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From the bookshelf: January 2026

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Five books. Every month. A variety of topics from different genres. Here is the list from January 2026.

Here we are, five days away (and counting) from the start of Spring Training.

Spring Training
Credit: SpringTrainingCountdown.com

“People ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.”

Rogers Hornsby

Yep, Washington has had what for us seems an interminably long run of winter here for the last couple of weeks. We even went away for five days and the snow and ice were still around when we returned. It just never left. But unlike the great Rogers Hornsby, I’ve been using this time of winter, of snowfall, of general yuckiness (that’s a technical meteorological term) to read. Here are the five books I read in January.

Every Day I Read: 53 Ways to Get Closer to Books (2025 for the first English translation) by Hwang Bo-Reum is a collection of short essays where the young South Korean author considers what living a life immersed in reading means. It is a book about books, but it is also much more than that. Bo-Reum is asking her readers to contemplate their lives, and how we should live in a world where we are bombarded by commercialism and the loss of community. She asks why we read, has thoughts on ways to read through a reading slump, and suggests we think more deeply about how we read. Bo-Reum approvingly quotes Patrick Süskind in suggesting that reading isn’t about remembrance but the change that can come when a book truly moves us.

Clear (2024) by Carys Davies is a historical novel that brings a great deal of power, intelligence, and empathy into a few short pages. The story, told from three different perspectives, is set in the 19th century when two somewhat related and truly seismic events were shaking Scotland: the establishment of the Free Church of Scotland and the infamous Scottish Clearances. In this setting we meet John Ferguson, an impoverished Scottish Free Church minister who has accepted a job to help clear land for one of those landowners; John’s wife Mary who is apprehensive about her husband’s trip; and Ivar, the lone remaining occupant of an island north of Scotland. Davies says only what is necessary to bring the reader into this loving look at a vanished way of life, a magnificent but harsh landscape, and the building of human relationships against all odds. The different perspectives provided by John, Mary, and Ivar give us new and unexpected ways of looking at a story that is about finding life amidst loss.

The Correspondent: A Novel (2025) by Virginia Evans revolves around a lifetime of written correspondence to and from Sybil Van Antwerp. A mother, grandmother, wife, divorcee, distinguished lawyer, retiree . . . Sybil has lived a very full life. For much of it she has used letters to make sense of that life. Letters, usually written in a clear hand, go to her brother; to her best friend; to the president of the University of Maryland who will not allow her to audit a class; to Joan Didion, Ann Patchett, and Larry McMurtry to tell them what she thinks of their latest books; to a young son of a former colleague who is brilliant but troubled. Those individuals usually respond. It is what one would call a “rich” correspondence, although some would say it chronicles a small life. And that’s the wonder of this book. In capturing one woman’s life—the joys, sorrows, births, deaths, pain experienced, pain hidden, pain finally explored—Evans has produced a vibrant work that envelops and moves the reader.

A Great Deliverance (1988) by Elizabeth George introduces us to Inspector Thomas Lynley, the eighth earl of Asherton, and his unconventional working-class partner, Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers. Lynley and Havers are assigned to investigate a gruesome murder in the Yorkshire Moors. The unlovely Roberta Teys has been found in her best dress, an axe in her lap, seated in the old stone barn beside her father’s headless corpse. Her first and last words were “I did it. And I’m not sorry.” Scotland Yard Superintendent Malcolm Webberly has sent two unconventional detectives into the situation knowing they will be met with several old external and internal grievances, but believing that their pairing can break through a difficult case. Fans of detective fiction have been singing the praises of Elizabeth George since the arrival of this, her first novel, speaking of the beauty of her writing and the depth of her characters. As one friend wrote, “I am so envious that you have the entire Lynley-Havers universe still ahead of you!”

Oh, the Places You’ll Go! (1990) by Dr. Seuss is the beloved and well-known children’s book that is a favorite for graduates of all ages, as well as for those exploring life’s ups and downs. In colorful and playful poetry it reminds us that we have agency: “You have brains in your head | You have feet in your shoes | You can steer yourself | any direction you choose.” But I was also reminded in re-reading this classic that Dr. Seuss doesn’t sugarcoat life. Early in the story the reader is flying high, leading the whole gang, topping all the rest. “Except when you don’t. | Because, sometimes, you won’t. | I’m sorry to say so | but, sadly, it’s true | that Bang-ups | and Hang-ups | can happen to you.” But that’s how we grow as humans. “And when things start to happen | don’t worry. Don’t stew. | Just go right along. | You’ll start happening too.” A well-deserved classic.

WHAT’S ON THE NIGHTSTAND FOR FEBRUARY (SUBJECT TO CHANGE AT THE WHIMS OF THE READER)

Keep reading!

More to come . . .

DJB

NOTE: Click to see the books I read in December of 2025 and to see the books I read in 2025.

Photo of books and lamp by Jez Timms on Unsplash

Waiting for peace

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In the third installment of the Inspector Maigret series, Georges Simenon writes of a crime where everything seems false. I found this work—like several other Simenon novels I’ve read—at the venerable Bridge Street Books in Georgetown.

When I walk into Bridge Street Books, just past the Four Seasons Hotel in Georgetown, I occasionally get no farther than the shelves inside the front door. That’s where the detective fiction is displayed. Once I discovered they had a good selection of Simenon’s Maigret novels I was hooked on this quirky little hole-in-the-wall.

In this third installment * of my year of visiting the DMV’s Independent Bookshops, let me tell you a bit more than what’s just inside the cover, so to speak, before I get to the book at hand.

Bridge Street Books (via Wikimedia)

Founded in 1980 by Philip Levy, Bridge Street Books stocks a wide selection of trade, university, and small press publications. Climb the steps into this small two-story shop and one feels like you’ve entered the crowded apartment of a very interesting bibliophile, an individual who stocks works that interests them and displays their passions through the artwork and photos of Virginia’s Chesterfield Nationals baseball team that line the staircase wall.

Levy passed away in 2017, and the shop has since been run by a nonprofit. Regulars and reviewers most often cite the poetry, philosophy, and history selections as being especially diverse and rich. Two tables usually sit outside the front door filled with bargains to entice those walking by to stop and browse. When I’ve moved beyond the detective fiction, I’ve found an eclectic selection that certainly reflects the Georgetown neighborhood’s tastes and interests. And I usually find something that calls out to me to be purchased and read.

