A few years ago, the Mystery Guild Book Club polled members with the question “Which mystery writer would you rather be stranded on a desert island with?” The winner: Lillian Jackson Braun. The book club didn’t ask why readers voted for her, but anyone who has read Ms. Braun’s novels knows why. With the exception … Continue reading →.

The Country of Pointed Firs is a book you can take your time with. It has a dreamy quality, and it’s sense of nostalgia is very strong, as if this place and time no longer exists but in her memory. It’s not especially sad, but it got me thinking of similar events or people in my life that are perhaps gone forever. You can tell that the importance lies in the time, as you can always go back to the place, but maybe it has changed so much that the experience of it will never be the same. Continue reading →.

Ice Bound is available at Amazon.com. What Sara Wheeler did for traveling in Antarctica, Jerri Nielsen’s bestseller does for living in Antarctica. Dr. Nielsen made international news when she discovered that she had breast cancer during a long Antarctic winter at the South Pole. The base is customarily shut down during the nine months of … Continue reading →.

People who are space nuts may not realize that we know more about Mars than we know about some places on our own planet. Antarctica is one of these places. International treaties have dictated that Antarctica, the only place on earth with no native human population, be used for scientific endeavors, and that those endeavors … Continue reading →.

The following is an excerpt of a lovely review of Singled Out: How Two Million Women Survived Without Men after the First World War By Virginia Nicholson. THIS is an inspiring book, lovingly researched, well-written and humane. Virginia Nicholson has found one of those subjects which sits unregarded under our noses, and has discovered in … Continue reading →.