Independently owned since 1905
Independently owned since 1905
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Over the course of the last couple of years, I’ve gotten to know quite a few authors who are independently published, or self-published, meaning you can purchase their books on Amazon, but not necessarily in a bookstore. This used to be unheard of, but more and more it’s becoming the norm. Did you know that Margaret Atwood was originally a self-published author? I decided to make October the Month of Indie Reads and I read four of my friends books to see if they hold muster, and boy howdy do they ever! I read lots of other books too, of course,...
A friend of mine has a condition, prosopagnosia, wherein he doesn’t recognize faces. He can meet me ten times, and every time is the first time. Not really, he’s begun to recognize my voice, he remembers my name and connects it to my voice, he’s begun putting things together like the way I smell (assuming I don’t change laundry detergent, start wearing perfume, etc.), he’s begun to “recognize” me because he runs into me at the same place every time we meet and I don’t change any other outward clues about who I am. His wife can change her hair s...
Sleep: this thing that’s necessary like food and water, shelter and clothing, but also frustratingly impossible for some to obtain. No matter how much money you make, you can’t buy it. Exercise makes it only slightly more within reach, changes in diet same. For me, even pregnancy made sleep only somewhat better for a few crucial weeks before becoming fleeting once again. In my forties, I’ve finally made peace with it. I had tried everything: a dark room, the correct plants, no screens before bed, the correct cool temperature, tart cherry juice,...
Autumn is always such chaos: back to school, bucking wood for winter, soccer, Noxon’s Fall Festival, 4-H enrollment, STEAM month (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Mathematics), Halloween, and Thanksgiving. It feels like there’s no time for reading despite opportunities to get more books, like the upcoming Thompson Falls Public Library Book Sale on October 26. I find my TBR pile expanding, the books on my side table stacking higher, the monthly Wrap-Up from The StoryGraph looking chintzy. Despite the chaos, I read twelve books in Sep...
With back to school, the beginning of soccer, and the fair, many families are dealing with high emotions, not just in the littles, but the bigs. Another parent recently explained their childs’ meltdowns to me and all I could do was nod along and smile, “I feel that way too,” I blurted. Sometimes it’s too many people, sometimes it’s being hungry, sometimes there’s no obvious reason. Another parent came up and told me how their child may not realize they’re overheating, if they become grumpy to ask them to shed a layer and see if that fixes it...
Do you love to read and discuss books, but struggle to leave your comfy home in order to do so? I sure do. I have the best snacks here, a cozy blankie if I get a chill, and I never have to worry that I forgot my pen. In an effort to bring book club to you, Thompson Falls Public Library and I have teamed up with The Sanders County Ledger and this column, to bring you Flashlights & Firelight Online Book Club: free, monthly, and fun! Check out my quick review of our first book below as well as details for joining us later this month.* In August,...
When she was a puppy, I could smoosh my nose into our dogs’ paws and inhale corn chips. I could stuff my nose into the scruff of her neck and smell sunlight and grass and a touch of joy. But somewhere along the way, she lost her puppy smell and gained a stink. We added those green doggie toothbrushes, but it wasn’t her breath that needed fixing, and the treats didn’t seem to affect anything anyway. We started bathing the dogs every week, which decreased the number of dog-hair-tumbleweeds rolling through the house, but still didn’t take her sme...
Usually, I read more frivolous and fun books in the summer, and I used to think it was because that’s what I wanted to read, but now I’m beginning to think it’s simply because that’s what’s published and available to me at that time of year. I’m curious, how does it work for you? Do you prefer quick and dirty books, what I call “page turners,” like those by John Grisham, Colleen Hoover, and Emily Henry, or deeply engrossing books, what I call “think traps,” like those by Barbara Kingsolver, Elena Ferrante, and Abraham Verghese? Do your t...
There are so many times where I feel like I’m just barely hanging on. The demands are so intense, the needs are so many, and I’m just hanging there, hoping I have the strength to outlast the weight of it all. “You do so many fun things,” a friend tells me, and I’m stopped short. We do? We sometimes do. Mostly our lives are spent at home because the world is so expensive, and crowded, and loud. We do the weekly free craft from the library when we’re lucky enough to get them. We go to local, kid-friendly events as often as we’re able. We take adv...
We are officially halfway through the year, and thanks to the Thompson Falls Public Library book sale last weekend, my shelves are back to overflowing. Unfortunately, I’m not keeping up with my personal goal of reading 175 books this year. I’m currently at 80, which my tracking app tells me means I’m eight books behind; eep! Despite being behind, I managed to read 13 books in June, nine of which were four stars or better. Here they are in no particular order: Funny Story by Emily Henry is a contemporary romance that’s hilarious, hopeful...
Recently I had the good fortune to travel to Maine, a state I’d never been to and wanted to visit since I was a teenager and became obsessed with Stephen King and later Elizabeth Strout. When our local librarian, Jennifer Z., moved there, I hounded her for updates until she admitted, (and I paraphrase) “it’s a lot like Montana but with more people and an ocean.” I still wanted to go see it for myself, but it reinforced a belief I hold that Montana truly is the last best place because of the lack of population (there are other reasons of cour...
Do you ever feel like a book finds you when you need it? Like the Universe or God or the interconnectedness of all things is working together to ensure you read a book when you need it most? May was one of those months. Nearly every book that found its way to me came when I needed it most. Now, I’m hoping all the summer books find me: the books that are light, quick, and full of love, humor, and easily resolved problems. Recommendations wanted. In May I read 14 books, 10 of which were four stars or better. Here they are, in no particular o...