Bridge Street Books is a small, individualized gem in a city and an industry that have become depressingly homogenized with chains (the city) and online options (the industry) over time. Do yourself a favor and give them a visit.

Third installments seem to be the theme of this post, as on a recent visit to Bridge Street I picked up the third work in the Maigret Series. One of the first things that struck Chief Inspector Maigret was how strangely indifferent the wife and son behave when he investigates the death of a Monsieur Gallet in a small town outside Paris. Their attitudes just add to the puzzle of a crime where everything seems false.

The Late Monsieur Gallet (1931) by Georges Simenon, an early work in the Inspector Maigret series, is a tale of misdirection, betrayal, and misfortune. Called to the crime scene in a small hotel outside Paris, Maigret is immediately struck by the fact that so much about the case seems fake. The grieving relatives don’t exactly grieve. The dead man used an alias and had not worked at his stated place of business for 18 years. He traveled extensively throughout the country although his health was poor. Monsieur Gallet had been shot in the head, but it was a knife stabbed in the heart, administered almost immediately after the gun wound, that killed him. And was the dead man right or left-handed?

Because the book is an early one in this long-running series, the reader is still learning about the Chief Inspector’s methods, quirks, and history. Madame Maigret makes only a nominal appearance and except for the brilliant and methodical forensic specialist Joseph Moers—who loses part of an ear when he is shot examining the evidence—few of the other officers from the series are included in this story. Maigret delves into the contradictions that are all around him, trying desperately to sort out the facts from fiction. Using all of his skills, the inspector works to uncover the true crime at the heart of this story.

As I have been delving into Simenon’s Maigret canon, I have also become intrigued with the different approaches to portraying the detective on television. A new Masterpiece release on PBS updates the story to modern times, with a somewhat unconventional Maigret (he carries his father’s pipe around, but never smokes it); a striking and smart Madame Maigret, who is very much the inspector’s equal; and a diverse cast of supporting officers. I was familiar with the first story in this new season (The Lazy Burglar) and was able to see that the original story outline is faint but nonetheless provides a useful frame on which the writers and producers can add a variety of subplots.

It generally works. Even with those changes I enjoyed the new adaptation and am eager to see if the producers continue with future seasons. Simenon’s Maigret series is ripe for both reading (and re-reading) of the originals while also adapting the stories and characters for a modern audience.

A hallmark of Maigret as a detective is his empathy and insight into human behavior. At the end of this novel, the inspector no longer had the dead man’s picture, but he has something better: an understanding of what drove his final actions.

“His right cheek was all red . . . blood was flowing. He was standing there staring at the same place, as if he was waiting for something.

Peace, for heaven’s sake, that’s what he was waiting for, growled Maigret . . .”

More to come . . .

DJB

*To see the most recent installment in my year of visiting the DMV’s independent bookshops, click here. Three down, twenty-two to go!

Observations from . . . January 2026

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A summary of the January posts from the MORE TO COME newsletter.

It can appear that the world—or at least our country—has lost its mind. The brilliant Canadian cartoonist Michael de Adder* recently posted a new work that spoke volumes. As a man clearly three-sheets-to-the-wind downs a liter of booze, his wife observes: “You should have avoided the news if you wanted a Dry January.”

The classicist Elizabeth Bobrick loves to tell her readers the old stories and invite them to think about what these classics can tell us today. “Hubris was a legal term in 5th century Athens,” Elizabeth recently wrote on her wonderfully titled Substack This Won’t End Well: On Loving Greek Tragedy. “Crimes of hubris included intimidation, assault and battery, rape, and public humiliation of enemies just for fun. Remind you of anyone?”

Like my friend Elizabeth, I’m a great believer in the power of stories and myth to help us make sense of our world. In January I used the turning of the year, language from a civil rights hero, and stories—including two brilliant works of fiction—to contemplate our path forward as individuals, community, and a nation.

In thinking and writing about what the past has to tell today’s world, I found myself agreeing with the writer John Sarvay, leaning into his assertion that meaning survives at the human scale. In a world increasingly dominated by the voices of social media and AI, we need to find ways to build and protect the smaller narratives, local and human-scaled, that might still hold meaning across political divides. “In rooms you can stand in, voices you can hear, systems you can touch.”

People are good for you. Connecting with other people and learning their stories—instead of listening to a news system dominated by angry voices or imbibing in a bottle of whiskey, no matter how smooth—has always been the way forward.

Let’s jump in and see how those thoughts played out on MORE TO COME this month.

READER FAVORITES

A thoughtful and intimate novel—reviewed in my post The stuff of life—topped the list of reader views on MTC in January. The Correspondent by Virginia Evans packs a subtle yet powerful message: we can grow and change even when change seems impossible. Consisting of letters written and received by Sybil Van Antwerp—a mother, grandmother, wife, divorcee, distinguished lawyer, retiree—it is also a testament to the power of the written word. In capturing one woman’s life—the joys, sorrows, births, deaths, pain experienced, pain hidden, pain finally explored—Evans has produced a vibrant work that envelops and moves the reader.

Another reader favorite was my annual New Year’s Day post: The beginning of awe is wonder. The beginning of wisdom is awe. In that essay I consider eight life learnings that guide me as opposed to a reliance on constantly changing resolutions. The language I used in 2013 in crafting these rules for the road of life tends to focus on actions: walking, eating, spending, committing, laughing, caring. We can’t simply think our way into being the person we are meant to be, we have to act out of our commitments. These guidelines have helped me take steps forward in my quest to be open to love and wonder.

