It was really hard to narrow down this list this year (as you can tell from how I included honorable mentions at the end for the first time). I read some very good books in 2019—55 in all. I’m currently reading number 55, Friday Black by Nana Kwame...
When my mind reaches back to my childhood, I picture small journals with metallic covers. I’ve never been much good at keeping a diary, but 10-year-old me had the most success, and she also started my first blog. When I think of my childhood, I think of Mildred D....
Six months ago, I took my first international trip. I intended to post this shortly after I got back with detailed notes about everywhere we went, but now I have a better idea of what I’d want to document next time. I say that to warn you: this might...
I almost crashed into the guardrail. This wasn’t just any regular rain. I was slipping and sliding down the road under dark gray skies and an extreme downpour, driving all the way across town to pick up a betrayal. I had made this drive more than a hundred times...
Well, I didn’t mean to abandon this blog for months again. And I didn’t mean to come back with yet another post about books, but here we are. I’ve missed “real” writing but haven’t made time for it. Reading is just about all I’ve been...
It was fun to wrap up my thoughts on the blog about what I read last year, so I’m doing it again. I guess I can say 2018 was a better reading year for me because I had more clear favorites than last year. Many of my overall favorites...
I kept replaying those words in my mind hours later. My own words that I couldn’t believe I’d said. The wickedness of the human heart isn’t a new concept to me, but I was still shocked by how mindlessly I’d let those words fly like a...
One of the last well-planned trips I went on was to Washington, DC. I had a list of options for promising food places categorized by type and activities to check out in between meals. My friends and I didn’t have to spend much time Googling or Yelping to figure...
As far as my reading life goes, the first seven months of the year were full of winners. But some books had more of an impact on me than others. They were the more memorable ones that I recommend to people most often. I’m still fired up about them...