These days, we talk about Banned Book Week and we talk about censorship in school libraries, but in the 1500’s, they were serious about censorship. Get caught reading something on the Vatican’s Index Librorum Prohibitorum (List of Prohibited Books) and your prize was an appointment with the local Inquisitor. Based on the true story of Giordano Bruno — an Italian… Read more
Last night’s episode of Criminal Minds struck a very scary chord for me. Back in 2009, I reviewed a book called Tattoo Machine: Tall Tales, True Stories and My Life in Ink by Jeff Johnson. It was a fun read, about — you guessed it — a tattoo artist. Lots of stories about their unique lingo, what it’s like working… Read more
Wow! I cannot believe it has been a whole week since my last post! I have been busy getting ready for a business trip and another stretch of intense travel, so I guess I have been a bit neglectful. My words this week are from Little Bee by Chris Cleave. The book was terrific – run out and put this on… Read more
It has been ages since I’ve had some good words for WWW, but historical fiction is always good for teaching me some new vocabulary. This week, my words come from a book I recently finished – Heresy, by S.J. Parris. 1. Reredorter – a name sometimes given to the latrines attached to monastic houses “We were on the first floor… Read more
Welcome to another edition of Teaser Tuesdays! I am just getting started in my latest book, Little Bee by Chris Cleave, so this is really random. I was flipping through the pages and came across a section where the narrator is talking about how much she has in common with the Queen of England and it made me chuckle. Thought… Read more
It has been a looooong time since I have done one of these posts! Travel has slowed down – I’ve actually been home the entire month of April – and I’ve got a little spare time to devote to writing more for the blog. So, let’s start with the two books that showed up today and maybe I’ll have time… Read more
Good morning and Happy Tuesday! With travel and vacation, I’ve missed this meme recently, but I am glad to be back. Now, you know the rules: open your current read, pick 2 teaser sentences to share and don’t spoil the story! But do make sure you tell us a bit about the book. This morning, my teaser is from… Read more
Peter Brock is young, handsome and ambitious. He is also a man with a plan — The Plan, actually. He cultivates the friendship of a wealthy businessman, James Campbell, who wants to cut down on the taxes he pays Uncle Sam. To do this, Peter and James devise a way to transfer profits to secret accounts. James doesn’t know that… Read more
Historically, a woman on her own has always been a woman at risk. In some cultures around the world, a woman is still not permitted to own property, to have her own money, to walk along a city street in daylight without fear of reprisals. In 1857, a widowed woman had limited options available to her, but Emma Cunningham was determined… Read more
True or False: 1. The safest seats on an airplane are at the back. 2. If you fall into a frozen lake, you have only 3 minutes to escape the water. 3. In prisoner-of-war camps in Vietnam, optimists lived longer than anyone else. Who lives and who dies in a crisis? Do you have what it takes to be one… Read more