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CARITA GARDINER

What to Read When You're Avoiding School Work

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Author: caritagardiner

340. Why I Ride (Guest Post)

Posted on July 2, 2025July 1, 2025 by caritagardiner

When I recently got an email titled “Why I Ride” from a friend, I had the idea to ask her if I could post her missive as a Why Wednesday. Suzanne and I met at eighteen years old, thirty-eight years ago, when we were assigned to live in the same college dorm. In the fall…

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NetGalley Review of These Summer Storms

Posted on July 1, 2025January 26, 2025 by caritagardiner

title: These Summer Storms author: Sarah MacLean publisher: Random House publication date: July 8, 2025 pages: 640 peppers: 3 (on this scale) warnings: parental death, manipulation, alcohol/drunkenness, bad parenting summary: Alice Storm managed to break away from her controlling, billionaire father and family (picture Succession) five years ago, but when her father dies and she heads…

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NetGalley Review of Destination Weddings and Other Disasters

Posted on June 26, 2025June 21, 2025 by caritagardiner

title: Destination Weddings and Other Disasters author: M. C. Vaughan publisher: Afterglow Books by Harlequin publication date: July 1, 2025 pages: 288 peppers: 3 (on this scale) warnings: bullying, deceased parent (past) summary: After Julia earns her graduate degree in hospitality but before she finds a job, her flighty mother announces her plan to get…

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339. Why Pan

Posted on June 25, 2025June 24, 2025 by caritagardiner

As is often the case (since I discovered that many photos on the internet are copyright-protected), the photo above has nothing to do with my topic today. It’s a picture I took of a flower I saw in California. I’ve been thinking about sleep, something many people struggle with. Little kids fight going to sleep…

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NetGalley Review of The Summer You Were Mine

Posted on June 24, 2025March 11, 2025 by caritagardiner

title: The Summer You Were Mine author: Jill Francis publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin publication date: July 1, 2025 pages: 352 peppers: 3 (on this scale) warnings: parental death in distant past summary: Just before Emmie will leave NYC for Italy to attend her grandmother’s wedding, she accidentally tells the brutal truth on the air at…

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361. Why Life’s Going to Life

Posted on June 21, 2025 by caritagardiner

I bought a T-shirt with the image above many years ago as a baby present for a friend who named her kid Henry. Just kidding, she named him Tate. If you know a Tate and/or like potatoes, you can click on the photo above to get to where you can buy the shirt. I still…

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338. Why Find Your People

Posted on June 18, 2025June 27, 2025 by caritagardiner

I haven’t read the book pictured above, but it’s probably very helpful. It gets 3.96 stars on Goodreads and 4.6 on Amazon.com. Plus, it’s about an important goal that many of us in today’s world struggle to accomplish. Science shows that to lead happy, healthy lives, we need human interaction. If you want to read…

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NetGalley Review of Look Before You Leap

Posted on June 17, 2025February 2, 2025 by caritagardiner

title: Look Before You Leap author: Virginia Heath publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin publication date: June 24, 2025 pages: 320 peppers: 3 (on this scale) warnings: none summary: Lottie, a farmer’s daughter from Kent, was raised by her father and four brothers. Rather than work as a farmer, she’s brought into London to train as a…

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NetGalley Review of Sunny Side Up

Posted on June 16, 2025March 14, 2025 by caritagardiner

title: Sunny Side Up author: Katie Sturino publisher: Celadon Books publication date: June 24, 2025 pages: 304 peppers: 3 (on this scale) warnings: fat-phobia and misogyny summary: Sunny, six months after her divorce, is preparing for a beach vacation when her changing-room experience is so bad that it sets her on a mission to quiet…

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337. Why Not Fit In

Posted on June 11, 2025June 10, 2025 by caritagardiner

I’m fully aware that there are two ways to read the title of today’s post. First, I could be asking the question, why not (try to) fit in? Well, there are lots of reasons, some of which I hope you already know and others this post might make clear. I’m thinking about the second way…

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WHAT I DO

I serve as a class dean and teach English to high schoolers at a boarding school in Connecticut. I’ve earned a Bachelor of Arts (Amherst College), an Education Master in Learning and Teaching (Harvard University Graduate School of Education), a Master of Arts in English (Bread Loaf School of English), and most recently a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing with a certificate in the online teaching of writing (Southern New Hampshire University).

As a writer, I hope to capture the complexity and joy of life in the New England boarding school world. On this site, I share what I know about trying to write fiction while deaning, teaching English, coaching, and doing the other tasks associated with helping to raise over six hundred other people’s children.

WHAT I CAN DO FOR YOU

Teach                    Tutor

Revise                   Edit

Entertain             Enlighten

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Contact Me

  • cgardine@hotchkiss.org

Read my recent “Why” Wednesday Blog Posts

  • 340. Why I Ride (Guest Post)
  • NetGalley Review of These Summer Storms
  • NetGalley Review of Destination Weddings and Other Disasters
  • 339. Why Pan
  • NetGalley Review of The Summer You Were Mine
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