I spent much of last year in a reading rut, and I couldn’t understand why. It seems like book recommendations are everywhere; podcasts, Facebook posts, and the viral ‘bookstgrammers’ I like to follow have no shortage of suggestions for me. At first I thought it was a matter of ‘getting organized’. I started a Google … Read more
Two original watercolors for The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling – Credit: Roseberys / SWNS Two original illustrations for Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book that were lost for over a century have been discovered. The watercolors had been hanging unrecognized on the walls of a London family home for decades. The rediscovery increases the number … Read more
A Holy hermit, possibly Guglielmo of Malavalle on a wall painting in Siena, Italy (1330–1337) – Credit: Dr Krisztina Ilko A scorched cherry twig miraculously sprouting; a diseased swamp restored to ‘peak fertility’; healing the broken leg of an ox; and multiplying cabbages. These are just some of the forgotten medieval miracles of the Augustinian … Read more
I am a mood reader. Sometimes I like a mystery or a thriller. Other times, I crave historical fiction novels. But during the summer, when I’m heading off on vacation or a weekend getaway, I prefer a quick, fun read – a book that keeps me turning the pages and staying up long past my … Read more
I inherited a stack of exquisitely written love letters that my mother had received from her paramour in the South Pacific in WWII. The pages are neat and the care in each swirl of an S or loop of a Y is evidence that love had been injected into every letter. A secret stash she … Read more
Reginald Dwayne Betts who found books as convict went on to become a poet, lawyer, and founder of Freedom Reads (Karen Pearson/Courtesy of Freedom Reads) Reginald Betts was only 17 years and imprisoned in solitary confinement when the lifeline arrived that would change everything. Someone delivered a book. “Imagine yourself as a teenager, 17 years … Read more