Reading

Do you know when I tend to get the most reading done? When I am completely overwhelmed by everything else in my life. The holiday season is a time that, while frequently joyful and memorable, is also inevitably full of frenetic activity, deadlines, obligations, and expectations piled higher than the Whos’ presents on the Grinch’s […]

“I’m the worst with writing advice. A masochist, at best. Hard on myself. Critical. But I do, maybe, have some advice: be slow and deliberate. Let ideas stew. Nobody’s waiting! You’re waiting for yourself to connect disparate threads. The result might be gorgeously horrific or inspiring, whatever your purpose. Give yourself that time to think, […]

Last weekend, I somehow found myself with a new book in one hand, a cup of coffee in the other, and a tantalizingly unscheduled afternoon. I’d had half-hearted intentions of catching up on all the details of family life that get sidelined during the workweek, but in that moment the yellow brick road of my […]

At my house, the beginning of summer is always a bit of a whirlwind. Planning family vacations, scheduling swimming lessons, organizing play-dates, negotiating conflict between siblings who suddenly have to be around each other all the time—I relish the chaos even as it threatens to overwhelm me. My anchor amidst the upheaval of summer, in […]

“Reading! Now!” I find myself barking, again, at my pandemic-weary 16 year old, waking them up from yet another nap. “Book!” reminding them about their assigned Accelerated Reader book, the due-in-three-days book, the didn’t-you-miss-the-last-deadline book. “Now!” I nag, “Reading!” as I find them once again distracted by a screen, seeking solace in digital art projects […]

In “Song of a Second April,” poet Edna St. Vincent Millay writes: After the difficult year 2020 wrought, we find ourselves enduring a second April in the throes of the pandemic. Yet hope is on the horizon. Cases of the virus are beginning to decline in many areas, and vaccinations are starting to turn the […]

When my daughter was in the fifth grade, she’d often exit the car at school drop-off with a book snuggled securely under her arm. At some point during my drive home, I would realize she’d forgotten her lunch. I’d finagle a U-turn and brave LA morning traffic—again—to leave the meal with the school secretary. Although […]

I’ve always felt that reading is balsam für die Seele, meaning “balm for the soul,” a phrase I learned from a friend who’s wondrously fluent in German. Immersion in the universe of a book is a form of escapism from real world concerns, causing the heart rate to slow, the breath to deepen. It’s easy […]

Each page of my crisp, new reading log contains space for thoughts about the books I plan to read this year, along with room to jot down noteworthy quotes and award ratings for plot, characters, and overall enjoyability. Strangely, this will be my first time keeping such a journal. As a devoted, enthusiastic reader, one […]

As a child, if I was disappointed about something, my mom would encourage me to look at the bright side. She would then proceed to take me on a cheery, verbal trip to said bright side, explaining and enumerating its advantages. With all the suffering that exists, excavating the advantages of this time can be […]

I’m interested to know what kinds of books you’re reading right now. When I asked Literary Mama staff for some recommendations, there seemed to be two camps: those who are feeding the flames of curiosity about the current situation and how to keep it in perspective and those who prefer to escape the foreboding atmosphere and […]