Category Archives: books

Jan2

piling up.

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getting new and used books of all kinds for my birthday and christmas gifts in the last couple of months has added to my stacks, and i couldn’t be happier about seeing them grow. these thoughtful gift givers know me so well. 

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‘What an astonishing thing a book is. It’s a flat object made from a tree with flexible parts on which are imprinted lots of funny dark squiggles. But one glance at it and you’re inside the mind of another person, maybe somebody dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, an author is speaking clearly and silently inside your head, directly to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people who never knew each other, citizens of distant epochs. Books break the shackles of time. A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic.”

– Carl Sagan – Cosmos, Part II: The Persistence of Memory, 1980

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image credit: book riot

Dec23

wish I was here.

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What do you get when you mix young adult nerd romance, suspense, mystery, humor, sci-fi, and action? You get ‘Wish I Was Here’ the first book in author, Ilsa Rey’s series, The Wish Trilogy.

High school is a time when everyone tries to find themselves, but as you follow Ana and Isaac throughout the novel, they quite literally disappear, each in a different way. In this adventure, Ana, who has never had much confidence at all, has to muster all her courage to find a way to save Isaac before it’s too late. 

There are many ups and downs along the way, especially when an old flame enters the picture, along with their dysfunctional families, and things get even more complicated. The stakes get higher, there are secrets, hard decisions have to be made, and things get more dangerous. Who can be trusted? What to do next? Will Ana find her confidence and use her wit to outsmart everyone? Can things be solved in time? You’ll find yourself cheering her along, and even laughing at times, but there are no guarantees and everything is on the table. You won’t be able to put this down until the very end. It’s definitely a page-turner and a great escape!

Books go on sale today at the following locations:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Black Rose (Publisher) https://www.blackrosewriting.com/youngadult/p/wishiwashere

* About the Author: (blogging friend and martial arts master)

At age twenty-one, Ilsa Rey packed everything she owned into her little red Ford Focus and drove from Cleveland to California for good. She is now a recovering chicken owner and a martial artist with a black belt in Taekwondo and a blue belt in Jiu-Jitsu. Her favorite things are writing, training, and teaching self-defense to young women. She lives in southern California with her husband, four children, and the ghosts of chickens past.Find her online: X: @IlsaReyAuthor; Instagram: @Ilsa_Rey; Blog: IlsaRey.com

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“Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.”
-Albert Einstein

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Wish I Was Here: Even When Invisible, There’s No Place to Hide

(Book 1 of The Wish Trilogy) for Teens and Young Adults

  • Publisher  :  Black Rose Writing
  • Publication date  :  December 23, 2025
Dec22

the gift of nothing.

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The Gift of Nothing considers two main subjects:

the concept of nothing and the value of friendship.

What do you give a friend who already has everything?

Why, you give them nothing at all.

One of my favorite books, now celebrating its 20th anniversary, ‘The Gift Of Nothing,’ explores the meaning of friendship and the meaning of gifts.

What is a friend and what is a gift? Things might not be what actually make people happy. Perhaps it is the people and our relationships with them that really make us happy.

Why do we give gifts? Is it to show that we care about the person and that we are happy to be with them? If so, is the gift truly important or could the real gift be spending time with them?

Originally written for children, but loved by all ages.

 

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Author/Illustrator: Patrick McConnell, New York Times best selling author and Caldecott honor artist, creator of the popular comic strip Mutts.

Publisher: Little, Brown Books

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“the greatest gift you can give someone is your time.

because when you give your time,

you are giving away a portion of your life that you will never get back.”

 -author unknown

Oct9

I’m with the banned.

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read.

 don’t stop reading

read every book

in spite of banned books week 

read every week. 

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‘write what should not be forgotten.’

-Isabel Allende, Chilean-American author

 

Interesting note:

“When the Viennese government compiled a Catalogue of Forbidden Books in 1765, so many Austrians used it as a reading guide that the Hapsburg censors were forced to include the Catalogue itself as a forbidden book.”
― Craig Nelson,Thomas Paine: Enlightenment, Revolution, and the Birth of Modern Nations

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art credit: Alicia Martin, Spain-based artist’s sculptural installation at Casa de America, Madrid 

Apr25

transported.

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walking into the very old west side book shop you never know quite what category will draw you in. this time, I was inspired by the outlaws, lawmen, gunslingers shelf. probably harkens back to my days of watching all the old westerns on Saturday afternoons with my dad.

