The pandemic wasn’t all bad for Susie Orman Schnall. Amid last year’s isolation and cancellations and shutdowns, she received some wonderful news. The rights to We Came Here to Shine, her historical fiction novel which burst into the world in early 2020, had sold to a production company. A few weeks ago, Susie finished up and turned in the final version of the novel’s screenplay. The company will now talk
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“Before we get married, I want you to take Dr. Neely’s children’s lit class,” one of Dr. Ann Neely’s students announced to her fiancé. “It will help to make you a better father.” For 35 years, Ann, one of the premier experts on children’s literature in the country, read books published for the younger set—for a living. When she wasn’t squiring visiting authors to public schools and non-profits or speaking
Life is too short to read books we don’t love! I used to feel committed. If I started a book, either because of loyalty to the author or the good money I paid for it, I slogged through until the end. Nowadays, I only give a book three chapters. If I’m not hooked, I go to another. We have too many wonderful options! Here’s an assortment of books that did
To relax, some people turn to yoga or tennis or knitting. When Judith Little’s three children were young, she tucked them into bed at night, fired up her laptop, and wrote. A Houston lawyer by day, she “retreated into a world of characters who did what I wanted them to do,” she laughs. The pages of her first writing project, “a bad book she never finished,” lie buried under boxes
When was the last time you took a walk without trying to accomplish something else at the same time? No stopping off at the market. No listening to a podcast or returning a phone call. No counting steps or miles. For me, it’s been awhile. Erika Owen “needed more quiet in her life.” The rat race of her New York City media career left her with little unscheduled time. Seeking
As we usher in the season of more cooking and eating and gathering (in small, socially-distant groups of course), I bring you cookbooks. Here are a few favorites for everyday or special cooking. And welcome gifts for your holiday host/hostess – or yourself! The Well Plated Cookbook by Erin Clarke With her cookbook’s beautiful and warm recipe commentary, Erin comes across as a girlfriend. The friend who wants us to
Mary Laura Philpott gets me. Or at least a big part of who I am. The me who loses my car in the grocery store parking lot, bristles at misspelled words in emails I receive, and counts the steps as I climb the stairs. In her national bestselling memoir, I Miss You When I Blink, Mary Laura comes across as your best girlfriend or younger sister. Covering topics like reinvention
I’ve never been much of a costume person. As a child, I preferred tag or kickball to dress-up. But I did love, and still do, to curl up in a comfy chair and drift into another world with a book. Younger me got lost, for hours, in adventures as a mermaid or cowgirl or pirate. With October, we welcome cooler weather and shorter days. Crackling fires and falling leaves. The
Even as a kid, I couldn’t wait for the school year to begin. Goodbye to the lazy summer days of reading on the porch with no homework or strict bedtimes. Hello to fresh pencils, new shoes and haircuts, and a different assortment of teachers and classmates. I love September – the month of new beginnings, a time to reboot and learn. Most of these books should be available at libraries
“Who will read this? I don’t think people care that much about the royal family.” A devastated Katharine McGee took the manuscript from her agent and put it aside. For six years. “He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. This is a good idea,” she thought. In the meantime, the Princeton/Stanford grad plugged away at her day job in the publishing world. As an assistant editor, she “developed and edited
