Month: September 2021

“You don’t have to rely on reason.”

More than 2,000 years ago, Aristotle said that logical arguments are always less effective than moving stories. So, if you want to persuade someone to do something, appeal to their heart, not to their brain.  I thought of this when reading this book. Brewer argues that if you want to … Read More

“I said O let us not go.”

My love of reading the stories people tell about their lives led me to this book about the great migration to Oregon and California between 1840 and 1870 as told by women who kept diaries. We see passages like this one, by Abby E. Fulkerath, “Agreeable to the wish of … Read More

“It’s the kind of room that makes me hate the world.”

What an experiment — a novel with no plot, about a woman whose name we don’t know, set in an unidentified location. It’s a collection of descriptions of how the protagonist responds to her surroundings. NPR compared the book to “slow cooking” that requires patience. The New York Times… Read More