"All through the summer that came after it, as I slid into grief’s silent central eye, falling asleep like a cat in sunny patches, on the corners of settees or curled on rugs, I dreamed that she wasn’t dead at all, and had only gone away without telling me; and
Late January, my mother died. This is one of the photographs I shared with her that month: "lovely," she said, and mentioned that I'd sent photographs of this street before, and that's true, because I have appreciated observing the way that strip of birch trees changes with the seasons. Small
In last year’s Reflections post (thinking back on 2021’s reading, from January 2022), I realised that I hadn’t read at all according to plan the previous year. And…I had what will likely prove to be the reading year of my lifetime in 2021. Which is how you create a
Even if you’re not often reading about the climate crisis, I’ve got one for you: Jane Goodall’s The Book of Hope (2021). It not only includes many reasons to remain hopeful—Amazing Human Intellect, Resilience of Nature, Power of Young People, and the Indomitable Human Spirit—but truly inspires readers. Its
No more mock-bookshelves and challenge data from Good Reads for me; when Amazon bought them out, I removed all my reviews but continued to participate in conversations and track my page progression through various volumes in my stack, thinking that was a decent compromise. But the increased advertising and
