I’ve just finished reading Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth. Although it’s been on my bookshelf for awhile, I had not read it, and so while completing final edits for my own trilogy, I chose this volume for something different from my story, and something that I hoped would be engrossing. I was not…
All posts in What I’m Reading
What I’m Reading: Simple Abundance by Sarah Ban Breathnach
Posted on Author Jill M SmithPosted in Care Givers, What I'm Reading, Writing InspirationLeave a Reply
This is the time of year when we may be looking to change our habits, become more productive, or try something new. Over the past year, I have read daily meditations from Sarah Ban Breathnach’s book. Her message of Simple Abundance is to cultivate joy, gratitude, creativity from our daily lives – doing what we…
What I’m Reading: Truth & Beauty [a friendship] by Ann Patchett
Posted on Author Jill M SmithPosted in Care Givers, What I'm Reading, Writing InspirationLeave a Reply
I’ve just finished reading Ann Patchett’s memoir, Truth & Beauty [a friendship]. Patchett shares the evolution of her friendship with author Lucy Grealy. Meeting in college with aspirations of publication, both women had much in common, but it’s their differences that tell the story. When a child, Grealy had cancer and extensive chemo and radiation…
August Reads (a little late)
Posted on Author Jill M SmithPosted in Care Givers, Monthly Reads, Summer Reading, What I'm ReadingLeave a Reply
Still catching up from a fast-ending summer…In August I read two middle-grade novels and two adult novels. Ashes to Asheville by Sarah Dooley is a book I picked off the shelf at a bookshop/toy store in Waynesville, North Carolina, while on vacation, and I’m so glad I did. The story takes place in about 24…
July Reads
Not a huge pile for July. Kate Morton’s The Lake House is a hefty read with a cast of about forty people across three generations – a lot to keep track of. It’s a great story, especially if you like to get lost in a mystery full of dark family secrets, crimes, and hidden identities.…
Monthly Reads: June
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This month I’ve read two fiction books, and one non-fiction book on the craft of writing. Anne of Green Gables is a children’s classic that I just read for the first time. It is interesting to see how the craft of writing and publishing standards have evolved over the years. Hang the Moon was about…
What I’m Reading: the Beartown Trilogy by Fredrik Backman
I’ve finished reading Fredrik Backman’s trilogy, Bear Town, Us Against You, and The Winners. Backman is one of my favorite contemporary authors. Readers get to know his characters in their day to day routines: what they eat; if they walk, run, or drive; if they’re good at hockey or not. Backman breaks the rule about…
On My Bookshelf: books about mothers, motherhood, and mothering
I’ve been thinking about books that explore the relationship between mother and child. Pictured are volumes pulled at random from my own bookcase. Once I started pulling, I realized I had more than I thought – many more that are not in the picture. The mother-child relationship keeps readers engaged…do we see ourselves in the…
April Reads
Because of travel, April was not as reading-strong as I would have liked. The Wilder Boys Saving Cody by Brandon Wallace is the third in this middle-grade series which is the genre I write in, and the protagonists are two brothers, which is another similarity to my own manuscript. Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote…
What I’m Reading: The Essay by Robin Yocum
Posted on Author Jill M SmithPosted in Care Givers, Teacher Inspiration, What I'm ReadingLeave a Reply
I love discovering an author whom I’ve never read – sometimes never heard of – through friends or other recommendations. When I read a book by such an author, I am apprehensive of what my reaction will be. Just because a friend or family member liked it, will I? Robin Yocum is an example of…
