Victoria Wilson’s new biography, A Life of Barbara Stanwyck: Steel-True 1907-1940 is impressive, if just for its length and heft. It is just the first half of a two-part exhaustive look into the life and career of one of Hollywood’s most enduring, yet shyest stars. Stanwyck, born Ruby Stevens, started life in Brooklyn as a quasi-orphan. Her mother died when she was quite young and her father disappeared soon after, leaving young Ruby and her brother Byron to be raised by friends and family. Her three older […]
How to Quiet Your Mind
I have been working so hard on getting my bodily health in shape that I may have overlooked my mental and emotional health, too. Everything is connected, and pretty much everyone I talk to has suggested meditation for a way to relieve stress and improve my outlook on life. But where does a neophyte start? I found this book at the library, Quiet Mind: A Beginner’s Guide to Meditation, which was compiled and edited by Susan Piver. It includes seven different meditation exercises, explained and introduced […]
Sharply, Darkly, Beautiful
This magical, dark and complex book was also a gift. It came in a bag of books from a friend that I promised to take to the charity shop (I will at some point!) and it called to me from the bag like a jewel in the (Beast Quest and Goosebumps) rough. It is told from the viewpoint of fourteen-year-old Evie, who after four years is finally able to tell her adoptive parents about the shattered ribs she has kept secret. The story begins as […]
The Select Are Surprised
I finished January with my fifth book of the year, Lost in Babylon, the second book in the Seven Wonders series by Peter Lerangis. The series follows the Select, four 13-year-olds who have the G7W gene that means they are descendants of the royalty of the lost city of Atlantis, but that also means that they will die when they turn 14, unless they find the seven Loculi, orbs that hold the power of Atlantis, that were hidden in the Seven Wonders of the World […]