So, you write a book blog, but you haven't blogged about any books lately?

Yes. I'm sorry. 

I have been reading a lot of very specific, emotionally charged books that have been pertinent to the current state of affairs within my life. 

Sure, I see analytics with Blogger, but I never know who is going to be reading this blog or its posts.

So I'm careful about what I post, because I care about my privacy, and the privacy of my loved ones.

That being said, I have been dabbling more in the "non-emotional category" of late - fiction and nonfiction alike - and I kept notes. 

I'm going to do my best here to post more often. 

Rest assured, I am still The Ardent Reader, with piles of books all over my house, a library hold list a mile long, and an Amazon wish list that never seems to stop growing.

Thank you for reading.

Book 206: The People of the Abyss by Jack London

Jack London is best known for his exploration of the unknown. Today, he'd be known as an "immersion experience junkie." I came across this book while reading another classic and took a break from that behemoth to read this beautiful little book. I'd highly recommend The People of the Abyss. 

The East End of London in the early 1900s was a terrible place, rife with poverty and starvation. News of the conditions reached Jack London in the United States, and he decided to embark on a journey to see the conditions for himself. He boarded a boat in 1908 and rented a room in a safe house near the East End. He purchased ragged clothing and assumed the identity of a lowly laborer immerse himself fully. With an emergency guinea (about a shilling and one penny) sewed into his sleeve, he stepped out into the streets to experience life in the most derelict corner of the "civilized" world.

At the time, the British Empire was still thriving, and it claimed had landholdings throughout the world. I'm not sure how it was received at the time of its publication, but The People of the Abyss certainly made it known that all was not well on the home front. Jack London does a fair job of making it clear that none of the wealth of the British Empire trickled down to the city of London's neediest citizens.

Jack London visited the infamous workhouses of London and met other "casual" workers who were daily fighting for their next meal and a safe place to sleep. He wrote about the gradual weakening of the workers by hunger, fatigue, and unjust, arbitrary laws like the one that made it illegal to sleep in public places during the day. The situation was so bad that huge numbers of people were committing suicide or killing members of their own families rather than allow them to suffer. Until I read this book, I didn't know the history of the East End.

This book was fascinating because it was a snapshot in time of a region that has been the subject of so many literary, television, and film projects. It also struck me that the socioeconomic situation documented within this book parallels our own right now - how the world's wealth is held by the top 1% of the population and everyone else is just trying to skimp by. Jack London does not mince words - he closes his book with an expression of his own opinion that if a country is truly civilized, there should be no abject poverty.

This e-book is available for free on Project Gutenberg (go to https://www.gutenberg.org/) and you can download it in several e-book formats. 

Hiatus: OVER.

Good morning/afternoon/evening, whenever you are reading this!

An odd coincidence got me thinking that it's time to get started again on this whole book blogging project. (Don't worry, I've been reading all along and keeping track of the books I've read...)

For anyone who thinks 2020 is bad, let me tell you: my 2019 was worse. My personal life got completely turned upside down, and I have questioned just about every life choice I've ever made. Except for reading. 

Books have been a constant companion for me throughout my life. I wasn't always the most ardent reader, but I've always been in the middle of a book or two since I was able to read. Books and their authors provide me with all of the stuff my parents didn't (or couldn't) teach me.

Life has not been easy. Some days I just want to quit everything and go live in a hut in the jungle by myself. And I really shouldn't complain, because so many others have such bigger difficulties.

Anyway, here's to another 200 books and another 12 years. May we continue on this journey together, our love of books uniting this global community as we confront our daily uncertainties and challenges.

Shout out to my eastern European audience - I'm very glad to have your support.

Love, Es

Book 199: Hiroshima by John Hersey

This is one of those books that SCREAMS for your attention long after you've finished reading its pages.

On August 6, 1945, the United States dropped the atomic bomb on both Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. These bombings, a few days apart, absolutely leveled both islands. This book features several true accounts of people who - against all odds - survived the Hiroshima bombing.

I still don't know how anyone could have survived such a disaster, but they did. One man happened to be caught under a mattress when the house around him was obliterated, collapsing on top of him. He and many of his neighbors wandered around, stunned, while trying to figure out what in the world happened. They tried to help other survivors, but some were too far gone. The author, John Hersey, described their catastrophic injuries in detail. Nothing can prepare you for these graphic details.

