Tag: family

• Book Review: We Don’t Talk About That by Amanda Schoepp

  We Don’t Talk About That is a soon to be published work of nonfiction written by Amanda Schoepp. It is part memoir, part biography, part diary, part psychological study, and part true crime story. It is about a very dark moment in 1963 in the DesHotel family of Louisiana, and that darkness dripped down and…

  michardillo

  August 5, 2026

  books

  Amanda Schoepp, ARC, biography, book-review, book-reviews, books, death, family, Kindle, Koehler Books, Louisiana, multigenerational, murder suicide, NetGalley, nonfiction, psychological study, reading, trauma, We Don’t Talk About That, writer, writing

• Book Review: The Secret Thread by Eve Chase

  Last night I finished this newly published book, The Secret Thread by Eve Chase, and I will be thinking about it for a long time. The title is quite fitting as there is a thread running through this story, invisible at first, and as the story of Jo, Mimi, Woody, Pamela, and others unfolds, that…

  michardillo

  July 20, 2026

  books

  Afghan, ARC, auction, Ballantine Books, book-review, book-reviews, books, Britain, British, Buy Nothing, contemporary-fiction, crochet, Ebook, England, English, Eve Chase, family, fiction, Goodreads, granny square, Jo O’Mara, Kindle, literature, London, love, Margareta Magnusson, Marie Kondo, Mimi Mott, mystery, NetGalley, novel, reading, Scribner, Ten Speed Press, The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, The Secret Thread, writing

• Book Review: The Three Graces of Pearl Street by Elizabeth Wellington Rollins

  I just finished this book last night and I am truly impressed that this is a debut novel. The Three Graces of Pearl Street by Elizabeth Wellington Rollins is soon to be published by Atria Books, an imprint of Simon and Schuster, which is one of the “Big Five” of publishing. The Big Five is…

  michardillo

  July 8, 2026

  books

  ARC, Atria Books, author, book-review, book-reviews, books, Catholic, Catholic Church, chicken cutlet, Columbia University, contemporary-fiction, cooking, debut novel, Elizabeth Wellington Rollins, family, fiction, food, food pantry, italian-american, Italy, lasagna, literature, Long Island Sound, Manhattan, NetGalley, novel, NYC, pizza slice, reading, teaching, The Three Graces of Pearl Street, type 1 diabetes, writer, writing

• Book Review: Nadiya’s Everyday Baking by Nadiya Hussain

  Do you have a Buy Nothing group in your neighborhood? If you don’t know the answer to this question, head over to Facebook and search for it! Warning: participation in the Buy Nothing world can be quite addicting! About The Buy Nothing Project: The Buy Nothing Project, the world’s largest free-goods platform, is transforming how…

  michardillo

  May 21, 2026

  books, food

  BBC, BN Group, book-review, book-reviews, books, British, Buy Nothing Project, Clarkson Potter, collection, cookbook, cooking, cornbread dog, England, facebook, family, food, Nadiya Hussain, Nadiya’s Everyday Baking, paprika egg filo bake, reading, social media, soda bread, Spotted Dick, The Great British Bake Off, Time to Eat, writing

• Book Review-Change the Recipe: Because You Can’t Build a Better World Without Breaking Some Eggs by José Andrés with Richard Wolffe

  “It’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission” is a saying that could be the theme of José Andrés’s latest book, Change the Recipe: Because You Can’t Build a Better World Without Breaking Some Eggs (Ecco Hardcover, April 22, 2025, 195 pages), written with Richard Wolffe. That saying is often attributed to the late Rear…

  michardillo

  April 2, 2026

  books

  author, Bethesda, book-review, book-reviews, books, Breaking Some Eggs, Change the Recipe, COBOL, cookbook, cooking, death, Ecco Publishing, Essay, essays, family, first career, food, Gaza, Grace Hopper, grease traps, Haiti, internet, Israel, Jaleo, John Steinbeck, José Andrés, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Luis Miranda, Maryland, memoir, microwave omelet, non-fiction, nonfiction, online viral sensation, paralegal, reading, recipes, rice and beans, Richard Wolffe, Russia, The Grapes of Wrath, Ukraine, World Central Kitchen, writer, writing

• 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…

  michardillo

  December 2, 2025

  Essay

  Belgian beef stew, Belgian food, Cajun food, cooking, dailyprompt, dailyprompt-2129, family, favorite meals, French fries, Italian food, italian-american, Louisiana, meatballs and spaghetti, moules eat frites, mussels, tomato sauce, turkey and sausage gumbo

• Book Review: The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman

  It’s been a long time coming, with the debut work of a new series and a movie based upon Book 1 of a previous series, but Richard Osman has struck gold again with the four senior citizens who spar, spy, solve, and celebrate justice in The Impossible Fortune Book 5 of the Thursday Murder Club…

  michardillo

  October 21, 2025

  books

  book-review, book-reviews, books, British, Chris Columbus, debut novel, England, English, family, fiction, Kate Messner, literature, mystery, novel, Pamela Dorman Books, reading, Richard Osman, Silver Jaguar Society Mysteries, The Bullet That Missed, The Impossible Fortune, The Last Devil to Die, The Thursday Murder Club, We Solve Murders, writing

• Nothing Gold Can Stay

  Yesterday, September 24, 2025, my last aunt passed away. I only had three to start with and the last one living, my dad’s baby sister, died yesterday at the age of 88. She was seven years younger than my dad, and she grew up in my hometown. She graduated from high school the year I…

  michardillo

  September 25, 2025

  Essay

  death, family, funeral, life, loss, love, memories, Nothing Gold Can Stay, poem, poetry, reading, Robert Frost, writing

• Not An Anniversary To Look Forward To

  How are you feeling right now? Sad. Nostalgic. Brokenhearted. That’s how I feel right now. Today is the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina making landfall near my hometown of Port Sulphur, Louisiana. On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina lifted my parents’ home off of its foundation and deposited it, broken in half, across the back…

  michardillo

  August 29, 2025

  Essay

  20th anniversary, Catholic Church, dailyprompt, dailyprompt-2045, family, Hurricane Katrina, Louisiana, Mississippi River, Plaquemines Parish, Port Sulphur

• Book Review: Just One Gift by Linda Sue Park

  I was browsing new titles on NetGalley recently and saw a title listed that immediately caught my attention. The book was Just One Gift (HarperCollins/Clarion Books, April 2026) by Linda Sue Park. I didn’t know Linda Sue Park at all until late summer 2017 when I found out that I would be teaching one section…

  michardillo

  August 28, 2025

  books

  12th century, A Single Shard, Ancient Korea, Asian art, Asian pottery, book-review, books, Clarion, family, fiction, Freer Gallery, HarperCollins Publishers, Just One Gift, language arts, Linda Sue Park, literature, middle school, NetGalley, Newbery Medal, Peacock Room, pottery, reading, Smithsonian, teacher, teaching