Bookseller of Florence: The Story of the Manuscripts That Illuminated the Renaissance is a story about the preservation and attainment of knowledge, seeking modern meaning through ancient philosophy, and the craft of book-making, all told through the story of Florence's Vespasiano da Bisticci (1421-1498).
Read MoreRoaring Run Furnace is the site of a former iron furnace that operated in and around the 1840s, and this site is the only spot within the massive George Washington and Jefferson National Forest’s jurisdiction that is registered as a historical place, making it unique and an interesting spot to visit!
Read MoreIn some ways, the AT is a blank slate; it is of nowhere and somewhere very particular all at the same time. During most segments of the hike, would a hiker know that he or she is in the wilds of Pennsylvania or could it just as easily be Massachusetts? In either case, the AT is definitely the realization of the balance that has long challenged the residents of the United States: How to enjoy the splendor of the vast land while also living in the more cultivated environment, if in fact such a balance is even possible or beneficial.
Read MoreDear Paris swept me off of my home-bound feet (in this, the era of COVID). It delivered me - no postage required - to my first and only trip to Paris, circa April 2019. I fell in love all over again - with Paris, with the intrinsic beauty of a hand-written letter, and with MacLeod's artful rendering of her experiences, which feel both universal and authentically personal.
Read MoreMost of us have someone in our lives who loves to travel or is dreaming of taking more trips to explore the world. Check out our 2020-2021 annual gift guide for ideas centered around all sorts of different travel interests - from literary travelers to practical travels and foodies.
Read MoreAfter touring some of Savannah’s Spanish-moss ridden highlights, we hit the road for the drive to Orlando, about 4 hours in length as a straight shot. For a portion of the way, we took a coastal road as we approached St. Augustine, Florida.
Read MoreDreams of El Dorado steps up to the plate to tackle an immense topic: The Westward Expansion of America. The American west is full of legends, of larger-than-life personalities, of excitement and drama, and underscoring it all is the hope that anyone headed westward can make it big, can find his or her own El Dorado.
Read MoreMy favorite part of Savannah is the feeling it evokes - the Gothic architecture of its historic houses, Spanish moss, wrought iron fences, and statues. Even in the winter, there is a sense that the heavy southern humidity is on the fringe, waiting to slither back in at its first opportunity and rest its heavy weight upon your chest.
Read MoreThe silver lining of this year of Covid is, for us, more incentive to explore our local area besides the standard, well-known spots. Because of the beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the Roanoke, Virginia, vicinity, there are a lot of very popular hiking spots, particularly during the shoulder seasons and especially for the fall colors. A few weeks ago, we headed to one such spot and ended up simply eating our picnic lunch in the car before heading home. Being on a crowded trail right now? No thank you!
Read MoreFlip through the annals of history (or, heck, today’s newspaper), and you’ll be confronted with atrocities of varying degrees. There are the known names of history that are at the tip of the tongue (e.g., Hitler) and there are the unknowns dotting the multi-planed timeline of history. Most of us imagine ourselves on the side of the just and fair, standing up for others even at personal risk. Most of us are fooling ourselves, which is of course the only logical explanation for how said atrocities occur and repeat again.
Read MoreA man of the Revolution and a man of the Renaissance all in one, Thomas Jefferson was a man uniquely of and beyond his time. In some of his most public actions, Jefferson was the primary author and signatory of the Declaration of Independence.
Read MoreIf you are looking for a beautiful fall drive in the Blue Ridge, absolutely add this one to your list! En route to the hike and then taking an extra long return trip home (No, GPS, we will not make a U-turn!), we found gorgeous rolling hills, golden fields, the protruding tops of mountains, and trees all shades of color from lemon through burnt umber.
Read MoreThe prologue of the novel, which is about nine pages in length, hits the reader from the very start with a different history of the start of the now-United States, the evolution of the native experience, and the unique modern day urban Indians, who struggle to self-identify in a world that often does not see them.
Read MoreThe town of Appomattox, Virginia, is nestled in a county by the same name. They are named for the local Algonquin-speaking Appomattoc tribe that lived in the area and were one of the five original tribes of the so-called Powhatan Confederacy and were one of the tribes that John Smith and early European settlers interacted with upon landing at Jamestown.
Read MoreIn April 2012, my mother and I booked a long-weekend trip to explore some new parts of the state. We stayed in Lynchburg as a central point, explored that city as well as made short trips to both Poplar Forest (Thomas Jefferson’s home, a retreat from Monticello) and Appomattox, a small town most famous as the site where Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant in April 1865, officially concluding the American Civil War.
Read MoreAt the age of 22, main character Arnljótur Thórir, finds himself confronted by several unexpected accidents: the death of his mother after an auto accident on a slick Icelandic road and parenthood after a chance entanglement in his and his mother’s beloved greenhouse. Lobbi (one of Arnljótur’s various nicknames bestowed by his father) has a lifelong love of cultivating plants - no easy task in the harsh Icelandic climate.
Read MoreCades Cove is a valley that had been frequented by Cherokee hunters and was settled in the 1820s by Europeans who built a community in the valley. About 100 years later, the states of Tennessee and North Carolina were purchasing land for what would become the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, and Cades Cove was in the middle of the area. Some of the community sold their property willingly, others signed agreements whereby they could live out their lives on the land and that it would be granted to the national park posthumously, and other families fought the efforts in court.
Read MoreTo celebrate our 3rd wedding anniversary in 2012, we booked a long weekend at a cabin in the mountains near Gatlinburg, TN, with the primary purpose of exploring the Great Smoky Mountains which neither of us had visited before.
Read MoreAt its core, this novel explores the experiences and lives of twelve female characters, most of whom are Black and British. The varied voices bring to life women across the chronology of womanhood - from teens to the elderly - who are often contending with intergenerational ideas and experiences.
Read MoreIceland in the 1960s was not exactly like my home country of America in the 1960s. A better comparison of Iceland in the ‘60s would be America in the ‘50s: a place where the role each person played was tantamount; women were to be wives falling in step behind their husband’s successes, and to be gay was to struggle to find a place in an unfriendly world, best managed through a loveless marriage to the opposite sex. Miss Iceland’s main character, Hekla, and her best friend, Jon John, each represent one half of those populations.
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