I have read quite a few books about the U.S. war with Japan, including accounts of American prisoners of war, who were held in deplorable conditions and tortured. After reading Hiroshima, I am more convinced than ever that war is horrible for all involved, and that people do awful things to each other for reasons I will never understand. War is tragedy. No one really wins.

This was a short book that I read in a weekend, and I'd recommend it, if you think you can handle the really gory parts. It's not a horror novel, it's real life, and it really happened.

Book 195: A Case of Need by Michael Crichton

Last week, I mentioned this book to my boss and told him I thought it was one of Michael Crichton's last books written before he died. I was completely wrong: this was one of the first books Crichton ever wrote - and in fact, he wrote it when he was still in medical school.

The book was a quick read, but a good one. It is the story of a pathologist (someone who figures out what kind of illness or cancer or infection a patient has based on evidence) that finds out that a colleague has been arrested on charges of performing an illegal abortion... because the patient died of a hemorrhage. He knows his colleague is innocent of the charges and decides to stretch the boundaries of his job description a bit to solve a murder and clear his friend's name.

I am the Ardent Reader, and I am very fussy about the books I read. I start and put down more than I finish, just because I know life is short and my bookshelf is stuffed with books I must finish before I die. I tell you this because I don't often find books that are as intense and engaging as this one - and it hooked me from the very first page. I don't want to spoil the book for you, but I'll tell you one thing: it definitely had momentum... and a ton of twists. And, like most Michael Crichton books, A Case of Need was filled with all kinds of real science, so I learned a thing or two along the way.

There were some hints here and there that the story was not set in today's modern healthcare setting. For one, the doctors all smoked inside and stowed flasks in their desk drawers. Abortion was also illegal in this book, so I knew it had to be set sometime before Roe v. Wade. In fact, Crichton wrote this book in 1969, which I didn't find out until the end. 

A Case of Need was available on Amazon Prime Reading, so I borrowed it for nothing! I hope you'll put it on your list of books to read. I found it fascinating.

Book 191: The Shape of Water by Guillermo Del Toro and Daniel Kraus (Audio book)

The movie was beautiful, poignant, and well made, but the book had more of an impact on me. I was happy to have it as company on a really long road trip. And it was really good.

This book is unique, because its author was also the director of the movie. Guillermo Del Toro - who made the most disturbing movie I've ever seen (Pan's Labrynth) - has created a book that is engaging on so many levels.

In the book, some of the characters are more well cultivated in the book than they were in the movie. Some characters are more interconnected than I originally thought, and at least two did not exist at all in the movie but appeared prominently and were in fact instrumental to the story in the book.

The story of the Gill God, Eliza, Giles, Zelda, and Strickland and his wife Elaine is an incredible one. It begins in the jungle and ends in Baltimore sometime in the 1960s. On their regular rounds as custodians for a scientific research facility, Eliza and Zelda encounter an amazing creature being held captive in a lab. When Eliza - who is mute - discovers that she can communicate with the creature, they become inseparable. The story that unfolds is one of courage, strength, and resilience in the face of overwhelming odds.

I hope you'll pick up this book because it was worth reading, even after seeing the movie and having a preconceived notion of what things looked, felt, and sounded like.

Book 190: The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen (Audiobook)

I am so-o-o-o lucky to have a coworker who is happy to share her advanced listener's copies of audio books. That's how I got my hands on this fantastic book.

It started out a little bit slow... but in no time I was hooked on the story so cleverly assembled by the authors. Every time I had to get out of the car, I was upset that I didn't have more time to listen.

The Wife Between Us is the story of two women who fall in love with the same man. Their stories are interwoven in such a way that it's almost impossible to tell them apart. And when the surprises come, they aren't just surprises... they're thrills... the kind that give you goosebumps when you realize you've been wrong all along.

I can't tell you much more without blowing the big secrets in the book, but the themes are clear. Abuse comes in many forms. Perception is everything. And people who will lie about the little things will lie about big things.

Definitely, definitely, definitely pick this up and read it. And pay attention.

The Child by Fiona Barton (Audiobook)

The Child by Fiona Barton was one of the best fiction books I've ever read [or heard on audiobook]. I will remember this book for a long time to come. It was very, very good.


Barton is an expert storyteller. The characters in this story - starting with the reporter, Kate - are realistic enough to touch.


