nonfiction Archives

Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians, The

61 Cut-and-Paste Essays Author: James Patterson I was so excited for The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians, imagining another heart-felt, well researched, and inspired version of Susan Orlean’s forever touching The Library Book. I got the Audible version so I could read through the 61 separate testimonials in time to run our book club and lead the discussion, but I also went ahead and dropped $20 on the hardcover, because clearly, I’d want to revisit this book repeatedly, right? Wrong, sadly. I tried so very hard to love this little misfit collection of samey stories, but I just couldn’t. It [...]

Frances Carden2025-12-14T20:45:52-07:00December 14th, 2025|Tags: book seller, book sellers, essay, James Patterson, Librarian, library, nonfiction|

Life Observed, A

A Reframing of Lewis' Surprised By Joy Author: Devin Brown For the C.S. Lewis Fellowship Life & Writings course (which I ended up not finishing this year, but intend to pick up again) we delve into the man, C.S. Lewis himself, starting with his life and then his writings. The program is not about an academic standpoint, but an application standpoint, to help fellows learn from Lewis’ writings and apply his message to the discipleship of heart and mind. As such, we kick-off by reading Devin Brown’s A Life Observed: A Spiritual Biography of C.S. Lewis, which is more of a [...]

Frances Carden2025-12-14T15:06:51-07:00December 14th, 2025|Tags: biography, C.S. Lewis, Christian, conversion, faith, nonfiction|

Fatal Friends, Deadly Neighbors and Other True Cases

A Collection of Miscellaneous Cases Author: Ann Rule Fatal Friends, Deadly Neighbors and Other True Cases is a very loosely themed collection composed mostly of cold cases and random rape / murder stories. The idea, ostensibly, is to focus on cases that hit close to home, but the reality is more of a hodge-podge of tales that fit more under a “miscellaneous” heading than anything else. The first two chapters are novella length, taking up most of the real estate in the book. Neither, however, are especially satisfying, leaving more unanswered and speculated upon than revealed. The first chapter concentrates on [...]

Frances Carden2025-12-12T20:58:29-07:00December 12th, 2025|Tags: ann rule, book review, nonfiction, read, reading, true crime|