This last week, I gave to a cause that I love and have previously volunteered with: SMART — Start Making A Reader Today. What is SMART? The SMART program helps elementary students become confident readers by pairing them with volunteers for one-on-one attention. They also provide books for the kids to take home (and keep) on a frequent basis, which is really helpful as a lot of the kids in this program come from families that aren’t supporting them in this area already, so having new and fun books to take home as their own creates an excitement around learning Read more…

OK, I may have gone a little overboard on the Hemingway. After I finished the first five unread classics (including A Moveable Feast, that got me on the Hemingway bandwagon in the first place), I checked out three more! So yes, to recap… 4 of the 10 were Hemingway, and after For Whom The Bell Tolls, I was thoroughly depressed with war stories. I really liked The Alchemist. I wouldn’t call it a life changer, but I very much enjoyed the “create your own destiny”, “follow your dreams”, and “live in the present” fable. It’s also full of good quotes! Read more…

I am now half done with #58!  I just finished Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast this weekend, and absolutely loved it. For being such a bookworm, I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I’d previously only ever read portions of Hemingway. So after finishing A Movable Feast I put holds on 5 more of his books at the library! Animal Farm by George Orwell – I checked this one off the list in 2007 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez – this was a slow read for me. It was good, not the greatest book ever, but I enjoyed Read more…

This 101 Things in 1,001 Days goal was originally to volunteer with the Big Sister program, but the gist of the goal was just to volunteer. I ended up choosing S.M.A.R.T. — Start Making a Reader Today — based here in Portland. SMART partners with Oregon schools to help kids “discover the joy of reading.” It’s really a win-win program because it only takes an hour a week (and there are so many elementary school locations that it’s quite convenient). You read one-on-one for 30 minutes with two different kids. Depending on the age, or their comfort level, you might Read more…

I love finding a book that is so descriptive and powerful that it makes you want to see things first-hand. In honor of Bastille Day (on Tuesday, July 14) here is a list of books that inspire the French arm-chair traveler in me. Like the movie Amelie — that made me really want to see Paris — these books take me to France.   The Count of Monte Cristo Location: Marseilles. My first foray into French novels was Alexander Dumas’ The Count of Monte Cristo. This books stands out in my memory as the ultimate epic tale – adventure, betrayal, Read more…