When a newborn baby is found buried in a garden in Howard Street in a small UK village, a tiny blurb - not much larger than a classified ad - appears in the newspaper. The blurb catches Kate's eye, and she decides to pursue the lead. There must be a story behind the child's burial. How did the baby die? How did it get there? Who was responsible? Kate decides to uncover the truth about the newborn's death... even if it is the coldest case most police would ever encounter.


Barton assembled the story through a number of perspectives which can be very confusing. Hang on for the ride, and let her sort it all out. You won't be sorry. The story comes to a beautiful, poignant crescendo at the close of the book.


I absolutely loved this book from start to finish. Give it a shot and let me know what you think!

Book 186: The Last Jew of Treblinka by Chil Rajchman (Audiobook)

What a short, disturbing book. And yet, so powerful.

A lot of the Holocaust books I've read have focused on the concentration camps in and around Germany. I never read anything about the Polish camps. I never knew that the Polish camps were not concentration camps - they were extermination camps. With few exceptions, every person who entered Treblinka suffered a horrible fate: immediate gassing and cremation.

The only thing worse than being gassed and cremated was having to shave the heads of men and women who were headed to the gas chambers. And having to pull the teeth of the dead to extract gold fillings. And having to pick up bone shards and unearth corpses. Chil Rajchman did it all, until he escaped. Then later, he identified SS war criminals and testified against them in court.

This story is a profound, disturbing, and moving tale that needed to be heard.

A word (or two) on parenting.

As a parent, I'm dedicated to raising my kids with all the love and patience I can summon. If you're a parent, you probably know some days are harder than others. At the end of the day, if the kids are safe, well-fed, and healthy, I consider it a win.

My goal for my kids is to build in them the skill sets they need to go forward in life when they're 18 years old. I expect my kids to move out, go to college, or get a job. I expect them to become productive citizens and care about one another. I expect them to build the future when I'm no longer around to do it.

As other influences (good and bad) come and go, I am dedicated to remaining aggressive about their learning. My kids do chores, have responsibilities, and know what I expect of them. They know how I'm going to react when they display poor judgment or act like entitled little brats. I try to be consistent, if nothing else.

Whether my kids become rocket scientists or custodians, they're going to need to know how to read and comprehend language, cook a meal, do their laundry, shop sensibly, be accountable for their actions, learn good habits, be affectionate and compassionate, respect others, give back to their community, and learn. These are the things I am seeking to teach them while I have their relatively undivided attention.

Am I always going to be perfect? No.

Am I always trying to be better? Yes.

Am I expecting to be my child's best friend? No. And that is why I will succeed.

In return for all of my hard work, I have inexhaustible motivation to be a better person for my kids.

💖💖

The Willingness to Expand - Organically.

My blog is not a fancy blog. But it's my blog, and it's a good blog. It's had almost 30,000 views as of today. I'm proud of my blog. It's pretty, and it's chock full of good stuff.

I've had this blog for eight years. I'm almost 39 years old, so I've maintained this blog for almost 21% of the time I've spent on earth. In that time I've read countless books (185 were reviewed here) and explored topics that mean so much to me.

I started The Ardent Reader after my second child was born. I had part time job in a nonprofit and I had extra time every afternoon after work to read. I was married then, I drove a minivan, and I had a dog. That seems like such a long time ago.

For me, this blog is so much more than being about reading. Reading is, of course, important, but when I realized what reading could do for me as a mother, a professional, a woman, this blog changed. It has become something else: evidence of my own deliberate cultivation of myself. I went from a young mother with an newly-earned associate's degree and half decent writing talent to an educated professional writer with two kids both on the path to excellence themselves.

I learned that in all things, I strive to be genuine. The practice of blogging has helped to reveal this particular aspect of my personality. It helped me realize I don't want to compromise my strongest held values, and it led to some of the hardest life choices I ever had to make. Here's a blog post called Living an Authentic Life, which I posted on my shorter-term blog, My Ten Bucks. 

A week or so ago, news broke that Russian hackers had used people's nationalism coupled with their own ignorance to divide us and undermine the validity of our elections. Twitter cut thousands of "bot" accounts overnight, and some folks lost thousands of followers in the process. And that night, I didn't lose a single one. In fact, I gained a few. For me, this was evidence that by cultivating this blog and my Twitter following slowly and organically, I had hit the right people. Real people.

