Rachael - Page

Born To Read (And Reread)

I learned to read well late (around age 8). I've been trying to catch up ever since. I read to visit far off places, to learn about language, culture, and how people think. I read to argue until I better understand where I'm coming from and why I believe what I believe. I read to fall in love and to learn what I want in relationships. I read to learn how to write better.

Essentially, I read to learn how to live outside the pages of books.

My Own Private Librarian

When you don't know what to read next and the staff at your local library have suggested everything they can think of, there remains one place to turn. No, not the internet. Reader's advisory books. Used by librarians and other book nerds, these collections of suggestions may give you a nudge in the right direction, introduce you to a new "old" author or series, or at least give you…

America's favorite librarian began writing professional books for librarians to use in recommendations on subjects far and wide. This is her first title for the common reader. Arranged alphabetically by topic, she offers up fiction and non-fiction, suggests the best short stories in collections and her favorite poems. It's a keeper.

Who's Neil Gaiman's favorite author? What classic has John Grisham never finished? What book made James Patterson want to write? Answers to these and more burning questions lie within the pages of this browsable collection of columns from "The New York Times Book Review."

A great source for new to you titles, this volume also contains essays on literature by some of the writers of the best of it.

The title really says it all. In deep but not dull essays on individual classics, the former "Washington Post Book World" writer brings to light both the musty tomes you were supposed to crack in high school and hidden treasures you may never have heard of before.

Life and Art: Advice for Works in Progress

Every idea starts with other ideas. When we create something new, it's from the pieces of something old, whether clay or ink and paper, or a life on the road less traveled. Each of these books pointed me in new directions, new ways of thinking, and gave me different ways of looking at life and art. Whether you paint or mold clay, write music or ice skate, work in medicine or the clergy…

Short, wise, full of stories and applicable advice about how to live well, with compassion for self and others, and with purpose and meaning.

If you've ever wanted to make something be it music, a painting, a book, a movie or a great casserole but didn't know where to start, this quick, quote-filled book has ten suggestions that may help you get started on the path to creating more than you ever thought you could before.

Sometimes, nothing less than a fairy tale will do. A soldier sells his soul for seven years. The hope of winning it back is a slim one. But there's a reason they call them fairy tale endings.

A clear, funny, compassionate guide to taking time to do life right and to seeing one's self and one's art clearly.

Graphic Content: Graphic Non-Fiction for Young and Old

Biography and autobiography read easier when heavily illustrated. Even when the life stories are anything but easy, these quick reads move fast but stick with you long after the last page is turned.

Best-selling and award-winning author Shannon Hale tells her own story of growing up in a complicated but loving family, her struggles with cliques, and writing stories.

By drawing on his father's personal history as a Holocaust survivor, Art Spiegelman created a graphic memoir that shakes the dust off of history and breaks your heart. He underscores it and makes it digestible by, controversially, turning the people into animals.

I've never been to NYC, but I've read about it and love films and TV shows set there. Originally created as a guidebook for her daughter before she moved into the city, Chast's signature cartoon style and charming wit grace every page.

As Chast's parents became less able to care for themselves, she took on the role of caregiver. This painful and humorous memoir may ring too true to those with aging parents. It's a loving but honest tribute to the joys and challenges of family.

History: The Remix

These historical novels don't tell the story the way you heard it in school. Some tell stories with magic alongside muskets. Others venture back from now into times not so different from our own; they're grim, hopeful, and complex. Yet others wander to places so gently rendered you'll wish they'd stuck around until you remember why you're glad to live now.

I'm sad to say before this graphic novel and it's companion volume, "Saints," my lone exposure to the Boxer Rebellion came from a "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" episode. Though they're quick reads, they stick with you and leave you thinking how every story has more than two sides.

Music, history, and contemporary pain collide in this novel of the French Revolution.

This novel of time travel, the continuing pain caused by slavery in America, and the complexities of family history made my brain explode.

Smart, romantic, and funny, this novel rewrites history by righting the wrongs done to Lady Jane Grey and adding shapeshifters.

Much Too Good for (Solely) Children: Kids Books That Adults Should Try or Revisit

Many adults only read kids books when their children are too young to read on their own. This is a mistake. No less a writer than C. S. Lewis wrote, "A children's story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children's story in the slightest." While that may be taking it a bit too far, he had a point. Look at "Harry Potter" or "Charlotte's Web." Quality writing for kids…

A Victorian era boy wanders through Ankh-Morpork learning about the uses of what might otherwise go to waste.

Though primarily remembered for his children's books, E. B. White wrote for "The New Yorker," and his children's books show that when writing for children one must write up not down.

Told after the events of the tale, Margaret Rose Kane's story rereads well. It's the kind of book for those who prefer not to follow the crowd when the crowd is wrong. If you lived through the 1980's, this book is a subtle blast from the past.

Moving and Grimm, this retelling of lesser-known and familiar Grimm's Fairy Tales brings gore you might not want to read right before bed. But, it's also funny and wise.

Oh, Death: Mind How You Go

Death remains an inevitable reality. But, fear of death and lack of understanding surrounding it or not facing it when it comes can make it worse. These books, both fiction and non-fiction, touch on facing it from places of wellness and illness, from places of youth and age, and from a place of dealing with the aftermath.

This moving work of narrative non-fiction shows that preparing for death can teach you how to live.

I loved that in this series, of which this is the first, Death looks most often like Kurt Cobain.

It deserves the hype. In luminescent prose, Kalanithi writes about living while dying and the challenges of being a doctor and a patient.

An insider's look at the American death industry written with wit and compassion

Books for People Who Love Books About Books

When you love books, you want to talk about them with whomever will listen. When you're all talked out but still want the experience of connecting with another mind over reading and loving books, libraries, bookshops, librarians, and shelves, here's where you can turn.

Paintings of book spines accompanied by essays from the literate luminaries the volumes inspired.

A memoir of the author's time working in a prison library.

Not a ghost story, this story is about a bookshop that is haunted by the ideas and authors contained within it. A little remembered classic that deserves to be better known.

It's been likened to "Ready Player One" for book lovers. An apt, if insufficient, comparison.

It's Not the Book You Start With...

These are books that have led me to another story, novel or work of non-fiction. Whether because they overtly or covertly reference another title, because they act as a homage or a parody, or because the title is derived from another piece of writing, one book leads to another.

The book is more complex. The movie is still great.

Believe it or not, I love these books for the books they led me to. Also, I'm on Team Edward.

"Breaking Dawn" led me here.

The spirit of "Jane Eyre" suffuses "The Twilight Saga." But first, I delighted in this alternate historical fantasy where the Crimean War raged on into the 20th century, and characters from literature need protection from real police within the British government.