TITLE-The 12 Dares of Christmas AUTHOR- Leigh W. Stuart GENRE- Christmas/Contemporary GIVEAWAY- One signed paperback, Worldwide SUMMARY Lauren Hall has one wish for Christmas this year—raise money to build a new, no-kill animal shelter for the town of Sycamore Cove. And she is prepared to do anything to make it happen. […]
I tend to be one of those people who obsesses over gift giving. I don’t get a chance to do it all that often – I’m actually pretty frugal in that regard, sometimes by choice, now by necessity. And I don’t really like getting gifts myself; I’ve rarely liked being […]
I’ve posted this before, but it bears repeating, especially at this time of year. My father was a minister, and one of my fondest childhood memories was watching him conduct Christmas Eve services. In lieu of a sermon, he often would read a story that would touch our hearts. This […]
My father was a minister, and for many years he held Christmas Eve services for the churches in his parish. Often, in lieu of a sermon he would read a story that would touch our hearts. This was one of his favorites – the story of Pedro and Little […]
Candlelight Christmas Susan Wiggs Harlequin MIRA ISBN-10: 077831474X “Hearts… don’t let you lie, even to yourself.” That’s the lesson Darcy Fitzgerald learns in her attempt to navigate the holiday season after a devastating divorce. Since her childhood, her family and her ex-husband’s family have celebrated Thanksgiving and Christmas together, but […]
Santa 17 Michael Alan Grapin PublishAmerica LLLP Release Date: October 3, 2011 ISBN 978-1-4512-2270-8 How many modern holiday stories have you read, how many Christmas movies or holiday television shows have you watched, where you thought, “why didn’t they stop halfway through, before they just went too far?” At least […]
The Oxford-Duden Pictorial English Dictionary (Second Edition, Oxford University Press) This week’s recommendation is obviously not a book for reading, but it is a book every writer should have. The Oxford-Duden Pictorial English Dictionary is an essential reference that is indispensable for writers, a guide to the exact names of […]
Submergence J.M. Ledgard Coffee House Press First Edition: April 1, 2013 ISBN 978-1-56689-319-0 It’s an age-old story: boy meets girl, they fall in love then are separated by obligations, with the question of whether or not they end up together in the final chapter. However, J.M. Legard’s novel Submergence is […]
Sharing the Gift of Reading I tend to be one of those people who obsess over gift giving. Not that I do it all that often – I’m actually pretty frugal when it comes to the acknowledgement of the appropriateness of giving a gift. And I don’t really like getting […]
On this day, December 3, in 1857, Joseph Conrad was born in Berdichev, Imperial Russia (modern
Ukraine, then a part of Poland). While he settled in England and wrote in English, he always considered himself a Pole. Heart of Darkness, one of the most famous of his 20 novels (which explores colonialism and the attitudes regarding what constitutes a barbarian versus civilized society) is considered one of the best English novels of the 20th century, as is his novel Lord Jim, which chronicles a crew’s abandonment of its disabled ship. Conrad died in England in 1924 at age 66.