Maybe I don't have thousands of followers on my blog but I know the ones I do have are people I want to have on my team. I want you to know how much you mean to me, dear reader, and that I appreciate your continued readership.

Thanks.

💗

Book 185: Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer

Although I have a million other books to read right now, when I came across this one in the library book sale room, I had to set aside everything to read it. I couldn't put it down until I was finished.

I had seen the movie Everest about the 1996 climbing disaster but I didn't know anything about the people who went through it. Journalist Jon Krakauer from Outside magazine had been along on the journey that ultimately killed twelve people and injured and disabled numerous others. He wrote Into Thin Air six months after he returned home after the traumatic event.

Krakauer was a seasoned climber and had always dreamed of climbing Everest. He had his chance when the magazine sponsored his climb to get a firsthand account of the true Everest climbing experience.

Although no one can definitively say why the 1996 team had so many problems, Krakauer makes his own conjecture about why some people lived and others died. One thing he wrote will stick with me forever: that being determined is both a strength and a weakness on Everest. A person's will can be so strong that he or she refuses to give up even when disaster is imminent. They will literally kill themselves to achieve a goal. Everest Fever is a real thing, and it looks like it was the reason 12 people died in May of 1996.

Krakauer was adept at pulling together all of the accounts into a spellbinding narrative that will stay with me forever. I'm glad I picked up this book and I hope you will, too.

Book 177: I Hate Everyone Except You by Clinton Kelly

I like birds. I picked up this book because the cover had a bird on it. (That's true.) I kept reading this book because it was freaking hilarious. I laughed until Mr. Fussypants asked me to please stop, so he could hear his show. When I kept on, adapting my guffaws to Muttley-style huffing, he gave me the look. Luckily, I have insomnia due to some sort of throat ailment, so I finished it in private later on, chuckling quietly to myself in the den. 

Clinton Kelly was a co-host of What Not to Wear and is now on The Chew - two shows I never even heard of until I read this book. (Sorry, Clinton, but don't feel bad... I don't watch much TV.)  This book is a series of stories from his life, opinion pieces, and even a previously unpublished screenplay. He writes about his life as a co-host and talks about his working relationships, bitches about celebrities (Paula Deen, for one), and talks about his relationship with his family and his husband, Damon, who sounds like a saint.

Clinton Kelly is the king of snark. Every story from the theme park adventure as a child to the two hour forced commentary on salad was filled with wit and sarcasm that would give Joan Rivers a run for her money. Because I can visualize everything that happened in this book, I found it riotously funny.

I Hate Everyone, Except You was funny, but Kelly also injected a lot of truth about love and life into it. For example, the wishful-thinking "if I were president" piece in which Kelly says one of the first things he'd do is initiate a mandatory draft for food service - for everyone. As a former waitress, I could not agree more. I learned some of my most profound life lessons while serving others their food and drinks, and I often think some of the assholes I come across could do with a dose of humility that often comes along with the job.

I borrowed the digital copy of this book from the Delaware Library Catalog, but if you don't have access, you can buy it here.

I needed a good laugh, and this did it. Thanks, Clinton.

December is Read a New Book Month!

It's no surprise that December is "Read a New Book Month."
December = Christmas
Christmas = Gifts
Gifts = Books (Sometimes.)

According to Forbes, between 600,000 and 1,000,000 books are published each year in the United States. Of those, about half are self-published. A study by Stanford University found that fiction accounts for only 11% of books published in a given year. Almost 130 million books have been published (and reprinted) since the beginning of time. We've got thousands of choices at our fingertips, and more appear every day.

Sources for new book recommendations also change every day, but for me, some are tried and true. I always check the new book rack at my local Delaware library. It's usually front and center when you walk in. There's also a feature on the Delaware Library Catalog where you can view and request new books in both digital and print format.

My non-library sources for new books begin with NPR Books, which boasts a wide variety of books and reviews from authors I might never hear of otherwise. For situational awareness, I may check the New York Times Bestseller List, while repeating this mantra in my head: What is popular is not always good. (Like cars, cell phones, jobs, computers, and houses, "new" doesn't necessarily equate to "great." Duds are everywhere.) I also check Amazon New Releases, which is my best source for new books on sale. (There's also this fantastic feature on Amazon, where you can put together and publish your own public wish list and share it with friends and family. They can search for it, too.) I also like the Slate Audio Book Club.

