We harvest the pumpkins by candlelight when the moon hangs full over the black trees and the wind is cold. The goblins steal them otherwise. The stories say they see where we take them if we harvest during the day, and any other night they’d be in the fields themselves, stealing them anyway. So we … Continue reading Pumpkin Patch
I have a tip for you. When you are traveling with a backpack and running through train stations in Europe, it is probably not the best idea to carry a whole stack of books with you. Your shoulders will get very tired. I promise. The reason that I know this, is because I did travel … Continue reading Tarzan of the Apes
We go to the bath houses after the healers leave us. She always likes to go to the bath houses first, to get the smell of their herbs off her skin. She’s never liked healers. Their prodding fingers, their clucking tongues. Their remedies that have never really taken away any of her pain. I’ve spent … Continue reading Mother
“No one reads anymore.” Do you know how many times I have heard that? Articles, people ranting on social media. Everywhere you look someone else is making the claim that no one reads anymore. But I do. I’ve read nearly forty books this year, everything from classic literature to mythology to YA and children’s books. … Continue reading When You Don’t Have Time
I am a big fan of historical fiction and nonfiction. Especially anything connected with WWII. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas and The Book Thief. (Both fiction.) The Hiding Place, The Diary of a Young Girl, Schindler’s List. (All nonfiction.) I’ve read them all at one point or another. And loved them all. So I … Continue reading All The Light We Cannot See
Her booth is in an alley, back behind the dumpsters. She doesn’t like me to come very often, especially since she knows I only buy once a week. I don’t have money for more, but it’s hard to stay away. I don’t have anywhere else to go. The streets around her are gray, gray as … Continue reading Merchant
She’s the one to come looking for me, although today’s fight had nothing to do with her. She always comes, and she always finds me here. The cornfield is the only place I can hide and be sure he doesn’t find me, at least not quickly. I spent three days hidden among the rows once, … Continue reading Cornfield
Fall is, hands down, my favorite time of year. The changing leaves, the crispy cool days, the nights that are finally, finally cold enough for a wood fire and a hot drink. October rolls around, pumpkins appear, sweaters and boots come back into style, and apple cider starts to sound like a very good idea. … Continue reading Fall Books
They wait for me in the old churchyard, among the gravestones. Their feathers are black as soot, their beady eyes watching the lane they know I’ll be walking along. I don’t want to pass them. But I have to, if I want to get home. They’re only here at night, only for an hour or … Continue reading Blackbirds
I have a confession. I avoided this book. I have a bad habit of doing this with books I’m not sure about. I stick them on my shelf, and I—wait. Sometimes for months. Like I said, it’s a bad habit. And in this case, it very nearly deprived me of one of the best books … Continue reading Till We Have Faces
Ramblings of an Obsessive Bookworm 