It’s the last few days of spring and we’re heading so quickly into summer my head is spinning, although that may be the pollen. Already, we’re looking at pool hours and swimming lessons, at camping trips and vacations, at summer reading lists and summer camps. It’s also the time when everyone scurries to finish cleaning and decluttering, gearing up for the annual Sanders Saleing event next month. The other day at the library, another mom and I were discussing the clutter in our homes, the need to really get in there and clean everyth...
There ought to be at least two more books on this list, but I got distracted by the photos on Montana History Portal and their meme contest (it’s not too late to enter!). It’s been loads of fun creating funny memes related to reading, writing, and Montana life. Even with the beautiful distraction, I managed to read twelve books in April, and all of them were four stars or better. Here they are, in no particular order: Part of Your World and Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez are books one and two in a new contemporary romance series that’s funny...
Recently, I read two opposing books on time. One told me time is a construct and I can therefore make more of it by focusing on what I want to accomplish. Another book said time is finite, I can never have more of it, but I can learn to use it better by focusing on what I want to accomplish. While both books had opposite views of time itself, both books believed time is a thing we can harness through focus. It’s a fascinating contrast, to come at something from two opposed ways and yet obtain the same result. Perhaps that’s why core math works,...
This phenomenal weather is demanding that I put my books down and go outside. I don’t know how I’m going to read anything in the next five to six months, not when the crocuses are popping up and the daffodils and the iris’ (swoon). The books that cross my path are going to require five stars if they don’t want to end up in my Did Not Finish pile (yes, I have one). Why are DNF piles such a debate? There were tons of books throughout my life I was forced to read by school or work and books I forced myself to read because I thought they were im...
Before moving here, we lived in a tourist trap of a town at an elevation of 4200’ in the mountains outside of San Diego, California. We’d get more snow there in one night than we’ve ever gotten in an entire season here in Thompson Falls, but the trouble was as soon as it snowed you couldn’t leave your house. The citiots, as we called them, appeared in droves blocking traffic for 20 miles in both directions and turning the hour-long commute into a three-hour crawl. The problem was our sweet little town with zero traffic lights and two stop si...
Apologies readers, but somehow February was a month of memoir; I’ve been drowning in them (and it’s been wonderful; what a way to go). Unfortunately, that means I only had a couple works of fiction for you this month. If fiction is your jam, I will hopefully have many more recommendations for you next month as I just found three books I’ve been looking for at the Thompson Falls Public Library (libraries for the win!). Also, I get a lot of requests for more middle grade book recommendations and sadly, my kids are currently obsessed with Pokémon...
The woman everyone called Nana was my stepdad’s mom, with white perfectly coiffed hair, makeup always in place, and ironed slacks with blouse and cardigan ensemble. She was hardly the sort of woman you’d think would inspire anything beyond a fleeting feeling that fun needs to be left outside. But her formal Catholic looks were at odds with her quiet sense of adventure, her ready smile and laugh, and her deep and far-reaching kindness. Nana was always up for a good time, whether a play, travel, or a beer tasting. We’d all become so sick of heari...
Welcome to a leap year! I recently asked an artist friend what she planned to do with her “free day.” I expected to hear something funny but true like “sleep!” or something inspiring but exhausting like “try a new technique.” Instead, she said, “it’s a Thursday: I’m going to work out and then work.” Wha-wha-wha. How terribly disappointing. Still, she’s not wrong…there’s this meme going around, you’ve probably seen it: “You can’t read all day if you don’t start in the morning.” This is something I haven’t done in years. Possibly because I hav...
Earlier this month, Annie Wooden wrote an editorial about trying new things, about surprising ourselves with what we can accomplish when we step out of our comfort zones and do things we could fail at. Perhaps you’ve heard the encouragement to “fail spectacularly,” a quote that seems to be attributable to multiple sources, none of which are familiar to me and all before I was born. Still, I love this bit of advice and try to live my life with it in mind. When I watch my children try something new, going all in, I’m reminded to be fearles...
My husband and I recently debated the definition of “reading,” and whether or not audio books count. I say they absolutely do. The audio book is exactly the same as the written book and requires roughly the same investment of time, the listener learns the same information as the person who uses their eyes or fingertips to read it…why wouldn’t it count? I wish I had the attention required to listen to books, but sadly, I’ll be twenty minutes in and realize I have no idea what’s happening cause I’ve been in my head. What do you think? Do aud...
Have you heard about how Iceland is known as a country where people give one another a book on Christmas Eve? They then sit around eating, drinking, and reading together. It’s called Book Flood, or Jolabokaflod, and I’m seriously thinking I was actually adopted from Iceland and my mother’s never had the heart to tell me. If the weather the last few days has you feeling Icelandic, here are some titles you can add to your gift/wish list. Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed is a collection of Dear Sugar letters and their responses with a few...
Do you have any candy left from Halloween? My neighbor made my kids freeze dried candy and I can’t.stop.eating.it. There are these malted chocolate ones that are just unreal. Thank goodness each holiday only comes once a year…. These below freezing temperatures have made for excellent reading weather, and I hope you’ve been able to take advantage of it. I was able to read 11 books in October, of which eight were four stars or better. Here they are, in no particular order: The Last Green Valley and Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark T Sullivan are h...
Do y’all realize this is the twelfth Whatcha Readin’ article? Crazy! That means one full year of you sitting down with me once a month to email me a picture of your bookshelf (yes, I really do get those emails and I LOVE them!) or what you just finished that you couldn’t put down. That’s so exciting! I sincerely hope you’ve gotten some good recommendations from this column, and that you keep expanding my to be read (TBR) pile. Still, in September I read 11 books, five of which were four stars or better. Here they are, in no particula...
