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Favorite Books of 2015

December 28, 2015

favorite books

This year has been a reading rollercoaster—exciting highs mixed with ho-hum lows. No sooner was I soaring from some fantastic piece of fiction than I was shutting a book after 100 pages because ‘life is too short’ to keep reading something that isn’t holding my interest or is poorly written. Now, as it comes to a close, I’ve corralled the reading I love into lists. Today is ... Read More...

21 Comments
Filed Under: Feature, Reading Tagged: book clubs, favorite books, lists

A Holiday Story

December 21, 2015

holiday story

I’m not sure if I’ve done this before at The Gilmore Guide but I’m going to break from books and share something personal—a holiday story.  This year feels more fraught with negativity than any I can remember in a long time. And not in my little life but in the country and world at large. There is so much noise and so little of it is positive. This is my Christmas past, ... Read More...

32 Comments
Filed Under: Feature

Black Chalk

December 16, 2015

black chalk

  There are many games to be played in college but none quite like the one designed by Jolyon and his friend Chad in Christopher Yates’s debut novel Black Chalk. The novel, just like the Game itself, begins with innocuous pieces to lure you in—Chad, the shy American determined to make the friends in England that he could not make at home; Jolyon, the funny British boy who ... Read More...

3 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, coming-of-age, debut, friendship, mystery, Picador, suspense

Give a Book!

December 14, 2015

give a book

It’s that time of year when most of us are feeling pulled in even more directions than usual. Work+family+holidays= overload. Too much to do and not enough time to do it so, in the spirit of giving, I’m going to give you, my favorite readers, the perfect excuse to grab a warm beverage and sit back for a moment. If anyone asks, you’re working on gift ideas (nudge nudge, wink ... Read More...

8 Comments
Filed Under: Feature, Reading Tagged: gifts, lists, reading

Furiously Happy

December 9, 2015

furiously happy

I have learned that every person in the world is on the spectrum of mental illness. Many people barely register on the scale, while others have far more than they could be expected to handle. Even specific disorders are incredibly individualized.    Jenny Lawson found her tribe through her blog, The Bloggess, and went on to write a funny memoir of her childhood called ... Read More...

4 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Non-fiction Tagged: book clubs, humor, Macmillan, memoir

A Dictionary of Mutual Understanding

December 7, 2015

a dictionary of mutual

  Imagine, if you can, your entire life changing in a flash. Literally, and by ‘flash’ I mean a blinding light the force and magnitude of an atomic bomb. This is what happens to Amaterasu Takahashi in Jackie Copleton’s new novel A Dictionary of Mutual Understanding. She and her family live in Nagasaki and on August 9, 1945 instead of meeting her daughter at a nearby ... Read More...

1 Comment
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, debut, historical fiction, Japan, WWII

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