LOOKING AT AMERICA’S STORIES

  • A moment like this is my reflection after watching the public swearing-in of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. There have been other moments in our history when the time was ripe for change, when a political base changed sides, when the country faced vital decisions that could become part of Dr. King’s long arc of the moral universe that bends toward justice. Mamdani—in a powerful speech that spoke to our moment—looked back while also looking forward. 
  • Two of my posts revolved around the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. The Times They Are A-Changin’ examines some of the music that was an especially powerful part of the push for civil rights in the 1950s and 60s. America remains a work-in-progress is my reflection about the work before us today. Abraham Lincoln called to the better angels of our nature from one of the darkest periods in our history. Dr. King showed us what that can look like in Selma, Birmingham, Atlanta, and Memphis. The fight for democracy never ends. And our legacy—what we do in this moment—lives on past our time on this earth.
  • All good stories ask us to consider past and present. Eden and Birmingham and Minneapolis. Our beliefs are meant to be held up to scrutiny, not covered up with lies as I write in Stories and myths. We should all seek to understand when different perspectives and stories are being used for enlightenment and, conversely, when an alternative narrative is being used to hide the truth.
  • Times that try men’s souls reminds us that we can do hard things. The beginnings of the anti-slavery movement were actually “puny.” Female abolitionists sold crafts at fairs to make enough money to bring men like Frederick Douglas to speak at events. “Who the hell thinks they are going to sell pin cushions to bring down a powerful institution?” asks writer and activist Rebecca Solnit. “Except they did.” People think they are only one person. What can they do? Historian Heather Cox Richardson responds: “Make a damn pin cushion.” Those of us who don’t know what to do in the face of tyranny can ask a simple question. What is my pin cushion?

BOOK REVIEWS

In addition to my review of the new novel by Virginia Evans, I also highlighted four other books in this month’s newsletter.

  • What binds us together is my take on Clear by Carys Davies, a historical novel that brings a great deal of power, intelligence, and empathy into a few short pages. It was recommended by Brilliant Reader Sara, who says that it is “one of the rare books that I care about keeping in my library no matter how many times I have to cull out for moving or just for extra room.” Amen.
  • The first Elizabeth George novel A Great Deliverance was the treasure I uncovered on a recent visit to The Lantern Bookshop, the first stop in my 2026 quest to visit all 25 independent bookshops in the DMV. I write about both in A jewel of a novel.
  • Last year we followed the advice of the great travel director Dr. Seuss and took off—with brains in our head and feet in our shoes—to explore great places. And the wonderfully wise children’s classic was a perfect place to kick off this exploration of the “places we saw” in 2025, as I write in Oh, the places we’ve seen!

COMMENTS I LOVED

In response to the post on Zohran Mamdani’s speech as mayor of New York City, Brilliant Reader Jane wrote:

“I can’t imagine the conversations around the dinner table at your house, not to mention breakfast and lunch.

Thank you for this uplifting piece.

I hope we don’t squander this opportunity. The consequences are dire.”

I wrote back that those conversations are probably not as riveting as she might imagine, but sometimes we do get in pretty deep. Dinner table conversations, especially with multiple generations involved, sometimes lead to magic.

DON’T POSTPONE JOY

Thanks, as always, for reading. Your friendship, support and feedback mean more than I can ever express.

As you travel life’s highways be open to love; thirst for wonder; undertake some mindful, transformative walking every day. Recognize the incredible privilege that most of us have and think about how to put that privilege to use for good. Women, people of color, LGBTQ+ individuals, immigrants, public servants, and others can feel especially vulnerable . . . because they are. Work hard for justice and democracy as the fight never ends.

But also keep some room in your heart for the unimaginable. Take time to dawdle and dream. Leave enough empty space to feel and experience life. Those gaps are where the magic begins. When times get rough, let your memories wander back to some wonderful place with remembrances of family and friends. But don’t be too hard on yourself if a few of the facts slip. Just get the poetry right.

Remember that “we are here to keep watch, not to keep.” Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it. And bash into some joy along the way.

Life is finite . . . love is not.

Try to be nice. Always be kind.

More to come . . .

DJB

*A winner of the 2020 Herblock award

For the December 2025 summary, click here.

You can subscribe to MORE TO COME by going to the small “Follow” box that is on the right-hand column of the site (on the desktop version) or at the bottom right on your mobile device. It is great to hear from readers, and if you like them feel free to share these posts on your own social media platforms.

Photo of winter by Adam Chang on Unsplash.

Times that try men’s souls

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The work will remain the work. To heal old wounds. To not make new ones.

In the midst of a bitter winter storm of discontent—both literal and figurative—it is useful to recall the famous first lines of Thomas Paine’s American Crisis, originally published in a bleak, dark winter 250 years ago.

“THESE are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value.”

Few sentences in American history better describe the challenges we have faced and conquered and that we must still face and continue to conquer. We’ve been through difficult times before. But the actions of those who fought against tyranny—in the dismal winter of 1776, on the rolling farmland of Gettysburg, on the beaches at Normandy, on the streets of Birmingham, and in so many instances throughout our history—provide hope and a roadmap.

WHAT IS YOUR PIN CUSHION

In a 2023 conversation between Rebecca Solnit and Heather Cox Richardson these historians remind us that we’ve been here before. We’ve faced challenges with bleak prospects. At the 16:50 mark of the video, Richardson shares this example:

“In 1853, elite enslavers controlled the presidency, Supreme Court, and the Senate and were making inroads into the House. Those who believed that a few elite white men should rule over others looked to expand their vision. In 1854 they get Congress to pass a law that makes enslavement across the country possible. Abolitionists and those who sought democracy looked defeated. Yet by the mid-1850s, a new political party was formed that called for freedom and the right to rise of the lower and middle classes. By 1859 they had recruited a young lawyer to help articulate their vision. In 1860, that lawyer—Abraham Lincoln—was elected to the presidency. In 1862 he had drafted the Emancipation Proclamation and in November of 1863 he delivered the Gettysburg Address, dedicating the nation to a new birth of freedom based in the Declaration of Independence.”

In ten short years, the entire course of history was changed.

Solnit replies that the beginnings of the anti-slavery movement were actually “puny.” Female abolitionists sold crafts at fairs to make enough money to bring men like Frederick Douglas to speak at events.

“Who the hell thinks they are going to sell pin cushions to bring down a powerful institution? Except they did.”

Richardson’s excited response is, “I love that.” People think they are only one person. What can they do?

“Make a damn pin cushion.”

In this place and time each of us faces a similar question. What is our pin cushion?

We can do hard things.

More to come . . .

DJB

Winter photo by Keith Polischuk on Unsplash

Read when you’re happy, when you’re anxious, and in the moments in between

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Ways to get closer to books . . . a work found, appropriately, at my favorite go-to independent bookshop.

