Squanto's story is not the simple story of helping the Pilgrims that I thought it was. It involves kidnappings, pestilence, politics, and power struggles.

Reading voraciously is only half the battle; remembering what you’ve read is the other. That’s where your book journal comes in. Decades after you’ve read a work, you’ll recall the basic elements of a book just by the notes you made.

The framework of the novel is based on the real “Rajah” quilt, the appliqued coverlet now in the care of the National Gallery of Australia. The quilt depicted in Dangerous Women is the only extant, historically documented quilt made by convicts.

The framework of the novel is based on the real “Rajah” quilt, the appliqued coverlet now in the care of the National Gallery of Australia. The quilt depicted in Dangerous Women is the only extant, historically documented quilt made by convicts.

The Dictionary of Lost Words is a look at not only how the Oxford English Dictionary was created under the direction of James Murray, but also how it omitted the words of women.

Given the suggestive evidence compiled from scholarly articles, popular opinion, and anecdotal evidence, I’d like to reconsider Santa’s role as a good guy. He is taking credit — with a wink and jolly guffaw — for work he doesn’t do. You’ve heard the old phrase, “Behind every good man is a woman?” Mrs. Claus is at home slaving away, paying attention to details. All Santa does is sit and supervise, then drive around in a fancy vehicle one night of the year.

Nathan Evans has made the sea shanty and whaling songs popular again. There's a reason this sing-along, rhythmic art form has lasted for centuries.

What happens when five Chinese American students receive an offer to steal back five pieces of valuable art that has been misappropriated by the best art museums of the world?

Do you keep reading a book you don't like thinking it will get better? For the first time in years, I quit, deciding that too many books await that will delight me!

Clare Leslie Hall's Broken Country is a bestselling novel dealing with love, grief, and the impacts of trauma on a marriage with a plot twist that shocks you!

Classic Art with Bold Fonts One of the joys of lingering for hours in bookstores is looking at the cover art. Such fun! All those books flashing designs filled with color, words, illustrations, and graphics, lined up like masterpieces in a miniature art gallery, each one shouting for me to notice it. While I often know the books I want to buy when I walk in, I don't always choose the ones on my pre-planned purchase list because I'm distracted by those pretty books with catch

Timothy Egan's, Fever in the Heartland, about the rise of the KKK in Indiana in the 1920s, is a powerful account of D.C. Stephenson and political power gone awry.

The story of Mission Thirteen illustrates many facets of WWII that you might not know, but it also explains the fate of the downed airmen and how some were saved by the Belgian Resistance movement.

Fredrik Backman's, My Friends, is a poignant, funny, beautiful story of art, youth, and the redemptive power of love. You will laugh, cry, and be glad you read it!

Sheila Williams' Novel, "Things Past Telling," is a moving, memorable story about the wrongs committed by slavery as well as a tribute to the survival of one hundred+ year old woman named Mama Grace.

The Correspondent focuses on an older woman who has spent her life writing letters, dribbling out her story in missives to others, a lasting legacy of a complicated woman.

Amity Gaige's novel, Heartwood, is the story of Valerie Gillis, a hiker lost on the Appalachian Trail, and the dedication of other women who work to find her.

So it's no surprise that a book about a family on an isolated island, caretakers of a global seed bank and observers of a harsh but stunning natural environment filled with penguins and seals, grabbed my attention and wouldn't let go.

Elena Ferrante's Novel I met Sandy Budd in third grade, and while I don't remember the exact circumstances of our introduction, I do know...

The story of Mary Magdalene in Magda Revealed by Ursula Werner is a decidedly, unapologetic, unabashed feminist retelling of what we know as the Jesus story. The language is lovely. The characters are strong. The tone is modern, and the conclusions made me squirm. Read it and decide for yourself whether it's a faith-strengthener or a faith-buster.