The year I completed an MA in English Literature some of my closest friends started a book club. This was 2005. We were young and had ample time to read and gather, imbibing liberally while we shared our pithy thoughts on books like Vikram Seth’s A Suitable Boy (a novel that is in the top 10 for longest books published in the English language, and coincidentally a marvelous read). We were also infamous for standing each other up for meetings. After about a year attempting to keep up with the group’s reading while also voraciously working through all the popular fiction and American authors my academic reading had failed to include (I focused on canonical British and Irish literature), I took a break from the book club in order to selfishly pursue books like Marion Zimmer Bradley’s The Mists of Avalon and Gregory Maguire’s Wicked. I found that after a lifetime of being assigned reading (even when the books were fantastic classics that shook the world either in their time or as they aged), I craved the liberty to compile my own reading lists and fill in the many gaps in my life’s reading. At the time I was 24 years old.

After several years of reading Kingsolver to Coelho, Starhawk to Boyle, I re-established my place in that book club where I enthusiastically participated in the reading and conversing about a diverse collection of books. I enjoy the community of reading. I was a part of that group for nearly a decade before leaving my seat open for someone else to join their discussion (though I still share and receive book suggestions and ruminations with many of its members). I have started other book clubs too. I have moved cities and found my reading friends still reaching out to share great reads and inspired writers.

Now, as a mother of two little girls, who are more and more self-efficient by the day, I return to my roots as a literary critic and bibliophile. Take these reviews as nothing more than my side of a conversation about reading: reading and parenting, reading and travel, reading for the love of reading. Books open myriad worlds to us curious enough to explore within their pages and I revel in the adventure, knowledge and inspiration a good book provides. I encourage you to reach out to me if you wish to participate in the conversation further. In the mean time, happy reading!