A friend I’ve known since grade school once asked how I read five books each month. My response was Ten tips for reading five books a month and I have referenced that post at the end of my monthly reading summaries ever since. Fours years in I thought it might be time for an update and, thankfully, I found the perfect book—written by an author from a younger generation—to provide a different perspective in answer to the question.

Not surprisingly, I discovered this work at my go-to local independent bookshop: People’s Book in Takoma Park. This post is the second installment recounting my 2026 quest to visit all the local independent bookstores in the DMV, and it involves what I would describe as my hometown shop. A quick one-stop ride on the metro and a short walk through Takoma’s Main Street district takes me to the welcoming confines of a store with helpful, friendly, book-loving staffers. You can easily find most major releases plus one can always order any book which isn’t in stock. More importantly, People’s reflects the progressive sensibilities of the Washington area’s only nuclear free zone, and that outlook on life is evident on the bookshelves. Truth-be-told, probably a third to a half of my reading selections this year will come to me via People’s Book.

Founded by a former educator who “always had a passion for finding the right book, for the right kid, at the right time,” People’s is an important part of my civic life, a place where I can hear interesting authors, meet fellow readers in book groups, and just browse with a cup of coffee to my heart’s content . . . knowing that 9 days out of 10 I’ll find something to pique my interest. Such as this new work by someone halfway around the world who shares a similar passion for reading and letting others know about the treasures we’ve uncovered.

For those keeping score, this is two bookshops down, twenty-three more to go! *

Every Day I Read: 53 Ways to Get Closer to Books (2025 for the first English translation) by Hwang Bo-Reum is a collection of short essays where the young South Korean author considers what living a life immersed in reading means. It is a book about books, but it is also much more than that. Bo-Reum is asking her readers to contemplate their lives, and how we should live in a world where we are bombarded by commercialism and the loss of community. She asks why we read, has thoughts on ways to read through a reading slump, and suggests we think more deeply about how we read.

Many of the chapter titles—the “headlines” for this book—are easily understood and are simple enough to help readers take steps to immerse themselves more fully in the reading life. Here are ten as examples. If some don’t resonate for you she has more to consider:

  • Read on the train
  • Read small books
  • Always have a book with you
  • Choose books, not the internet
  • You don’t always have to finish it
  • Read to seek answers
  • Read widely, then deeply
  • Keep a reading list
  • Read to overcome despair

And my favorite:

  • Read when you’re happy, when you’re anxious, and in the moments in between

Any bibliophile could come up with a similar list. But there were several things about this book that touched me. The first is the author’s age. This is a young woman who has thought deeply about the life she wants to live. So deeply, in fact, that she quit her job in a highly regimented society to pursue a life of reading and writing.

And then there are the quotes. Bo-Reum is a good writer and she’s drawn to good writing.

I was also taken by the cultural reminders found throughout Every Day I Read. Hwang Bo-Reum references a number of classics from the western canon, but she also makes numerous comments about Korean books. After about the tenth time I realized that I was being shown another whole existence outside my little literary cocoon. It was a good reminder. The world is a big place and we know so little of it. That’s another good reason to read.

Bo-Reum recommends you turn to a short read in those moments you find yourself getting discouraged when reading. They only take an hour or two and then you can bask in the satisfaction of having finished a book. I know the feeling. But she adds this additional reason for turning to the quick read: “Small books have become my go-to whenever my mind is cluttered or when I’m having a bad day.”

I’m going to try that approach.

One book she references is Patrick Süskind’s Three Stories and a Reflection. In the last story, “Amnesia in Litteris,” he describes how “despite reading voraciously for more than three decades, he barely remembers the details of any book.

“Süskind says: ‘If we don’t even retain a shadow of memory, despite having read it only recently, then why do we read?’ He mulls the question over and arrives at the conclusion that reading isn’t about remembrance but the change that can come from reading a book.

You can transform your life.“

Two suggestions Bo-Reum makes are ones I’m taking into the new year. First, she reminds us that you don’t always have to finish books you’ve started. She compares books with people. We connect more deeply with some people and some books. If we’re no longer curious about the book or what happens next, close the book. Don’t try and salvage a failed relationship.

Second, while she used to think that reading one book at a time was the way to go, “I’ve discovered a different way to love, and there’s no turning back. The question now isn’t one versus multiple, but how many I can read at once.” My limit is much lower than the author’s, but I’m going to employ this strategy to work through some of the big books I have in the TBR pile.

Each essay ranges from two to four pages, so they are easily read during a quick break.  They cover how to read more widely, ways and opportunities to sneak in more reading time, reading based on emotion, and fun ways to read such as book bars. Getting a drink and a snack and then settling in among others to read without interruption sounds very alluring.

Late in the book Bo-Reum suggests we ask friends for suggestions. “The question ‘What have you been reading?’ seems to have the power to open a latch in our hearts.”

On days when you don’t know what to do, sit down and read. Annie Dillard in The Writing Life reminds us that our life is divided into days. We can always start afresh. Each day.

“How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.”

This work can help you discover that there is a joy in reading, a thrill in coming across a quote that resonates, a deep satisfaction in having found reflective moments taken with introspection.

Just do it.

More to come . . .

DJB

*See the first installment of my independent bookshop quest here.

Photo by Christin Hume on Unsplash

A jewel of a novel

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Diving into the Elizabeth George novels while beginning my quest to visit all the area’s independent bookshops.

Fans of detective fiction have been singing the praises of Elizabeth George since the arrival of her first novel in 1988. Friends who have been my guides in this newfound passion for murder mysteries have spoken of the beauty of her writing and the depth of her characters. Mystery writer Anna Scotti gave her especially high praise:

“Elizabeth George’s Inspector Lynley novels are marvelous―she’s incredibly talented. What she did with the back-to-back novels, With No One as Witness and What Came Before He Shot Her provides a masterclass for mystery writers, as well as a feast for readers.”

As I began a new personal project in 2026, this seemed an appropriate place to start.

