Tag: books

• Book Review: The Kamogawa Food Detectives by Hisashi Kashiwai, translated by Jesse Kirkwood

  If you know me at all, you will know that Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout changed me, as a reader, as a writer, and as a person. Olive Kitteridge was the first book I read that looked like a novel, but was instead a series of short stories that were woven together such that it…

  michardillo

  May 1, 2024

  books, Essay, food

  book-review, book-reviews, books, chopsticks, detectives, Elizabeth Strout, fiction, food, Hisashi Kashiwai, Japan, Japanese food, Jesse Kirkwood, mysteries, novel, Olive Kitteridge, reading, short stories, writing

• Book Review(s?): The Rom-Commers and Hello, Stranger by Katherine Center

  A colleague of mine recommended a book to me at the start of this school year, Hello, Stranger by Katherine Center. She said it was one of her favorites and that I should read it. So, in December, I did. And I liked it. It was about something I didn’t know anything about, face blindness,…

  michardillo

  April 8, 2024

  books, Essay

  Artist, book-review, books, fiction, Hello Stranger, Katherine Center, middle school, Portrait Artist, Romance, Screenwriter, Spicy, teacher, teaching, The Rom-Commers, writer, writing

• The + Side of #SocialMedia

  As a practicing Catholic, each year I spend a few weeks before Lent to think about what I want to do during this season of preparation. Some Catholics give up something they love as a sacrifice, some add some sort of charity work or almsgiving during Lent, and some fast and pray more. When I…

  michardillo

  March 23, 2024

  Essay, faith

  Bookish Friends, books, Buy Nothing, Catholic, community, Currently Reading, facebook, fasting, Holy Week, K-pop, Katrina, korea, Lent, prayer, reader, reading, sacrifice, social media, teaching

• Book Review: Mrs. Porter Calling by A. J. Pearce

  One of my favorite books of 2019 was Dear Mrs. Bird by A. J. Pearce, which I read just before the lockdown and the horrible pandemic thing ensued. I love that book so much that my family finally did an intervention and asked me to STOP talking about Emmy and her friends. Since then, I’ve…

  michardillo

  May 14, 2023

  Essay

  A J Pearce, ARC, book-review, books, British, Cheerfully, Dear Mrs. Bird, death, dog, Emmy Lake, England, English, fiction, grief, Kindle, literature, London, NetGalley, novel, reading, writer, writing, WWII, Yours Mrs. Porter Calling

• Book Review: Today Will Be Different by Maria Semple – Smell the Soup, Cool the Soup

  I used to sleep like a log every night. I could drink a cup of tea or a cup of coffee and turn out my lamp and fall asleep before I was finished with my prayers. I would wake up whenever forced to, many hours later, often in the exact same position I was in…

  michardillo

  August 31, 2020

  books, Essay

  age, aging, Bernadette, book-review, books, faith, insomnia, Kindle, Maria Semple, menopause, pandemic, reading, sleep, stress, teaching, writing

• Goodreads = Good Reading Habits

  I’ve been tracking my reading on Goodreads since August of 2008, so this month marks twelve years of books I’ve read, books I want to read (my “TBR” list), and sometimes, my thoughts on them. I wish I were better at writing reviews of all the books I read, but maybe this is something I…

  michardillo

  August 30, 2020

  Essay

  Aspen Hill Branch, BookBub, books, Goodreads, Kindle, Libby, MCPL, Modern Mrs. Darcy, Puccini, reading, TBR, teaching