Welcome to Book Bingo 2023! Ready to do some reading? Same here! The Bingo Card The Theme This year’s theme is School — because that’s what came to me in a dream. (Actually, I was just brainstorming topics and the theme emerged all on its own.) The Team Book Bingo happens each year because of the collaborative efforts of two of the world’s finest humans My dear friend, who brings inspiration and humor and intelligence and fun to the whole process The Dear Man, who brings the graphical brilliance and creativity and delight to our design every year. We give him a few phrases and he turns ..read more

“What’s saving my life right now” has kinda gone viral, and I’m always wildly interested in what’s making a big difference in other people’s lives. (Thanks, Barbara Brown Taylor, for introducing this concept.)   While there are some “right now” lifesavers I could mention (I’ll do that in a future post), my mind went first to “What’s saving my life all the time.”    Here’s what’s been saving my life for the past 10 years…   The Dear Man and our family and close friends Of course they’re first on the list. Really, they ARE the list—everything else is bonus material. Bu ..read more

While I blew past my 14th blogiversary in January like it wasn’t even a thing (totally distracted by other thoughts), we’re hitting another landmark here, and we’re hitting it TODAY.   This is my 1000th blog post.  (Photo by Erwan Hesry on Unsplash ) If I were a YouTuber, I’d do an elaborate celebration video, followed by an hour-long AMA.  And yeah… not gonna do that here.  Instead, we’re getting analytical, y’all.  Here are the top 10 posts of the past 5 years, not including Book Bingo*: Great book discussion book: West with the Night Best nonfiction book of 2 ..read more

Late bloomer here… While everyone else in the world was being all domestic during the pandemic, I was working my tail off and being super stressed. My ideal self would’ve risen nobly to the occasion, been brave and fierce, and then settled in every evening to perform feats of the domestic arts. Instead, mostly I worried, planked, snarled at the universe, and sanitized everything within reach.  But now… now I’m doing the domestic goddess thing, and I’m doing it up right. Here’s what’s been going on… Loving | Except for a few fits and starts during Covid, I haven’t quilted in nearly a dec ..read more

Miracle and Wonder: Conversations with Paul Simon by Malcolm Gladwell, Bruce Headlam, and Paul Simon   3 words: behind the scenes, intimate, revealing   The first time I listened to an entire audiobook in one day? It was this one. I just couldn’t stop. While the Dear Man was shoveling on a recent Sunday, I puttered around the house, listening to Paul Simon talk about his creative process. Then I took Paul Simon along on a run. And before you know it, five hours had swung on by, and I was sad — so sad — that the story was over.  What’s so delightful about this audiobook is ..read more

These Precious Days by Ann Patchett 3 words: warm, lyrical, heartfelt   Ann Patchett is my favorite author, so of course I was going to read her essay collection. Not only do I adore Ann, I adore essays. And when you combine the two, you’ve basically got the world’s most perfect book.  And I can confirm: These Precious Days may be the world’s most perfect book.  (…after Run, which is officially my favorite novel of all time. In this new essay collection, Patchett shares the inspiration for Run, which completely expanded the size of my heart.)   From the very first es ..read more

At our January virtual book club meeting, my friends and I landed on a concept to guide our reading for the year — and completely by accident. We’re calling it “The Year of Connections,” and it’s kind of like the Name Game (where you say a famous person’s name, such as Abraham Lincoln and then the next person needs to say a name that begins with an L such as Lana Turner and then the next person says a name that begins with a T such as Terry Brooks).  Only we’re choosing book club books this way.  So… our January pick (mine) was Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of H ..read more

Probably people exist who despise end-of-year best lists and top 10 lists, but I’m not one of them. The clickbait-iest clickbait for me is “Top 10 Best Books of the Year.” Gets me every time.   Here’s my version, in alphabetical order by title because otherwise there’s too much pondering:   Caste by Isabel Wilkerson The Final Revival of Opal & Nev by Dawnie Walton The Guncle by Steven Rowley How the Word Is Passed by Clint Smith A Promised Land by Barack Obama The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philya ..read more

    Book Bingo season is here – we’re releasing the new Book Bingo 2022, and now here’s the list of books I read for Book Bingo 2021. It was a great reading year. (I know: I say that every year. But when you bail on the books that don’t make you happy, every year is a great reading year.) Here’s a recap of my reading for Book Bingo 2021: 1000 Books Before Die – Persuasion by Jane Austen Anti-racist – Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson Quest – Crazy Brave by Joy Harjo Unconventional – You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories about Raci ..read more

Welcome to Book Bingo 2023! Ready to do some reading? Same here! The Bingo Card The Theme This year’s theme is School — because that’s what came to me in a dream. (Actually, I was just brainstorming topics and the theme emerged all on its own.) The Team Book Bingo happens each year because of the collaborative efforts of two of the world’s finest humans My dear friend, who brings inspiration and humor and intelligence and fun to the whole process The Dear Man, who brings the graphical brilliance and creativity and delight to our design every year. We give him a few phrases and he turns ..read more