A Certain Fondness

On my second day in Manchester we visited Elizabeth Gaskell’s House, another place that had been on my “want to see” list since my last trip to England. It is in a busy residential area of Manchester with houses and apartments and a big park with basketball courts surrounding the pretty Victorian dwelling. Despite the…

Hello! How was your week? It was a busy one for me as I spent it preparing for my Sizzlin’ Summer Reads program at the library, which took place yesterday. We got 40 people – our biggest crowd yet! We had planned for 15 so I had to re-print my handout several times and we…

Hello all! How have you been? It’s been three months since I posted here and I have no good excuse for my absence. Life just got in the way. I did go to the UK for two weeks the first part of May and it was heavenly. Everything was so green and shining and the…

Hello! It’s been a beautifully sunny week here, with warm, bright sunshine, joyous birdsong and a gentle breeze. As much as I love the fall, March in Phoenix is the most beautiful time of the year. By April it will be blazing hot and uncomfortable so I am going to enjoy the loveliness while I…

Hello, how have you been? I’m sorry I missed posting last Sunday, but I was feeling under the weather. I’m sure you really missed me, haha. This week has been full of dramatic weather here in the desert. It rained all day Thursday and Friday and was unusually cold. Some parts of the Phoenix area…

Hello! Have you all had a great week? Mine was so-so. I found myself in a bit of a reading slump after finishing 7 books in January (which is a lot for me). Nothing is holding my interest at the moment so I decided to go short. Short, powerful books usually do help me break…

I had a bit of a frustrating week, mostly due to work issues. When you work with the public there just comes a time when you feel burned out, disappointed in humanity, impatient with complainers and tired of power trips. Every few months I suffer from all of the above and struggle to get out…

Hello! How has your week been? I really fought myself this week over feeling obligated to read certain hot books, popular library picks and the books that all of my colleagues are gushing over. I know if I give in to this tendency, I will be an unhappy reader. I still want to read by…

I finally finished reorganizing my bookshelves on Friday. It was a bigger task than I realized it would be, but I’m really happy I did it. My shelves look so much better and it will be easier to locate titles now. I shelved all of my nonfiction together in my dining room by subject in…

Hello! I hope you’ve all had a good week. I spent my evenings reorganizing my bookshelves and am not even close to being finished with the project. I got a wild hair last Sunday evening to alphabetize all my novels by author’s last name (they were organized mostly randomly before) and have worked a bit…