CackleRachel HarrisonFiction, hardback, library book “It’s astonishing what you’ll accept when you want love. When you need it. You’ll welcome it in any form, from anyone, anything, regardless of circumstance, however peculiar. However fantastical.” Like every other 30-something New Yorker recently dumped by her longtime boyfriend, Annie is looking for a fresh start. Her new…
What I read: October 2023
What Color is Your Parachute?Richard N. BollesNon-fiction, hardback, library book “Always define WHAT you want to do with your life and WHAT you have to offer to the world, in terms of your favorite talents/gifts/skills-not in terms of a job-title.” Finding a job is hard — finding yourself is even harder. First printed in 1970…
What I read: September 2023
ThistlefootGennaRose NethercottFiction, hardback “Yet suffering has a way of begging to be remembered. Sometimes, as a story. Sometimes, as a wraith.” Estranged siblings Bellatine and Isaac haven’t seen each other in years, and have only agreed to meet today to receive their shared inheritance. Inheriting a house isn’t that unusual; inheriting a sentient house that…
What I read: August 2023
EnchiridionEpictetusNon-fiction, paperback “Some things are in our control and others not. Things in our control are opinion, pursuit, desire, aversion, and, in a word, whatever are our own actions. Things not in our control are body, property, reputation, command, and, in one word, whatever are not our own actions.” If Seneca’s writings (see below) are…
What I read: July 2023
The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and MurderDavid GrannNon-fiction, hardback, book club “We all impose some coherence—some meaning—on the chaotic events of our existence. We rummage through the raw images of our memories, selecting, burnishing, erasing. We emerge as the heroes of our stories, allowing us to live with what we have done—or haven’t…