Sometimes when you dive into a highly praised novel with certain expectations for the storyline, only to swiftly realize it takes an entirely different direction. This is the case with Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie. Spending the entire first month of 2024...
Wisdom From Kammbia Book Review 133: Skin of the Sea by Natasha Bowen
by MHill | Dec 26, 2023 | 2023 Book Reviews, Book Reviews, Marion's Reading Life Blog, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
"When I six years old, my favorite book was The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen. I remember reading that book over and over again, examining each illustration and convincing myself that it was all real. And even though I never saw myself in that story, I...
Marion’s Eight All-Time Favorite Short Stories (Part Two)
by MHill | Dec 20, 2023 | Marion's All-Time Favorite Short Stories, Marion's Favorite Books, Marion's Favorites, Marion's Reading Life Blog, Short Story Review, Wisdom From Kammbia Column, Wisdom of Kammbia Story Review
I recently posted part one of my all-time favorite short stories. Here is the second half of my list and represents the short fiction that has stayed with me as a reader. 5) Galapago by Kali Fajardo-Anstine: This story comes from the excellent short story...
Marion’s Eight All-Time Favorite Short Stories (Part One)
by MHill | Dec 15, 2023 | Marion's All-Time Favorite Short Stories, Marion's Favorites, Marion's Reading Life Blog, Short Story Review, Wisdom From Kammbia Column, Wisdom of Kammbia Story Review
Over the past couple of years, I have read more short stories. Short stories have added an extra dimension to my reading life and diversified my reading. I have become a bona fide short story reader and these eight stories are my all-time favorites. I've divided my...
Marion’s Sixteen All-Time Favorite Novels (Part Two)
by MHill | Nov 27, 2023 | Book Reviews, Marion's Favorite Books, Marion's Favorites, Marion's Reading Life Blog, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
The number 16 symbolizes trust, intuition, balance, and leaning into your own wisdom. In addition, it’s a number that isn’t commonly seen on all-time lists, but I thought it was the right choice for my list of favorite novels. I just posted part one of my all-time...
Marion’s Sixteen All-Time Favorite Novels (Part One)
by MHill | Nov 26, 2023 | Book Reviews, Marion's Favorite Books, Marion's Favorites, Marion's Reading Life Blog, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
The number 16 symbolizes trust, intuition, balance, and leaning into your own wisdom. In addition, it's a number that isn't commonly seen on all-time lists, but I thought it was the right choice for my list of favorite novels. It's getting close to the time of year...
Wisdom From Kammbia Book Review 131: Grace by Max Lucado
by MHill | Nov 5, 2023 | 2023 Book Reviews, Marion's Favorite Books, Marion's Favorites, Marion's Reading Life Blog, Max Lucado, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
"Grace is God's best idea. His decision to ravage a people by love, to rescue passionately, and to restore justly---what rivals it? Of all his wondrous works, grace, in my estimation, is the magnum opus." Max Lucado writes this claim in this first paragraph of his...
Best Book Ever Podcast 149
by MHill | Jun 26, 2023 | Best Book Ever Podcast, Marion's Favorite Books, Marion's Favorites, Marion's Reading Life Blog, Rereading Series, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
I was invited back to one of my favorite book podcasts, The Best Book Ever Podcast, hosted by Julie Strauss. This was my third appearance on the podcast and we discussed one of my all-time favorite novels, The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber. Faber's...
Rereading The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber
by MHill | Jun 20, 2023 | 2023 Book Reviews, Marion's All-Time Favorite Novels, Marion's Favorite Books, Marion's Favorites, Marion's Reading Life Blog, Rereading Series, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
"The rhetoric of a sermon was one thing; his wife's grim reality was another. Civilizations did not vanish smoothly and easefully; empires did not set like suns: empires collapsed in chaos and violence. Real people got pushed around, beaten up, robbed, made destitute....
Thinking of Jenny One Year Later…….
by MHill | May 29, 2023 | Marion's Favorites, Marion's Reading Life Blog, Reading Envy/Jenny Colvin, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
I found out one year ago this week that Furman University Librarian and Podcaster Jenny Colvin passed away at age 43. I wrote a post last year when it happened. It was a complete shock because we had corresponded a week before she passed away about recording my...