‘the books transported her into new worlds and introduced her to amazing people who lived exciting lives. she went on olden-day sailing ships with joseph conrad, she went to africa with ernest hemingway, and to india with rudyard kipling. she traveled all over the word while sitting in her little room in an english village.

-roald dahl, matilda

Apr10

beach library.

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Situated in Albena, a sprawling Bulgarian resort on the Black Sea coast, Beach Library is the first of its kind in the European Union, and boasts over 6,000 books in more than 15 languages.

A project by German architect Herman Kompernas, the open-air library lies in front of Hotel Kaliakra and houses everything from Bulgarian literature to memoirs and works of fiction. Its 140 white shelves are made from a special material which is resistant to sun and wind, and when it rains, the bookcases are protected by a vinyl cover.

In order to make it easy for people to browse, volumes are arranged by countries, and can be borrowed for free. The only suggestion is to return the material to the library once finished.

Designed to foster reading among tourists during their summer holiday, Albena’s Beach Library is constantly expanding, as guests are encouraged to donate their own books for others to enjoy. Its goal is to provide customers with an enriching cultural exchange experience.

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‘i have always imagined that paradise will be a kind of library.’

― Jorge Luis Borges

 

In honor of National Library Week (I’ve extended it to International Library Week)

 

 

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Source Credits: Meeroona, Travel Away, Bulgarian Travel News

Mar23

giving back.

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Set in modern-day Appalachia, Barbara Kingsolver’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “Demon Copperhead” is a contemporary retelling of Charles Dickens’ classic novel, “David Copperfield.” Now, she’s using the royalties to help people in the region she depicts in the story, opening up a home for women in recovery. “I felt like, I am getting a novel from this place, and I’m going to give something back,” she said.
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“when you’re in a position to have gotten so much, the gift at this point is giving back.”
— paul stanley, american musician, kiss

 

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source/image credit: harper collins

Mar6

‘great children’s books are wisdom dipped in words and art.’ – Peter H. Reynolds

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The Kind Wolf, by Jozef Wilson

Bunny and Tree, by Balaint Zsako

And So To Bed, by Molly Brett

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in celebration of children’s literature on world book day and every day

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‘children’s books remind us in uncertain times that there is still much we do know.

kindness matters.

laughter is essential.

caring for each other is everything.’ 

-The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art

Jan22

go to a library.

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whenever and wherever you need a library

look closely

you may find one in the most unlikely of places

whether deep in the woods, alongside a curb,

or myriad other places

they are all around you just waiting to be discovered. 

 

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‘when all else fails, give up and go to a library’

-stephen king

Jan9

a series of choices.

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i recently wrote a post about

my dear friend and author, breeda kelly miller

who researched, wrote a play, performed, and presented

her family’s heritage story:

https://ididnthavemyglasseson.com/?s=kelly

she continues to perform the play on stage

had the play aired on pbs,

and presents her story all over the world.

above is the companion book she has written 

which includes more details, background, quotes, photos, and inside jokes

fully rounding out her family’s tale. 

this book was a lovely read

 it was a pleasure to follow along with the story

of the kelly family’s journey

from ireland to canada, and ultimately, the united states

their tale is told through the eyes of a daughter

with stories from the generations before her

sharing the true life eccentric characters and situations 

that carried all of them through life.

it’s a story of love, humor, grace, loss, and acceptance

the photographs make it easy to imagine the people she writes about 

their brave and challenging moments

along with their glories

as they made the best of situations presented to them

gained personal strength, learned as they went

finally finding their place in the world 

a place they came to call home. 

This book takes you through the ebbs and flows of their lives

while sometimes just treading water

but they make it through and inspire us to do the same.

What a beautiful legacy gift Breeda Kelly Miller has created for her family

and for all families

who can all imagine bits of themselves and their own stories in this book. 

every person, every family, every place, every choice, has a story.

looking back and learning about our past

how we came to be who we are, where we came from, bringing us to where we are now

helps us to understand and make sense of our lives.

I hope that you enjoy the Kelly family’s journey as much as I did. 

Sláinte! 

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“life, like a poem, is a series of choices.”

Dame Maggie Smith

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Mrs. Kelly’s Journey Home is now available for sale at the two sites listed below:

https://breedamiller.com/products/mkjh-book/

https://www.amazon.com/Mrs-Kellys-Journey-Home-American/dp/1956465235