At the beginning of the school year, middle school librarians across Illinois look forward to the release of the Rebecca Caudill Young...

It all started with one act of defiance . . . She refused to get out of the pool.  The last time I was at Barnes & Noble, a bookseller...

There’s nothing better than a good rom-com in the summer months, am I right? Not too heavy, with just the right amount of witty banter...

On a recent trip to Turkey, I was lucky to stumble upon an amazing bookshop in Istanbul. From the front, it is pretty unremarkable, with...

While reading Richard Yates’s Revolutionary Road , I was surprised to come across a reference to Emma Bovary, the heroine of Gustave...

One of the books that I was most excited to read this summer was Percival Everett’s latest novel, James , a reimagining of Mark Twain’s...

I’ve had the luxury to dive into the works of Mona Awad this summer. Until my sister Pam pressed the book Bunny into my hands, saying “So...

Twelfth Night  has to be one of my all-time favorite plays by Shakespeare. I remember being delighted by it when I read it for the first...

I remember turning the big 4-0 , and I was like, This is no big deal. My birthday came and went with little fanfare or disruption. ...

I remember when Spike Jonze’s film Her , starring Joaquin Phoenix, came out in 2013. People described it as “this crazy movie where a guy...

For the past while, I’ve been dogged by a real sense of loneliness. I’m still single in middle age, by circumstance rather than choice,...

Tell me if you’re anything like me. At this time of year, I am dying for Spring–and technically it is, in fact, Spring, but it sure...

Just back from a weeklong trip to India! This is what I jotted down in a journal when I first arrived: Upon arriving in Delhi, I am...

Grifters, swindlers, frauds, pathological liars, scammers, imposters, tricksters--our world seems to be full of them these days–and...

This month I found myself gravitating to stories about middle-aged women in crisis--or, if you don't like this particular...