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...

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...

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 t...

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 h...

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...

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, ...

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 ...

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 lea...

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 act...

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 fre...

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 fin...

Fall is in the air and so are soccer balls. I don’t know about your house, but ours is currently overrun with shin guards, socks and jerseys. The temperatures have finally cooled enough to make life outdoors tolerable again and if I’m not on a wri...

Anytime we go anywhere my husband laughs at me and asks how many books I’m bringing. It doesn’t matter where we’re going, I always have a minimum of two physical books and one e-book with me. Always. The one time I forgot a book I ended up taking a m...

It can be hard to read in summer with all the visitors, vacations, and the phenomenal weather begging you to be out enjoying it. Thank goodness for these amazing summer storms we’ve been having that force a brief break and encourage a bit of r...

It’s officially summer! Who’s excited for beach reads on the river and library summer reading programs? Count my kiddos in. They saw the door o’ prizes pictures at the library and are beyond excited about winning a Kindle Fire or a slime kit or (o...

Have you ever had to stop reading for an extended period of time? Have you ever read The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron? I started this book in April and it’s one where you read a chapter a week and there are all sorts of tasks for you to com...

I’m writing this on April 1 which is difficult in a house of young boys who think April Fool’s Day is an excuse to be extremely loud, place whoopee cushions under everyone the moment they turn around, and generally make it impossible to do any rea...

Whatcha Readin’? Reading resolutions Every year my husband and I set our reading goals and then track them using apps like StoryGraph or Goodreads. And thanks to apps like Libby where I can read library books for free from anywhere, I’ve been able to...

How much are we loving this cold and snow?!?! If you’re not a reader, you probably hate it. This is my happy weather: grab a mug of tea and a book, huzzah! Thanks to the weather I was able to read three more books than last month. Of the 16 books I...

When we look outside and see snow on the surrounding mountains, my husband’s first thought is, “did we buck enough wood?” while my first thought is, “do we have enough books?” Out of the 13 books I finished in October, I only gave six of them four...