A Great Deliverance (1988) by Elizabeth George introduces us to Inspector Thomas Lynley, the eighth earl of Asherton, and his unconventional working-class partner, Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers. Lynley and Havers are assigned to investigate a gruesome murder in the Yorkshire Moors. The unlovely Roberta Teys has been found in her best dress, an axe in her lap, seated in the old stone barn beside her father’s headless corpse. Her first and last words were “I did it. And I’m not sorry.” The residents of the usually peaceful village of Keldale cannot believe that Roberta is the killer. Scotland Yard Superintendent Malcolm Webberly has sent two unconventional detectives into the situation knowing they will be met with several old external and internal grievances, but believing that their pairing can break through a difficult case.

What they find in their investigations uncovers deep, dark secrets—some held for generations. There are myths to uncover and reputations to reconsider. Lynley and Havers establish an unlikely chemistry that, while combative at first, moves toward a grudging respect for what each brings to the work at hand. And with great care and little asides that illuminate the whole, George fleshes out their character. As when a local schoolteacher tells them that nearly everyone in the village passed through her classroom except for Father Hart:

“‘He and I are of the same generation.’

‘I should never have guessed,’ Lynley said solemnly.

She laughed. ‘Why is it that truly charming men always know when a woman is fishing for a compliment?'”

The Inspector Lynley mysteries have been adapted for television twice by the BBC, first in a well-loved series that ran from 2001 – 2008 and which can still be seen on Brit Box, and then in a new series debuting in 2025. Adaptation is the operative word, especially for the most recent series which seems to borrow very little from the novels except for the most basic of structures. I’ve watched several episodes of both and very much prefer the earlier series, especially the work of actress Sharon Small as the gritty Barbara Havers. I will say, however, when I was buying the book two of the women helping with the purchase mentioned that the new Inspector Lynley was “a hunk.” (I think I’m quoting correctly.) That seems to be a universal view, given the reviews.

All of which brings me to that special project I mentioned above.

THE YEAR OF THE INDEPENDENT BOOKSHOP

In 2026 I am on a quest to visit all the independent bookshops in the immediate Washington vicinity (the DMV). A few weeks ago I made my way to a cozy shop on a Georgetown side street and climbed the stairs into The Lantern Bookshop. As I did, I was greeted by my friend, neighbor, and Brilliant Reader Noell who was working that day at the front desk and who had encouraged me to put The Lantern on my list. After the warm welcome, I spent the better part of a half hour looking through the shop’s used and rare books.

The Lantern was founded in 1977 and is run by volunteers, most of whom—like Noell—are local Bryn Mawr College alumnae. Its mission is to provide financial assistance to women at Bryn Mawr College, with all of the profits going to the college to support students’ summer internships.

The selection is eclectic, due to the fact that all the books are donated, so the offerings are curated by the tastes of the donors. I found several that interested me, but ended up choosing a hardback version of the George novel from the original press run.

The bookshop—like the novel—is a jewel. So that’s one down, twenty-four bookshops to go!

More to come . . .

DJB

Photo of Yorkshire landscape by Ian Cylkowski on Unsplash

Stories and myths

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“The only thing I know that can effectively change hearts and minds is story. The ONLY thing that I have ever, ever seen melt an icy soul is when someone hears another’s story.” *

Two people may look at a situation and see two very different things. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Two heads are better than one, as the old saying goes. But when one of the two is working to seize the narrative and shape facts to belief, two stories can become very problematic. Let’s take a few minutes to consider stories and myths that stretch from Eden to Birmingham to Minneapolis.

TWO STORIES. ONE GIFT.

Some of the oldest stories known to humankind are creation stories.

In Serving Up Scripture: How to Interpret the Bible for Yourself and Others, Biblical scholars Jennifer Garcia Bashaw and Aaron Higashi point out the difficulties in trying to read the Genesis creation stories literally.

“There are many Bible readers who, out of a sense of loyalty to a literal-historical understanding of Genesis 1, feel compelled to deny the conclusions of modern sciences. But this feeling is unnecessary because Genesis 1–2:3 does not claim to be a literal-historical text. Rather, it’s a part of a common genre of ancient religious literature known as the creation myth, which is not intended to be a historical representation of events.”

The second creation story in Genesis contradicts much of the first. To count the ways, click on the link.

The Bible does us a favor by beginning with two contradictory stories, signaling “at the outset what this text actually is: a diverse collection of religious traditions that have been brought together by different communities of faith over a long period of time. When you read the Bible,” Bashaw and Higashi argue, “you’re reading an anthology of ancient religious literature—not a textbook, not an instructional manual, not a love letter from God, and not a complete work of systematic theology.”

“Now, just because it’s an anthology of ancient religious literature doesn’t mean it can’t be inspired by God, or say true things about God, or be helpful in trying to understand God. Its being an anthology just means that whatever is in it that is true, inspired, or helpful will come through in many, sometimes conflicting, voices.”

We should not work to protect belief from scrutiny but rather we should subject our beliefs to the light of day and have the courage to trust the result.

Which takes me to recent events in Minnesota.

WHEN TWO STORIES DON’T LEAD TO THE TRUTH

In Nineteen Eighty-Four George Orwell famously wrote: “The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” Rebecca Solnit adds that it “is only by learning to distrust yourself that you come to trust those who are unworthy of it, who are transparently dishonest and self-serving, who offer lies that contradict yesterday’s lies and new promises after breaking the old ones.” 

The attempts at erasure and memory manipulation we are seeing in today’s world are everywhere. As has been reported, the administration is working overtime at narrative control, whether it be after the killing of a young woman by a federal agent in Minnesota, with the unbelievable infatuation with Greenland, or the slow-walking of the release of the Epstein files, the latter in direct violation of federal law.

While many involved with political journalism have lost their way, one of the journalist who continues to speak truth to power is Greg Sargent. Writing in The New Republic, Sargent has shown how the administration is trying to restore ethnic engineering to the center of immigration policy. Yet few in the mainstream media have made this connection. Sargent reminds us that the White House Deputy Chief of Staff, by taking this path, is denying to millions the blessings that his Jewish ancestors—who fled antisemitic oppression when they first arrived here in 1903—and he himself have been so fortunate to enjoy.

But the shooting of Renee Good is breaking through the both-siderism of the media, at least on some levels, even at the New York Times.

