Author: michardillo
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My Top Ten of 2025 (and some honorable mentions)
Last year, I documented my favorite reads of the year in an essay, My Top Ten of 2024, and it was difficult narrowing my list of 60 books read down to 10 favorites. This year, I had an equally tough time because I had a great reading year with a total of 70 books, and…
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Something to Write Home About
You get to build your perfect space for reading and writing. What’s it like? One of my top ten favorite movies is Something’s Gotta Give (2003, Sony Pictures) starring Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton. When Diane Keaton passed away recently, my husband and I rewatched this movie in tribute to her distinguished acting career. Rewatching…
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Book Review: The Star from Calcutta by Sujata Massey
The fifth installment in the Perveen Mistry series, The Star from Calcutta by Sujata Massey, is to be published March 3, 2026. I started this series in 2019, when I was recuperating from surgery to repair a a broken ankle, and read the first two books in quick succession. I really enjoyed the third and…
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Are you twins? Are you cousins?
Tell us about your first day at something — school, work, as a parent, etc. In 2002 our family embarked upon a monumental adventure: we moved to a foreign country for two years for my husband’s job. I asked for a leave of absence from my longtime job as a commercial real estate paralegal, but…
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My November Reads
FABULOUS month of reading! I enjoyed all of these books, but my two favorites were the two 5-star reads! And, The Correspondent may be my favorite book of 2025! I highly recommend you read it!
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Book Review: This is Not About Us by Allegra Goodman
This is Not About Us by Allegra Goodman (Random House, February 10, 2026) is described as “a kaleidoscopic portrait of a modern American family,” but in some ways, I feel like parts of this story could have been set way back in time. Yes, this story does involve a divorced couple co-parenting their two daughters,…
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Making Paradise Out of the Desert
I just returned from morning Mass. It is quite cold today, 33 degrees F as I write this, but with the wind chill factor it feels like 16 degrees F. Snow flurries greeted us when we began our short drive home from church. The sun is shining brightly into my writing space as I ponder…
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“Even the moon was embarrassed by the beauty of Barcelona.”
Do you have a favorite place you have visited? Where is it? This quote is from Andrew Barger’s book The Divine Dantes: Paella in Purgatory (Smashwords Edition, 2015), which is part two of Barger’s The Divine Dantes trilogy, which takes the characters of Dante’s The Divine Comedy and brings them forward to modern times. Full…
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A Cajun, an Italian, and a Belgian walk into a bar…
What are your family’s top 3 favorite meals? The title of this essay is a take on the age old joke, “A priest, a minister, and a rabbi walk into a bar…” But, these three cuisines really define three meals my family loves time and time again. I grew up in southeast Louisiana, on a…
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Book Review: Murder Will Out by Jennifer K. Breedlove
Murder Will Out by Jennifer K. Breedlove (St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books, February 17, 2026) is described by the publisher as a “lighter, modern gothic mystery,” and I think that is pretty accurate. I only recently discovered that I like a touch of magical realism mixed in with my mysteries, thanks to Evie Woods’ books, The…
Michelle Blanchard Ardillo 