This book is one of a series that screams summer is here and vacation is coming. Our family has been having a great time with this, picking it up at in between
5 Star Books
Book Review: The War of Art
Wow! It’s been a long time since a book has impacted me so much. This is should be mandatory reading not for just artists but for anyone who wants to accomplish any good endeavor.
Book Review: Remarkable Creatures
Having enjoyed the Girl With A Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier… I snatched this book up and I’m so glad I did.
Book Review: Food Rules
I loved “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” by Michael Pollan. It revolutionized both my thought and my eating/purchasing of food, which is quite something to say. I also liked his subsequent book “In Defense of Food.” I really recommend reading both those books, and this one is especially not a substitute for the first one, but it … Read more
Book Review: Blue Planet Run
Happy Earth Day! I give this important book a resounding five stars! My thirteen year old daughter is doing her science fair project on the water crisis; we’ve looked at and/or read most of what is currently published out there on the subject and this is our favorite! (The sticky tabs are facts for my … Read more
Book Review: Madeleine L’Engle (Herself)
I loved this book and give it five stars. It struck me on many levels as it discusses the spirituality of creativity and making art, as well as techniques on writing better and enjoying reading more.
Book Review: Celebrate Your Creative Self
I really like this book a lot and give it a hearty five stars. It is wonderful to jump-start or freshen up your art if you are an experienced artist, but is also approachable enough to set the beginner totally loose, inducing them to soar. More than anything, it is total fun, without any overtone … Read more
Book Review: The Elegance of the Hedgehog
This is a wonderful book; it is the best novel I’ve read in quite a while. I give it five stars. I enjoyed it on audio because it is told in two perfect voices, but I’m resolved to read it again in print because there are so many great bits that demand pondering and a … Read more
Book Review: Little Pink House
This book was exceptional; I give this audio version five stars. This is a true story of the Supreme Court’s baffling decision in the Kelo case to uphold arbitrary seizure and demolition of anyone’s private property by eminent domain to be handed over to private developers. This remains the most controversial ruling by the Supreme … Read more
Book Review: Water For Elephants
I have finally read this popular book which has been on my reading list for years. As with so many others, I give it five stars for its compellingly evocative writing of both circus life and life in an assisted living facility. The menagerie of vivid characters were clearly drawn, the pace and the segues … Read more
Book Review: Watercolor By Design
I really liked this book and have gotten good ideas from it. I give it five stars as it is more helpful than a lot of similar books. Mostly it outlines the twelve classic design motifs which I’d like to discuss soon on a separate post. (You may have already seen the beginning of my … Read more
Book Review: School of Essential Ingredients
I really enjoyed this book. I give it five stars even though it is neither important nor profound – just nice – because sometimes well written “nice” is just what you want. There is a separate chapter on each person in the cooking class which reveals their backstory as well as the growth and progress … Read more
Book Review: Five Quarters of the Orange
Wow. This is quite a book. I find myself wanting to discuss it with someone, so I think it would be a good book club selection. Contrasting words like collaboration or resistance, vindictive or innocent, sweet and sharp, beautiful and ugly all come to mind regarding this extraordinary novel. Written by the author of Chocolat, … Read more
Book Review: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
This is a little gem of a book. It is a quick read set in the post war 1940’s in London and on the Guernsey Islands, written entirely in letters. It is good to listen to in audio as all the characters who write the letters are done in different voices making it especially fun … Read more
Book Review: This I Believe
I really enjoyed these two sets of CD’s of a favorite NPR radio program, and give them 5 stars. These two CD sets showcase the 3 minute credos of famous people and everyday people alike. There are housewives, truckers, doctors, astronauts, gang members, mothers, teachers, young people, old people, believing in everything imaginable. There is … Read more
Book Review: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
On the drive to and from the wedding we listened to this classic book by Mark Twain, which I had never read. I really enjoyed it and found it uproariously funny. I was glad I was listening to it rather than reading it since the accents are so much more fun and easy to deal … Read more
Book Review: The Gift of an Ordinary Day
I resonated with this book for a lot of reasons. Like the author, I’m a mother with teenage kids going through the process of leaving home, who not only wants the best for them, but sees her own role starkly changing as well. Like the author, I’m striving to mindfully embrace that, while loving the … Read more