Drum roll, please! I won my 2024 Goodreads reading challenge. Sort of. I said I wanted to read 100 books. I read 104!! Barely. I read the last word of the last book at 8:26 PM December 30, Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. Probably not the best end-of-challenge choice, considering the holiday crush …
(fifth in an occasional series on BOOKS THAT MATTER & THE PEOPLE WHO LOVE THEM) Lorita Foster and I met late August 2003, when she interviewed for a position in my district’s English department. It had been a chaotic summer. Our principal was out on an indefinite, health-related leave and my six-member department had been …
At a recent online book club meeting, after we’d discussed Remarkably Bright Creatures but before deciding on titles for the fall, the group’s moderator—a friend of mine from college—raised the issue of character versus plot driven books, which type we preferred and which authors we believed “better” at it, which led us to chat about …
I have a confession to make. In April and May, I watched waaay too much (for me) Monday night television. More on that in a bit, but first–StoryADay. For years, I had put off joining the May challenge because I mistakenly thought I had to write a ready-for-readers story every day for thirty-one days …
I’m not much for New Year’s resolutions, but I do like the idea of resets and fresh starts. In that spirit, I’m trying something a little different this year, sharing not only stories about books that matter to me, but those that matter to my reader friends, an occasional series I’m calling BOOKS THAT MATTER …
My Name was Supposed to be Elizabeth Ann 