The ninth book of Christmas is Shakespeare Saved My Life: Ten Years in Solitary with the Bard by Laura Bates, an English professor at Indiana State University. “Shakespeare professor and prison volunteer Laura Bates thought she had seen it all. That is, until she decided to teach Shakespeare in a place the bard had never been…
The eighth book of Christmas is A Jane Austen Education: How Six Novels Taught Me About Love, Friendship, and the Things That Really Matter by William Deresiewicz. A few years ago, I read Excellent Sheep by Deresiewicz and had mixed feelings about his opinions. That book was about the current structure of post-secondary education in…
“To discover a new writer you love is like discovering a whole new country.” – p. 4 The seventh book of Christmas is Why I Read: The Serious Pleasure of Books by Wendy Lesser. From the start, Lesser told the reader that the book they were about to read might be inconclusive. She spends…
“Reading well, which means reading actively, is thus not only good in itself, nor is it merely a means to advancement in our work or career. It also serves to keep our minds alive and growing.” – p. 336 The sixth book of Christmas is How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent…
The fifth book of Christmas is All Roads Lead to Austen: A Yearlong Journey With Jane by Amy Elizabeth Smith. Amy Smith, a lover of literature – particularly Jane Austen, set off on a yearlong journey to six Latin American countries to see if Austen resonated with the people of Latin America. She started a…
“The library protects us from external enemies, filters the noise of the world, tempers the cold winds around us – but also gives us the feeling of being all-powerful. For the library makes our puny human capabilities fade into insignificance: it concentrates time and space. It contains on its shelves all the strata of…
Hello Readers, Welcome to Day Three of The 12 Days of Books! On this day, I bring to you the first of two books in our December selection that take us readers on a heroine-centric journey through literature. Every woman who reads has likely assembled her own cast of varied characters who have shaped and…
“It’s a kind of alchemy, really, the way dark lines on which paper – or before paper, engraved in stone, and after paper, crystallized on a screen – cause images and ideas to appear like magic in our minds.” – p. 65 The second Book of Christmas is Booked by Karen Swallow Prior, a professor…
Hello Beautiful People! Here’s our Christmas Playlist – A Christmas Song (Elf the Musical) Where Are You Christmas? Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas The First Noel (Pentatonix) Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays Never Fall in Love with an Elf (Elf the Musical) Silent Night Santa Claus is Coming to Town My Grown Up Christmas List…
“I can hardly conceive how limited my perception would be without the books I have been privileged to read, how superficial my understanding of others, how undeveloped my sympathies.” – p. 164 Hello Readers! Welcome to The 12 Days of Books – 12 Days highlighting our literary favorites, an annual tradition here at The…