Award-winning journalist Nesrine Malik writes in the powerful conclusion of her first book We Need New Stories: The Myths that Subvert Freedom that myths “work hard to prevent change from happening. They are powerful. But they are not all-powerful.”

The strength of the myths is not in facts, but in the narratives, so it is impossible to fight fake facts with other facts. What is needed, Malik asserts, are new stories that are not just the correction of old stories, but are visions that assert that “for societies to evolve, an old order must change.”

FROM BIRMINGHAM TO MINNEAPOLIS

Quaker activist Parker J. Palmer looks at two stories which he frames as moving from Birmingham to Minneapolis. Palmer reminds us that while we will speak of MLK with reverence on the holiday celebrating his birthday—“lifting up his famous I Have a Dream speech”—we need to remember “that during King’s years as an unwanted civil rights activist and unheeded prophet, he was at the top of white America’s most-hated list.”

On April 12, 1963, King was jailed in Birmingham, charged with violating a state court injunction banning anti-segregation activity in that city. King used his time there to write his 6,500 word Letter from a Birmingham Jail, encouraging whites to join the nonviolent protests for love, truth, and justice. Palmer suggests we use our celebrations of the MLK holiday to wrap our hearts and minds around the words of the prophet:

“If America does not respond creatively to the challenge to banish racism, some future historian will have to say that a great civilization died because it lacked the soul and commitment to make justice a reality for all [people].“

Palmer asks us to take King’s question seriously: “Where do we go from here—chaos or community?”

Anand Giridharadas in his Substack The Ink also sees two stories.

“I see then that this is both a very dark time and, potentially, a very bright time. It’s important to hold these truths together.

When I look down at the ground of the present right now, I feel depressed. If I lift my head to the horizon, I see a different picture.

This is not the chaos of the beginning of something. This is the chaos of the end of something. . . . We are living through a revolt against the future. The future will prevail.”

STORIES CAN HELP US LINK PAST AND PRESENT

Consider once again those creation stories, which were collected and put into their final form after the Babylonian exile, around the mid-5th century BCE. “In the aftermath of their national calamity, the Jewish people realized that their heritage might indeed be lost if it were not written down.”

Their stories were the links between past and present.

Richard Rohr suggests the most important thing to bear in mind when reading the first eleven chapters of Genesis is that they are written not only about the past but about the present—”the perennial present that is always with us.”

All good stories ask us to consider past and present. Birmingham and Minneapolis. Our beliefs are meant to be held up to scrutiny, not covered up with lies.

The Chinese have a saying, “Most of what we see is behind our eyes.” We see what we expect to see, not necessarily what is really there. 

This is an important time for seeing exactly what’s going on around us and not fall back just on what we believe or wish to be true. Most importantly, we should all seek to understand when different perspectives and stories are being used for enlightenment and, conversely, when an alternative narrative is being used to hide the truth.

More to come . . .

DJB

*Quote by Heather Demetrios

Photo of stories sign by S O C I A L . C U T on Unsplash

America remains a work-in-progress

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America is an idea founded on ideals of freedom and equality. We each need to do our part to continue this work-in-progress, recognizing that what we do—no matter how small—is meaningful, significant and worth doing.

On the national holiday to remember heroes of past resistance movements in America, many of us struggle to be worthy of our moment in history. At the very least we look, as one writer suggests, for “permission to keep believing—to stay awake to justice without burning out or turning away.” Martin Luther King’s clear and compelling language reminds us of the ideal . . . and the work required to get closer to that dream.

These are difficult times. There is no denying it. But Rebecca Solnit answers the doomsayers who loudly proclaim that our problems are too big, our times too unique, our enemies too powerful, with a quote from her book Hope in the Dark. 

“The analogy that has helped me most is this: in Hurricane Katrina, hundreds of boat-owners rescued people—single moms, toddlers, grand- fathers—stranded in attics, on roofs, in flooded housing projects, hospitals, and school buildings. None of them said, I can’t rescue everyone, therefore it’s futile; therefore my efforts are flawed and worthless, though that’s often what people say about more abstract issues in which, nevertheless, lives, places, cultures, species, rights are at stake. They went out there in fishing boats and rowboats and pirogues and all kinds of small craft, some driving from as far as Texas and eluding the authorities to get in, others refugees themselves working within the city. There was bumper-to-bumper boat-trailer traffic—the celebrated Cajun Navy—going toward the city the day after the levees broke. None of those people said, I can’t rescue them all. All of them said, I can rescue someone, and that’s work so meaningful and important I will risk my life and defy the authorities to do it. And they did.”

Solnit knows it’s not necessarily a perfect example of how change works at its best. But it is “an example that illustrates one point: that what we do is worth doing even if we can’t do everything and save everyone.”

Ordinary American citizens are at work every day to protect their neighbors from the cruelty that wants to divide us. Whatever the threat, whatever the tactic, these citizens are showing that what we do is worth doing.

Those who threaten democracy are striving to throw us off balance and make us think our actions are insignificant, they must be obeyed, their success is inevitable. It isn’t. What ordinary Americans do in opposition to authoritarianism, large or small, counts.

TENDING TO BODY AND SOUL

In the time of year when nature provides an example of resting before a period of new life and growth—a period of wintering—we can follow a similar path, taking care of ourselves when necessary and finding ways to maintain our equilibrium for the long fight ahead. Tending is the operative word. As writer John Sarvay notes, tending goes two ways. Yes, we need to tend to others—our families, those we love, those we encounter in our communities, and those in peril. But we also need to be open to letting others tend to our hurts and pains. Tending also involves “the hard practice of opening the door,” and learning to invite others inside perhaps—maybe especially—before we’re ready.

This is important for all ages but the need may be greater as we move into our later years.

Those of us in the last third of life are susceptible to cognitive and physical decline in the best of times. When surrounded by stress and manufactured chaos we can feel even more adrift. In a recent story on ways to tend to your mental health the New York Times provided a number of recommendations. Take a walk every day. Get plenty of rest. Disengage from your misery machine (aka phones). Connect more with people.

That last one is especially important in today’s world.

