I had a lovely time in Berryville, Saturday and Sunday. I was also totally exhausted, both Saturday night and Sunday. I’m not sure I’m over it yet. But I learned a lot and said hello to hundreds of delightful people. I’m going to say first, that though I’ve been to the Shenandoah Valley Fiber Festival [...]
Category: books
Three little bits…
First ... I read a really annoying essay on a substack called Raised by Germans. It’s all about a girl who grew up in the 90’s and was, shocker of shockers, a tomboy. She thinks it was a new thing. I was a tomboy.But so were the majority of girls when I grew up. I [...]
Lessons for a writer
I spelled Joe Rantz's name wrong. I'm sorry! I’ve been reading my brother-in-law’s favorite book. (Or at least, one he recommends All the time.) Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown (Viking, 2013) is an absolutely riveting account of the American rowing team at the 1936 Olympic Games in Germany. I had to stop [...]
Elizabeth Goudge and two houses
I wrote about the author Elizabeth Goudge a few days ago. I had just discovered her book, Henrietta’s House (1942) and hadn’t really enjoyed it. Even so, I realized that Internet Archive** had a lot of Goudge’s books and I started rereading the Eliot trilogy, The Bird in the Tree (1940), The Herb of Grace [...]
Vacation, Part II. Still thinking about a book.
Tuesday I wrote about a book by Dava Sobel from 2016. The Glass Universe: How the Ladies of the Harvard Observatory Took the Measure of the Stars. Dava Sobel. Viking. 2016. I’ve been rereading it. Sobel is a remarkable writer, able to explain scientific concepts clearly. This can deceive the reader into thinking a topic [...]
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