Hopefully you'll get a fantastic book for Christmas, or a gift card with a huge balance on it, so that you can buy yourself a whole new collection of Mary Roach or Mark Kurlansky books that will blow your mind. (Hint, hint.) Who knows what December will bring?

My advice is to never stop reading. Whether it's given to you or you buy it, pick up a new book, wrap up in your favorite blanket, and enjoy the heck out of it.

Book 175: The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister's Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine by Lindsay Fitzharris

Well folks, I apologize for this review coming so late, but I just could not seem to find the time between now and last Wednesday to sit down and bust this one out. And I loved it, so that's saying something.

Lindsay Fitzharris has written a book that is both grisly and disgusting but really, really good. It was well written, and she damn well did her research, as the final 50 pages of references attest. It made me squirm in discomfort and horror and I loved every page of it.

The Butchering Art is the heroic story of Joseph Lister, the man who introduced the use of antiseptics to the medical community in Edinburgh, Scotland, then to London, England, then to the world. As a child, Lister was fascinated with his father's microscope. Later, when he entered the [utterly insane] field of surgery, he used the microscope to identify microbes responsible for causing post-surgical infections that were literally killing entire hospital units full of patients. Lister experimented with a variety of chemical antiseptics, wound dressings, and stitching materials, and eventually revolutionized the world of medicine. The guy was a genius, and made every surgeon before him look like a complete idiot. They weren't too happy about that, but had to eventually adopt his practices because, quite simply, they worked.

This book is not for the faint of heart or the weak of stomach. Fitzharris provides the most awful details about the most revolting surgical practices common in Victorian-era medicine. She tells you more than you ever wanted to know, and proves once again that truth is indeed stranger than fiction. This was better than any horror fiction ever written. (Sorry, Mr. King, but I still love ya.)

I was thoroughly disgusted and totally riveted, and I fully intend to make this book part of my permanent collection.

Lindsay, send me a signed copy! It would make my day!

Book 174: The Little Book of Hygge: The Danish Way to Live Well by Meik Wiking

I wasn't totally in love with this book. Although I felt strongly that the lessons within it were worthwhile, the style is a little bit dry. Meik Wiking, the author, is an academic who studies happiness at the Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen. It sort of felt like a cross between a DIY book and an academic paper.

Despite the style, I learned quite a bit from The Little Book of Hygge about the Danish custom of sharing cozy spaces, warm lighting, comfort food, and comfortable furniture for one purpose: to enjoy each other's company. I didn't know that Danes will invest thousands in the right lamps to achieve Hygge in their cozy living rooms.

These days, with just over a month left in the year and complete my goal, I'll pick up any book that has "little" in the title. This book was just a hundred or so pages (I'm estimating this, since I read it on my Kindle) and went through the major points of Hygge (pronounced "hug-gah") and how to implement Hygge to improve your own quality of life. The author even included recipes to make some of the Danes' favorite comfort foods.

If you're into home decorating and entertaining, this is definitely the book for you.

Book 171: What Happened by Hillary Clinton (Unfinished)

I wanted to finish this book, but I lost momentum halfway through, then my library loan ended, and I wasn't going to buy a $15 digital copy for my Kindle so I could finish it. Truth be told, this book is just too long to read in a few days, so I'm moving on.

Still, this is what I have to say about it.

Whether you love her or hate her, it's difficult to deny that Hillary Clinton has incredible resilience. No one wants to talk about their own failures (and some people ignore them completely), but through this book, Hillary explored her own to understand how and why they happened. She admitted her own shock and humiliation at losing the 2016 election and kept on going. She wrote about her mistakes before and during the campaign and the lessons she's learned because of them. She also wrote about what she did right. For her, I think writing this book was therapeutic. It was also very smart, because the book sold like crazy when it was published.

If you decide to pick this up, give yourself ample time to read it. You'll also need an open mind.

Book 170: The Woman in Black by Susan Hill

I read The Woman in Black because someone told me it was one of her favorite horror stories. I also picked it up because my book is taking forever to finish and this classic by Susan Hill was under 200 pages. Have I told you already that reading two books a week is not easy?