PEOPLE ARE GOOD FOR YOU

Extended isolation and loneliness are not good at any age. As the writers of the Times piece noted, people 80 and up who have the memory ability of someone 20 to 30 years younger “don’t share a magic diet, exercise regimen or medication. The one thing that does unite them is how they view the importance of social relationships.”

Those who seek to destroy democracy try and isolate us from our friends, neighbors, and fellow citizens. They want to prioritize the individual over the community. That myth of the rugged American cowboy who can handle all his business on his own is powerful . . . but it is just a myth.

We need each other.

Meaning survives at the human scale. In a world of social media and AI, Sarvay suggests we find ways to build and protect the smaller narratives, local and human-scaled, that might still hold meaning across political divides. “In rooms you can stand in, voices you can hear, systems you can touch.”

REMEMBER, WE’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE

Omaha Beach, Normandy
Omaha Beach, Normandy

There is a growing temptation to believe that our moment is unique and unlike anything we have seen before. Mike Madrid offers some much-needed perspective.

“Every generation of Americans has been summoned to defend the promise of democracy. Some have stood in snow-covered camps with no shoes and no certainty of survival. Others have crossed oceans into fire, fighting for freedom not only for themselves but for the world. Some marched in the Deep South against the racist laws that have scarred us since our founding. And some have stood their ground at home, marching, organizing, speaking up, so that our institutions might endure and our ideals might live.

Now, it is our turn.”

Remember that when our government kills its own citizens, we have been here before. “The machinery of authoritarianism depends on our exhaustion,” Madrid writes. “But our history tells a different story—not one of inevitable progress, but one of deliberate resilience forged in moments far bleaker than this.”

In the book A Power Governments Cannot Suppress, historian Howard Zinn spoke of how important hope is in difficult times.

“If we remember those times and places—and there are so many—where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction. And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.”

Hope is a start. How else can we be worthy of the moment?

CHOP WOOD, CARRY WATER

We each need to choose the path that works for us.

First, consider changing your media diet. Go from doomscrolling to hopescrolling. And keep in mind that bad stories make the news. Good endings do not.

Embracing the simple, daily process of the work at hand (chopping wood, carrying water) rather than focusing on the outcome proves helpful to many Americans. Activists provide lists of possible tasks to choose from, if that’s easier.

I met a woman earlier this year who had a gift for one-on-one conversation that engaged thoughtful responses from those across the political spectrum. If this is your gift, use it.

However, remember that people are good for you. Bill McKibben, the indefatigable climate activist has been asked “what’s the best thing I can do for the climate as an individual?” He usually replies, “Stop being an individual,” by which he means join something. For most of us, our power to change the world comes as collective power, when we’re members of movements, organizations, uprisings.

Whatever you do, don’t give up. Look to the poets and writers who not only serve as the recorders of history but as pillars to keep us upright and strong, as William Faulkner suggested in his Nobel Prize speech.

“I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance. The poet’s, the writer’s, duty is to write about these things. It is his privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past. The poet’s voice need not merely be the record of man, it can be one of the props, the pillars to help him endure and prevail.”

WHAT IS YOUR DREAM?

As we remember the life and legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., it may be helpful to stop and think about what we believe about our country and its future.

What is the personal dream that you hold dear? For me, I believe that the idea of America is a beautiful thing. That we are a nation founded on ideals and not on a common ethnicity, language, religion, or culture. The idea of the United States is that anybody—anybody—can be an American if you agree to respect the principles of representative democracy. Our ideals say we don’t care about your skin color, your religion, your accent, your beliefs, or where you’re from.

But I know that the truth of how our past has played out into our present is much different than my idea of America or our common ideals. So yes, my dream is about values that I hold dear, but it also recognizes that America is a project, a work-in-progress. My dream is based on a vision and values, but the simple fact that I believe that vision to be true doesn’t make it so.

We have to take increased devotion to the idea of America and to democracy, as historian Heather Cox Richardson recently reminded us in the worlds of a hero from another era.

“In 1863, when our system of government was unraveling under pressure from those who wanted to base society on a system of enslavement that enriched an elite, Republican president Abraham Lincoln asked Americans to remember those who had died to protect a nation ‘conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.’

Lincoln asked Americans to ‘take increased devotion to that cause for which they here, gave the last full measure of devotion,’ and to resolve that ‘these dead shall not have died in vain; that the nation, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.’”

Abraham Lincoln called to the better angels of our nature from one of the darkest periods in our history. Dr. King showed us what that can look like in Selma, Birmingham, Atlanta, and Memphis. Let us now remember that the fight for democracy never ends. And our legacy—what we do in this moment—lives on past our time on this earth.

More to come . . .

DJB

Image by Debbie Bryan from Pixabay

The Times They Are A-Changin’

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Music of hope and freedom for the Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend.

Music has often been at the heart of American freedom movements but it was an especially powerful part of the the push for civil rights in the 1950s and 60s. To honor the legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I turned to Black Music Sunday, a weekly series curated by professor/activist Denise Oliver-Velez that highlights all things Black music. With almost 300 stories covering performers, genres, history, and more—each featuring its own vibrant soundtrack—it is a treasure trove of musical history.

A LASTING MESSAGE OF CHANGE

One of the anthems of the 1960s that continues to resonate today is Bob Dylan’s iconic The Times They Are A-Changin’, and Oliver-Velez highlights the tune in a post in her series. Wikipedia suggests that the universality of the song’s lyrics’ give it a lasting message of change. While some have said its time has passed, others—myself included—disagree.

“In 1985, [Dylan] told Cameron Crowe, ‘This was definitely a song with a purpose. It was influenced of course by the Irish and Scottish ballads …’Come All Ye Bold Highway Men’, ‘Come All Ye Tender Hearted Maidens’. I wanted to write a big song, with short concise verses that piled up on each other in a hypnotic way. The civil rights movement and the folk music movement were pretty close for a while and allied together at that time.'”

The great Nina Simone recorded a slow, deliberate version that seems to squeeze every bit of sadness and anger out of the song. One commentator has noted that the slow and deliberate pace of the performance intensifies the sense of drama. “Every note and word is delivered with clear intention, making the musical experience even more immersive and emotionally engaging.”

