I used to have a chair in my bedroom I felt guilty about. It was stacked high with clothes I had taken off but didn’t quite know what to do with. They were’t really dirty enough to be laundered but at the same time I didn’t want to put them back with my totally clean clothes.

When we moved a couple of years ago, I was determined not to have an unkempt laundry chair. I would put everything away. Today, I keep a little round stool in my closet to sit on, like for hoisting on a pair of Spanx, … [Read more...] about House Love

This Is How It Always Is blew me away. It’s the story about a family navigating their lives with their youngest daughter who is trans. I found it enlightening and deeply moving in terms of what trans individuals and families face on their journeys.

Yet the story is also universal. It’s about acceptance and love in the face of hardship; it’s about the power of speaking the truth when the truth seems too scary; it’s about seeing our own obstacles in relation to all the other bad stuff in the … [Read more...] about This Is How It Always Is

The summer between my junior and senior year of college I did summer stock at U of I. I’ll never forget that summer. The rehearsals, the friendships, the romances, the drinking, the smoking, the late nights, the FUN. Oh to be young and have your whole life ahead of you.

When I read Ann Patchett’s book Tom Lake I was suddenly reliving my own summer and reflecting on the decisions I did and didn’t make since those heady days of youth.

In Patchett’s book, we meet a family during the pandemic. … [Read more...] about Tom Lake

The opening line of this BANNED children's book is “There will be days when you walk into a room and no one there is quite like you.”

Ever felt that way?

The book follows the first day of school for children who feel like they don’t fit in because of their language or looks or what they eat or whatever.

Woodson offers her reader a remedy toward the end of the book: “There will be days when you walk into a room and no one there is quite like you……until the day you begin to share your … [Read more...] about The Day You Begin

For those who can never get enough of the Kennedy’s, there’s a new book out just this week to satiate your passion for this storied family. It’s called White House By the Sea by Kate Storey. The book focuses on the Kennedy lives from the vantage point of their summer house at Hyannis Port, also known as the Summer White House, where for a hundred years America’s most famous political family has come to swim, play, celebrate, and bond. It is also the setting of so many events we remember: JFK … [Read more...] about White House by the Sea

I met author and poet Clint Smith several years ago at a conference we were both speaking at. I heard his speech and was uber impressed with his eloquence, insights, and positions on social justice. Prior to that, I had heard him interviewed on NPR where he read a few of his poems aloud. I immediately bought his first book of poetry, Counting Descent. I was blown away not only by the power of the poems but by his ability to share his experience of what it means to be a Black man in American … [Read more...] about Counting Descent

Aimee Nezhukumatathil writes the foreword to this wonderful collection of poems about gardens and the hands that tend them. Nezhukumatathil is a poet and the author of one of my favorite books World of Wonders—which is astonishing. In her forward to this collection of poems Leaning Toward Light, she writes, “I’ve been tickled for years to learn that the word anthology means a ‘gathering of flowers.’ Even if your garden grows vegetables or fruit, flowers need to bloom to make the harvest … [Read more...] about Leaning Toward Light

Billy Collins was Poet Laureate in 2001 and he wanted to keep the love of poetry alive, especially among teenagers. As he notes, “High school is the focus of my program because all too often it is the place where poetry goes to die.” He gathered a series of 180 poems that were short, clear, and that anyone could basically get in one hearing. The number matched the approximate number of days kids are in school, and he encouraged schools to read a poem a day over the loud speaker during … [Read more...] about Poetry 180: A Turning Back to Poetry

“There are moments that cry out to be fulfilled. Like, telling someone you love them. Or giving your money away, all of it. Your heart is beating, isn't it?” Anything by the Pulitzer Prize winning and astonishing Mary Oliver is wonderful! I love Felicity and Dog Songs. … [Read more...] about Felicity