogists, ethicists, and lots of regular...
Jennifer Wright — Get Well Soon (Book Review)
Jennifer Wright balances aspects of medicine, science, and social history in her 2017 book, Get Well Soon: History’s Worst Plagues and the Heroes Who Fought Them. Perhaps I connected most strongly to the human and social elements because of experiencing the COVID-19...
Brit Bennett – The Vanishing Half (Book Review)
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett is a complex and layered novel about secrets. At the center of the story are twin sisters, Stella and Desiree. Raised in small-town Louisiana, everyone around them focused on the color of their skin. The entire community of...
The Shape of Sound by Fiona Murphy (Book Review)
Fiona Murphy focuses her lyrical memoir, The Shape of Sound, on her experience with hearing and deafness. We follow her memories of childhood up until the present. So, we learn about her ongoing denial of being deaf in one ear. She analyzes how and why she hid her...
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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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