“Critic Andy Gill points out [via Wikipedia] that the song’s lyrics echo lines from the Book of Ecclesiastes, which Pete Seeger adapted to create his anthem “Turn, Turn, Turn!”. The climactic line about the first later being last, likewise, is a direct scriptural reference to Mark 10:31: ‘But many that are first shall be last, and the last first.'”

Blues artist Keb’ Mo’—who plays in nearby Tysons, VA in February—put his distinctive and soulful musical touch to the tune . . .

. . . as did jazz pianist Herbie Hancock, whose cover was released as part of The Imagine Project in 2010 with vocals from Ireland’s Lisa Hannigan and instrumental assistance by The Chieftains.

OTHERS WHO SHARED THE MUSIC OF FREEDOM

To expand this weekend’s offerings, let’s also remember a few other icons of the musical soundtrack of freedom, beginning with Sweet Honey in the Rock. When a musical group carries the torch for justice and love over decades, it goes without saying that they have seen and persevered through life challenges that would have stopped the less hopeful and determined along the way.

Through her Daily Kos series Oliver-Velez introduced me and many others to the Resistance Revival Chorus, a collective of more than 60 women, and non-binary singers, who join together to breathe joy and song into the resistance, and to uplift and center women’s voices.”

Oliver-Valez writes,

“I’m sure you can agree with the women of the RCC when they sing that Everybody Deserves to Be Free. Deva Mahal, (who happens to be the daughter of blues icon Taj Mahal) takes the lead.”

Of course, it doesn’t get any more iconic than Mavis Staples. Mavis was, of course, a member of The Staple Singers with her siblings Yvonne, Cleotha, and Pervis, and their father, “Pops” Staples. The group’s music was key to the soundtrack of the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s, and Mavis has been carrying the torch ever since. 

And let’s tie one icon with another. First Mavis and Aretha Franklin brings together two of the greatest and most powerful Soul and Rhythm & Blues voices not just of their generation, but of all time, to sing the gospel tune Oh Happy Day. Gospel has always been a key part of the freedom movement’s soundtrack. And for fun, check out the interplay between these two amazing talents at about the 1:50 segment and then again at 4:00. Good gawd! 

And we’ll end with Aretha’s live version of Amazing Grace. This is from Amazing Grace, the movie of Aretha Franklin’s 1972 recording of the gospel album of the same name. It is—like the lady herself—a national treasure.  I can only describe the film as a 90-minute church service.

Hallelujah!

Remember the legacy of Dr. King this weekend and throughout the year as we continue our fight for democracy.

More to come . . .

DJB

Check out these other MTC posts on music for the MLK Weekend:

Ella Baker Quote photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

From the bookshelf: December 2025

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Five books. Every month. A variety of topics from different genres.

Here is the list from December 2025. Clicking on the title will direct you to the original post.

A Child is Born: A Beginner’s Guide to Nativity Stories (2025) by Amy-Jill Levine is a short but insightful book that examines the other nativity stories in the Hebrew Bible. Christians easily recall the narrative around the birth of Jesus, but how many know, much less think about, the nativity stories of Moses, Isaac and Ishmael, Samson, and Samuel. Just in time for Advent, author AJ Levine has prepared a fascinating four-part study explaining the context that would have been basic knowledge for the faithful in the first century CE while showing the connections between these ancient stories of displacement, pilgrimage, and exploration and the one we now celebrate on December 25th.  A Child is Born is a book full of insight and wisdom.

Thomas Paine by Craig Nelson

Thomas Paine: Enlightenment, Revolution, and the Birth of Modern Nations (2006) by Craig Nelson is an excellent biography of the man who though he was born in England, was truly a citizen of the Enlightenment world. Paine would write three of the bestsellers of the eighteenth century, topped only by the Bible. Common Sense cemented his reputation. Rights of Man helped shape the French Revolution and—although it would take more than a century—inspire constitutional reform in Great Britain and foreshadow Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal. The Age of Reason, a forceful call against organized religion, finds Paine sticking to his Enlightenment and deist values even at the expense of his public reputation. Paine’s mind was clearly a force of nature, and Nelson characterizes him as “the Enlightenment Mercury who sparked political common cause between men who worked for a living and empowered aristocrats across all three nations.”

Common Sense (1776) by Thomas Paine, published just six months before the Declaration of Independence, has been called the most influential polemic in all of American history. It is a fiery call for his adopted countrymen to throw off the yoke of British rule, and especially to revolt against the crown. Common Sense provided the vision of independence that would move millions in that fateful year to change their hearts and minds away from their deference and loyalty to Britain and the throne. Americans had never heard such words. The pamphlet sold 100,000 copies in the first three months after publication. There is, simply, no other publication as important to an era when Americans were beginning to think there was a different way forward than the one their London-based government insisted was proper, righteous, and inevitable. Reading Common Sense is a revelation in its relevance for today.

From Doon With Death (1964) by Ruth Rendell is the first of her twenty-four Inspector Wexford mysteries. Margaret Parsons is a timid housewife devoted to her garden, her kitchen, and her husband as they live a quiet and simple life in the Sussex village of Kingsmarkham. But now Margaret Parsons is dead, brutally strangled, her body abandoned in the nearby woods. Chief Inspector Reg Wexford, the big, gruff rural detective, is intrigued by the seeming disconnect between her life and death, and he works with his assistant and sidekick, Inspector Mike Burden, to uncover the truth. It turns out that the truth includes several dark secrets that those who knew Margaret Parsons want to keep quiet.

The Six Mile Circle: A Sea Story (2025) by Syd Stapleton continues the adventures of Frank Tomasini and his boat, the Molly B. Frank’s marine surveyor’s business has fallen on hard times. To make ends meet he signs on as a deckhand and cook on ocean-going tugboats and barges making runs between the Pacific Northwest and Hawaii. When one of the hulls is mysteriously pumped out in the middle of the ocean, a fellow deckhand gets sick and ultimately dies after contact. Frank knows immediately he has to get to the bottom of this mystery.

WHAT’S ON THE NIGHTSTAND FOR JANUARY (Subject to change at the whims of the reader)

Keep reading!

More to come . . .

DJB

NOTE: Click to see the books I read in November of 2025 and to see the books I read in 2025. Also check out Ten tips for reading five books a month.

Photo of reading by Congerdesign from Pixabay