Hood, Ann. Comfort: A Journey Through GriefNew York: Norton, 2008ISBN 978-0-393-06456-8 Highly Recommended When Ann Hood’s five-year-old daughter Grace died suddenly in 2002 from a virulent form of strep, everyone tried to comfort Ann with platitudes like “She’s in a better place” or “Time heals.” But Hood did not find these cliches comforting. And everyone […]
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Introductory Notes Natalie Goldberg grew up on Long Island, New York. She studied Buddhism with a teacher in Minnesota for 17 years. At about the same time that she began her Zen studies she also began writing and painting, and those three activities have coalesced into an active philosophy of living creatively. Natalie Goldberg has
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Schwartz, Lynne Sharon. Disturbances in the Field  New York: Counterpoint, 1983  ISBN 1-58243-332-1 Highly Recommended We hear a lot about nutritionally dense foods these days. Foods that are nutritionally dense provide high nutritional value in proportion to the calories they contain; they are the opposite of junk food, which delivers high calories with
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In â€Bright Shiny Morning,’ James Frey Presents Little Pieces of Los Angeles in His Way – New York Times New York Times reviewer Janet Maslin writes about James Frey’s new novel: He got a second act. He got another chance. Look what he did with it. He stepped up to the plate and hit one
O’Farrell, Maggie. The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox  New York: Harcourt, 2006 ISBN 978-0-15-101411-8  Blackstone Audiobooks, narrated by Anne Flosnik Recommended This novel is about family stories–in this case, the truths that don’t get told and the lies that spring up to fill the void–and how those stories reverberate through generations. Iris Lockhart
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Offill, Jenny, and Elissa Schappell, eds. The Friend Who Got Away New York: Doubleday, 2005Hardcover, 294 pagesISBN 978-0-385-51186-5 Recommended We’re stuck with our families, but we get to choose our friends. And although it’s hard to pin down the formula for creating friendship, we all know the magic of friendship when we’re lucky enough to find
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Grafton, Sue. “T” Is for Trespass (2007)New York: Putnam, 400 pages  ISBN: 0399154485Random House Audio, narrated by Judy Kaye Recommended Starting a new Sue Grafton novel always means getting reacclimatized to Kinsey’s world. For Kinsey (lucky woman), time is not passing nearly as quickly as it is for her readers. At the beginning of
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Grason, Sandy. Journalution: Journaling to Awaken Your Inner Voice, Heal Your Life, and Manifest Your DreamsNovato, CA: New World Library, 2005ISBN 1-57731-483-2 There are A LOT of books about journal writing, so I almost didn’t pick up this one when I first saw it. But I’m glad I did. Grason covers all the usual aspects
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Coben, Harlan. Hold Tight (2008) Dutton, 321 pages, $26.95 hardcover ISBN-10: 0525950605 ISBN-13: 978-0525950608. Recommended When Mike and Tia Baye install a spy program on their son Adam’s computer, they have no idea what they’re getting themselves into. All they know is that 16-year-old Adam has become increasingly more withdrawn and sullen over the past
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Card, Orson Scott. Lost Boys New York: HarperCollins, 1992 ISBN 0-06-109131-6 Audiobook by Blackstone Audio Recommended This is the story of the Fletcher family: Step (Stephen) and his pregnant wife, DeAnne, and their children–Stevie, age 8; Robbie, 4; and Elizabeth, 2. It’s 1983, and the family is relocating from Indiana to Steuben,
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