Arthur, the main character in this book, told the story of himself as a young lawyer in London sent to the coastal town of Crythin Grifford to settle the final affairs of his firm's client, Mrs. Drablow. He found himself on the receiving end of a haunting which changed his life forever, and he never had a chance.

As far as story lines go, The Woman in Black had a good one. I felt drawn in right away. The author's ability to describe landscapes was on point - the marshes and inn and Eel Marsh House were vivid. Her skill for building suspense was great. Still, I wasn't all that impressed with one character in the book who I felt would have certainly come forward with helpful information sooner had he actually had the relationship with Arthur that was described in the book. 

Although I liked the way the book was written (the Gothic style reminded me of Great Expectations by Dickens), the horror was a bit soft for me. The author's use of foreboding was fantastic, but I kept waiting for something new and terrible to emerge. Yeah, the end was bad, but I'm a seasoned horror junkie; I've read the worst of the worst, which has probably my shudder reflex and reduced my capability to feel real fear about ghosts. It's guts and gore and rabid dogs and real monsters that live among us that get me squirming. 

If you want a good story that will give you chills but you don't want to throw up, this would be the way to go. It's just creepy enough. 

😈😈😈

Book 168: The Big Oyster: History on the Half-Shell by Mark Kurlansky

The history of the American oyster was not a topic I would have chosen to explore on my own, but The Big Oyster popped up in my Kindle recommendations, I simply couldn't resist. Turns out, the author Mark Kurlansky picked two topics I really love: food and its history.

This book leaves no stone unturned when it comes to explaining how the American oyster was harvested, shucked, eaten, consumed until nearly extinct, and finally, cultivated and grown. The story begins in pre-colonial New York, where the Hudson Bay was teeming with oysters growing in their beds and were harvested by Native Americans who threw the shells into piles called "middens," which are still being discovered to this day. I was utterly fascinated by the chapters on 19th century New York and its famed oyster shuckers. By a strange coincidence, I shucked oysters myself this year for the first time, and now I know why rapid fire oyster shucking is such a true test of dexterity.

Like most of these "explore the topic to the finest detail" books, they contain tidbits that contradict what you thought you knew about the topic all your life. I wasn't experienced on oysters at all before I read this book, but I was surprised to find that nobody else seems to know what they're talking about, either. Kurlansky did some serious debunking.

Not every one of his books is as riveting as this one, but I blame the topics, not the author's ability. For some reason, this book just hooked me from page one and I couldn't put it down. If you decide to pick it up, I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I did.

Check it out! I enjoyed it.

✌✌✌

Book 167: The Palm Reading After the Toad's Garden by Michael Dickel

To be completely fair and totally transparent, I am no poetry buff. In fact, I can count on one hand the number of poetry books I have read cover to cover. So please, if you are looking for a seasoned, professional reviewer of poetry, keep on looking.

However, I am still The Ardent Reader (and not a newbie to this reading thing) and I believe poetry is one of the bravest forms of self-expression, because a poet can almost always guarantee that the majority of people won't understand what he or she is trying to convey with words or otherwise. For that reason I admire people who decide to try their hand at it.

That being said, Michael Dickel's collection entitled The Palm Reading after the Toad's Garden was not straight up poetry, nor was it prose. It was a series of stories - well, not really stories, either - more like encounters told from a variety of perspectives. It's sort of like art, made of words.

In the beginning, some of the language in Dickel's poems made me anxious, until I realized it may have been the author's intention to make me feel anxious. Further into the book I found poems that were simple and beautiful because they were about everyday stuff. I don't know why I liked those so much, but I think it's because I felt the moments were captured in a genuine way. Some were fun, such as Words and God's Pop Quiz (hilarious, reflective of reality, also sad) and some tackled hard stuff, like Final Destination. I found myself wondering how much of what Dickel wrote was taken from real life, and how much was conjured. I think when you can't tell the difference, that's a good thing.

The author, Michael Dickel, is one of my Twitter buddies (@MYDekel469). When we connected and I learned he was an author and had written a book, I said what I always say to authors, "Send me a copy and I'll review it on my blog." So he sent me a copy in the mail and inscribed it, too:

Es Curtis - 
I hope you find something here that sparks your creative fires.
Michael Dickel

I enjoyed reading Dickel's collection. It was almost like visiting someone you just met and peeking in on their knickknack cabinet, wondering what the story is behind each item... and dying to ask.

See, that was almost poetic, right?

❤❤❤