Tag: Olive Kitteridge

• Book Review: The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout

  First of all, thank you to NetGalley and Random House (an imprint of Penguin Random House) for the ARC ebook of Elizabeth Strout’s newest book, The Things We Never Say (May 5, 2026, 224 pages). I lobbied hard for an ARC, and thankfully, the literature gods heard my cry, or at least someone at Random…

  michardillo

  April 6, 2026

  books

  ARC, Artemis II, book-review, book-reviews, books, Easter egg, Elizabeth Strout, English, fiction, Goodreads, High Flight, John Gillespie Magee Jr., Kindle, literature, Maine, Massachusetts Bay, middle school, NetGalley, novel, O. Henry, Olive Kitteridge, Penguin Random, President Ronald Reagan, Random House, sailboat, Shakespeare, teacher, teaching, The Gift of the Magi, The Things They Carried, The Things We Never Say, Tim O’Brien, writer, writing

• 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,…

  michardillo

  December 11, 2025

  books

  Allegra Goodman, Ann Napolitano, apple cake, ARC, book-review, books, Elizabeth Strout, family feud, fiction, food, Jewish culture, Kindle, NetGalley, novel, Olive Kitteridge, Random House, reading, sibling rivalry, sisters, This is Not About Us, Within Arm’s Reach

• Book Review: The Correspondent by Virginia Evans

  At the start of each new year, I look back over the books I read the previous year and some years, I make a top ten list, not necessarily ranking them but always coming up with my favorite book of the year. Oh, boy, I will be having lots of trouble in January due to…

  michardillo

  November 4, 2025

  books

  84 Charing Cross Road, Andrew Carnegie Medal, book-review, books, Bridget Jones Diary, Catherine Called Birdy, Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, debut novel, Elizabeth Strout, epistolary style, fiction, Goodreads, Karen Cushman, literature, Love and Saffron, novel, Olive Again, Olive Kitteridge, reading, teaching, The Correspondent, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, The Martian, Today Will Be Different, Virginia Evans, Where’d You Go Bernadette, writer, writing

• Book Review: Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout

  When I saw the news on social media that Elizabeth Strout had a new book coming out, I immediately began lobbying for an ARC, not out of greed or professional desire, but I just couldn’t wait all the way to August 13th to read another Strout work of art. Yes, I knew it would be…

  michardillo

  May 30, 2024

  books, Essay

  Bob Burgess, book-review, death, Elizabeth Strout, friendship, grief, Lucy Barton, Maine, novel, Olive Kitteridge, Oprah’s Book Club, reading, social media, suicide, unrecorded lives, writer, writing

• 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: Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout (Random House, October 2021)

  My last in-person visit to my local public library was on Thursday, March 12, 2020, to pick up a bag of books “just in case” the whole coronavirus thing was really a thing. Ha! The K-8 elementary school where I taught sent us home that day with instructions to be prepared to teach via Zoom…

  michardillo

  May 29, 2021

  books, Grammar for Grownups

  Elizabeth Strout, Lucy Barton, Oh William!, Olive Again, Olive Kitteridge