“One of the things that puzzles me is that so few people want to look at life as a totality and to recognize that death is no more extraordinary than birth. When they say it’s the end of everything they don’t seem to recognize that we came from somewhere and it would be very, very […]
Dear friends of ECBR, as I wrote last week I’m starting a new venture called Enchanted English where I can offer language lessons and literary services. To drum up some interest from English learners, I wrote a little booklet called HOW TO READ A BOOK and learn English (or any other language). I did some […]
We have arrived at the seventh day of the seventh month of the seventh year of The Emerald City Book Review — which came into the world on January 1, 2014. It seems a good time to take stock, look at how far I’ve come, and think about next steps. The past six and a […]
Dearest blog reading friends, as I’ve indicated in a few recent posts life is a bit much for me at the moment. I’m finding it takes way too much energy to even think about writing reviews or other posts, and so I need to take a break until I get my blogging impulse back. I’m […]
Now that I’m back from Switzerland (will post pictures soon), it’s time to think about Witch Week! This is my fourth annual celebration of fantasy books and authors (actual witches need not be involved). According to the book of the same name by Diana Wynne Jones, this magical week starts on Halloween and runs until […]
As my year-long Reading New England challenge draws to a close, I’d like to finish with a book we can all read together. After mulling over the many unread books on my list, I decided on Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick, a nonfiction account of the first sixty years of the Plymouth colony, which ended with […]
This is just a quick announcement to say that I’m delighted to have been invited by Katie of Doing Dewey to be one of the hosts for Nonfiction November this year! I’ll be hosting the discussion and linkup for the last week, November 28 – December 2: New To My TBR. I’ll be busy during […]
I know it’s only the beginning of September, but I can’t wait to tell everybody about what’s in store for the third annual Witch Week, which will take place from October 31 to November 6. It’s a chance to celebrate our favorite fantasy books and authors, and I have so much fun each year putting […]
I’m back! It’s been great to take a couple of weeks off but now I’m happy to return to the blog. Here’s what I’ve been up to… Just finished: League of Dragons by Naomi Novik The House by the Lake by Thomas Harding Lady Cop Makes Trouble by Amy Stewart Almost done: The Astonishing Life […]
And now I’m off for a week visiting friends in Quebec — including a jaunt to Quebec City, setting of one of my favorite books from last year, Shadows on the Rock by Willa Cather. Of course, I need to reread that now… Things will be a bit slow around here for a while, what […]