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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) [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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.” [...]

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 [...]

Not to be obsessive over arugula – last week I wrote about making Arugula & Goat Cheese Pasta Salad – but when arugula wants to bolt there’s no stopping it! Since one of our arugula patches is on its way out, we’ve been using it like crazy. After searching for more uses for arugula, I [...]

#57 on my 101 Things in 1,001 Days List was to read all of Seth Godin’s books. I was already about halfway done, when I added this to my list, but then he just kept on writing books! Give a girl a break, and let me catch up! ;) If you’re unfamiliar with Godin, he’s [...]

I started the 52 Books in 52 Weeks Book Project in July of 2007, and while I did miss a few weeks here and there, I’m considering it complete! What I really enjoyed about participating in this challenge is that it reminds you to keep reading. Sometimes when life gets busy you forget to pick [...]

Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia just didn’t do it for me. The title is probably the best thing about the book, but I guess that’s why you shouldn’t judge a book by it’s title (or featured destinations). I really tried to be interested in this book, but [...]

The Glass Castle is an emotional, but exceptional book. Yes, many families have their own Rex Walls, and the accuracy of the author’s childhood memories could be questioned, but that really wasn’t the point of the book for me. This memoir is about family and acceptance. While I can’t claim to have had such a [...]