My January reading was as all over-the-board as the weather here in Ann Arbor. Some of it depressed me as much as the foot of heavy wet snow we got, but then there were some days (and books) that were pure sunshine. My art—it’s about choosing when I release the shutter. It’s not about setting up a scene and making a picture of it. It’s about being ... Read More...
Ten Best Books of 2019
Well, what do you know. Rather than being my usual contrarian self, I actually have ten books I consider to be the best of 2019. Of course, that doesn’t include the eight debut novels I wrote about on Wednesday, but let’s not split hairs. The point is: ALL of these books are marvelous. Even better, you still have time to get any one of them before Christmas for your ... Read More...
Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America
Last week, I left behind heavy nonfiction with Adam Rippon's memoir, Beautiful on the Outside, but today I'm back with a heavy dose of reality. Dopesick is Beth Macy’s well-researched and documented rise of opioid addiction in America. Specifically, in the Appalachians—starting with the over-prescribing of high dose Oxycontin to coal miners in the late 1990s. Macy weaves ... Read More...
Necessary People: A Novel
It always seems as if being the friend of a really wealthy person would be fun—going expensive places, but never having to pay, exotic vacations, great gifts. But it never plays out that way in fiction. The last novel I read about a rich girl/poor girl friendship was Social Creature, which I disliked when its plot veered into the wildly implausible. So, I was hesitant to read ... Read More...
October Reading Recap
Hello! I know October has already ended but figured you’d all cut me some slack as I’ve been a bit busy. When I posted about taking a break because I was driving from Seattle to Ann Arbor I used a stock mountain photo, but I’m happy to report that I took this photo myself while driving through Montana. What a stunning state! I now understand its nickname Big Sky Country. There ... Read More...
A Door in the Earth
Parveen is like most young women her age—graduating college, but not sure what she wants to do with her degree in medical anthropology. Until she reads a memoir, written by a man who goes to Afghanistan and after a traumatic incident that left a woman dead from giving birth, founds and funds a women’s health center in a small isolated village. Parveen is Afghan-American and ... Read More...
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