Reader. Writer. Teacher
Today is Shakespeare's birthday, so to celebrate I thought I'd share another post in my Back to Basics series. Last time our focus was on reading and understanding poetry, and today we're taking things one step farther by focusing on the man, the myth, the legend: William Shakespeare. Today's post starts with some overall tips… Continue reading Back to Basics: How to Read Shakespeare
Half Gods by Akil Kumarasamy is a new collection of short stories that all touch in some way upon the journeys of two brothers who are both named after demigods from the ancient text The Mahabharata. These stories, while spanning great distances in geography and time, all feel like parts of a larger work, a… Continue reading Half Gods by Akil Kumarasamy
Over Spring Break I picked up the first book in the Maisie Dobbs series at a used bookstore, and I managed to have one of those fun reading days where you get to camp out and read a book from cover to cover beforethe day is over. I love it when I can finish a… Continue reading Review: Maisie Dobbs
In January I started a series called "Back to Basics" where I broke down some common reading issues we all face. The series started with a post on finding time to read, and then I also wrote about reading comprehension and making connections with other texts. Today, in honor of National Poetry Month and this… Continue reading Back to Basics: How to Read a Poem
March is Women's History Month, so already this month I've been seeing lots of posts on social media about great books written by and about important women. The review I have to share with you today is about a woman whose life story is just now being rediscovered as important files from the NSA are… Continue reading The Woman Who Smashed Codes by Jason Fagone
All right, we're two months in to 2018. How's your reading going? I'll be honest, I had an excellent reading month in January, but things really ground to a halt in February. I'm excited about the new month--and I'm hoping to be able to finish a few new books in the next 31 days. Counting… Continue reading 12 Months of Books: March Suggestions
It's late on a school night as I write this post, but I feel somehow that I'd be remiss in letting February pass by without sharing at least one book review for our #12MonthsofBooks theme. This month the goal was to read books based around the idea that "The Greatest of these is Love." And… Continue reading Anne’s House of Dreams
One of my goals for 2018 is to stick to a more regular posting schedule here on Book Fifty, and I've decided that means two posts each week. I've been posting general reading tips on Mondays and book reviews on Thursdays, if you haven't noticed that pattern yet! But tonight I have a sort of… Continue reading Weekend Update: Murakami, Polar Bears, and Poirot
One of my favorite movies is You've Got Mail, the classic Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan romantic comedy. I love it for many reasons, but one of the main reasons is that Meg Ryan's character, Kathleen Kelly, is a book lover. So much so, in fact, that she runs a children's bookshop. In the movie she says When… Continue reading Caroline by Sarah Miller
Today we've come to the third installment of a new series I'm calling "Back to Basics." The first post was all about making and/or finding time to read, the second focused on how to make sure you're making sense of what you read, and today's post is all about making connections with what you read.… Continue reading Back to Basics: Making Connections
Sarah K. Cook 