Category Archives: Literary Miscellany

5 of the best mothers in literature

In honor of Mother’s Day, let’s talk about some of the best moms in literature. These women, though fictional, exemplify what it means to be a great mother – they are kind, protective, humorous, and tenacious – among a myriad of other attributes that make them incredible female role models. (Caution – potential spoiler alerts […]

Celebrating National Library Week: How three libraries transformed one reader

Happy National Library Week, readers! In my opinion, every week should be spent celebrating the role of libraries in our culture and society. Libraries bring people together in ways no other establishment ever could – not only through books and literacy, but through technology, community outreach programs, educational opportunities, historical/genealogical research… Essentially, a trip to […]

The agony (and the ecstasy) of literary rejection

Ask any writer what the worst part of writing is, and you will get two answers: 1.) The dreaded writer’s block, and 2.) Getting rejected by publishers after spending weeks, months, even years on a manuscript. Granted, the rejection part comes after the actual writing, but it is an intrinsic, necessary part of the process, […]

More reasons to love Curtis Memorial Library

Did you know that February is Love Your Library Month? I’d be remiss if I didn’t post at least one library-related piece, and I’d miss out on an opportunity to gush (again) about how much I love my own Curtis Memorial Library. You may remember a previous piece I published about CML last month, in […]

Books evoke remembrance of things past

There are some books you read and forget; there are others that stay with you a lifetime. And there are those that still conjure up memories of the exact moment and circumstance in which you first read them. My initial idea for this post was to pay homage to Harper Lee, who passed away on […]

5 ways reading benefits your children (and you)

“Why do you write?” It was a question posed to my writing workshop class my final year of college. I’ve been mulling it over in my mind ever since, and four years later, I finally have the answer I wish I’d given that day instead of spewing whatever other word-vomit came out of my mouth. […]

A World of Possibility at the Curtis Memorial Library

To share the wonders of Curtis Memorial Library in Brunswick, I must begin at the beginning. Not the very beginning of the library itself (which was built in 1904 and then renovated and expanded in 1999), but the first time I happened upon it, and the circumstances under which I found myself wandering amongst its […]

12 Books Perfect for the Reader in your Life

A confession: With the holidays right around the corner, I have been slacking off in my bookshop-touring duties. Work schedules and holiday parties, baking for said parties, weekends spent with family, shopping for loved ones… I just haven’t found time to find a bookshop, explore it, and then write a worthy post about it. So […]