Essays & Musings
What We’ve Been Thinking About
Thoughts on books, reading, culture, and the literary life.
March releases! What are you excited about?
March 4, 2024Here are just a few of the March releases the world is chatting about. Are any of them on your radar? If not, what is?
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the ask@AAR: What’s popular at AAR?
March 1, 2024I recently ran a report at Google Analytics to look at what are the most read pages at AAR. It was somewhat surprising and very interesting. This report is from…
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A blast from the past: AAR–then it was likesbooks.com–in May 1998
February 26, 2024AAR published its first pages in 1996, started by the brilliant Laurie Gold. Many of the early pages–although not the reviews–are lost due to incompatible software, cost, and error. We…
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the ask@AAR: What are your favorite second chance at love romances?
February 23, 2024I love second chance romances. Not the ones where people dated briefly in high school or had a youthful fling, but those stories where people fell hard out of love…
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Read any Romantasy lately?
February 19, 2024The two best selling fiction works at Amazon in 2023 were Fourth Wing and Iron Flame both of which are–and I so don’t love this mashup–romantasy. Also in the top…
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the ask@AAR: Do you care how you look? (I do!)
February 16, 2024I grew up in peak beauty tip times. Every magazine, newspaper, and friend’s older sister shared how to look better. Starting in junior high, my friends and I spent hours…
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A (personal) history of Valentine’s Day
February 14, 2024Today, in the U.S., hundreds of thousands of Valentine’s Day cards will be exchanged. Americans will spend close to thirty billion dollars on Valentine’s Day gifts. Close to 300 million…
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An interview with Susan Elizabeth Phillips
February 12, 2024There’s a new Chicago Stars book coming out which I, of course, had to read. I have always enjoyed the chance to chat with Susan, so when her team asked…
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the ask@AAR: What have you been reading lately?
February 9, 2024Goodreads tells me I’ve read eleven books thus far this year. They are: The Woman on the Ledge by Ruth Mancini Never Blow a Kiss by Lindsay Lovise Devil’s Kitchen…
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What do we think about Linda Howard?
February 7, 2024Yesterday’s Steals and Deals offered a twofer: Linda Howard’s Dream Man and After The Night, bound in one book. It was fascinating to read the reviews and the comments on…
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the ask@AAR: What song is YOU?
February 2, 2024Lately, Dr. Feelgood and I have been listening to a lot of music. I think it’s because he retired and we can’t TALK ALL THE TIME. When we want to…
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In which a headline from the Washington Posts irks me….
January 29, 2024Yesterday, I returned from trying on possible Mother of the Groom lehengas to read this crap headline from Washington Post: At 59, I needed a fancy gown. Should I go…
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