It is difficult to explain the excitement I felt when I saw Nick Offerman had written a book about people he considers to be American heroes… and that he narrates the audio book himself. As one of the stars of a tv show I adore, “Parks and Recreation,” Offerman plays the gruff, Libertarian director of …
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force of nature
Barbara Kingsolver does not disappoint, and her family-centered tale of butterflies, “Flight Behavior,” is no exception. The author sets the scene in rural Tennessee, where young Dellarobia resides on a sheep farm that is manned by her husband and his parents. She raises their two young children and keeps house, restlessly, while their financial and …
my top five
when it comes to making lists and ranking things, Nick Hornby’s “High Fidelity” is tops. it provides a wry and stark glimpse into the mind of an over-examiner. main character Rob Fleming (I would describe him as the protagonist if he was more affable) owns a mostly failing record shop and lives an unremarkable life. in …
Hogwarts Hiatus
It’s been awhile since I posted because I’ve been engaged in a very committed relationship with the Harry Potter series since July. I put down book seven exactly one week ago, at about one pm, and wondered what to do with my life now that I was done. Harry, Ron, and Hermione had become a …
a little kindling
The nature of female relationships is a terrifying thing. In “How to Start a Fire,” Lisa Lutz takes on the friendship between three young women as they meet and form initial bonds in college and then move on with their lives. The result is an often poignant, sometimes tense, and consistently interesting, complex tale that …
a little perspective
“It’s What I Do” is a remarkable book by a focused, motivated young woman. Author Lynsey Addario guides us through her career as a news photographer for some of the most esteemed agencies in the world, including the New York Times and National Geographic. Addario has faced seemingly insurmountable challenges and resistance in the countries in which she …
girls these days
This past weekend I hopped on the train out of center city Philadelphia and rode out to the suburbs. while seated I thought about snapping a selfie with the hashtag “i’m the girl on the train” but, that might be a bit creepy to those who understood the reference. “Girl on the Train” is supposed …
start me up
This afternoon over lunch, my friend told us something amazing. “I wake up every morning to “this girl is on fiiiiiireee…”” she sang, laughing at her music choice. “Well, my alarm is usually “Talk Dirty to Me,”” another girl admitted. Needless to say, this sparked a pretty amazing conversation about the power of music in …
get carried away
it’s rare that I actually have to plow my way through a book. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what I was compelled to do with the highly-anticipated “Dead Wake.” This WWI era, non-fiction thriller is at the top of all the lists except for mine (or so it seems). It follows the story of the Lusitania, the …
the narrative
“In Cold Blood” has been described as ground-breaking, a book that opened the doors to the true crime world and ushered in a sensational era of real American horror stories. I’m thrilled to have read it, and found the questions it left behind are just as captivating as the parallel tales it wove together. Truman …
Literal Laura 