Katherine Center’s Hello Stranger (336 pages, St. Martin’s Press, coming out 11 July 2023) was wonderful in all the ways a romance novel should be wonderful. The point-of-view character, a portrait artist, acquires prosopagnosia, more commonly called face blindness. What I love about this one-pepper book (and the author even talks about this in a short,…
Author: caritagardiner
NetGalley Review of Play to Win
[Obviously, I can’t keep up this pace, but it’s vacation and NetGalley gave me three books at once.] Play to Win by Jodie Slaughter (320 pages, St. Martin’s Griffin, coming out 11 July 2023): I liked reading this three-pepper book. It’s a fun idea that someone poor could win the lottery on her first-bought ticket…
NetGalley Review of Maid of Dishonor
Maid of Dishonor by Gracie Ruth Mitchell (291 pages, independently published, coming out 28 March 2023): This was a fun, one-pepper book. She’s on the baseball team and has been pining for her best friend since high school; he’s a baseball coach who doesn’t want love because he’s seen what its aftermath has done to his…
219. Why NetGalley
I started my website in January 2019; since then, I haven’t changed the format or pace of posts. I’ve successfully posted one new essay (some by friends and family) every Wednesday. Today, all that changes because I’ve been approved by NetGalley, a platform that offers BookTok-ers and Book-stagramers and people like me with websites about…
218. Why Both/And
[I took the fun image above from The Decision Lab’s article about cognitive dissonance. I realize that thinking about meat and animal cruelty is an easy example for me to use as a person who doesn’t eat cow, so I apologize if the comic hits closer to home for you. I think we can all…
217. Why I Have a Nemesis (Post’s Guest Post)
I’m thrilled to publish a guest post from my former student, James Post. I thoroughly enjoyed teaching him when he was in eleventh grade and have been delighted every time I’ve gotten to catch up with him since his graduation. James has always been a remarkable writer, so I was elated when he agreed to…
216. Why Unconditional
Yesterday was Valentine’s Day. If the Class of 2025’s carnation sale didn’t do me in, I’m still thinking along with many of you about love. My first name means love, so I’ve spent a lot of my life believing in the importance and strength of love. Today’s post helps explain where my contemplations have led…
215. Why Affinity Spaces
I wrote a post in April of 2021 about AWARE, the Alliance of White Anti-Racist Educators, a group I co-facilitate (Hi, KF!) at my school. I’m circling back to that idea in this post because I’ve been thinking more about the importance of affinity spaces for people of all races. In late-November and early-December of…
214. Why Avoid Whinging
If you want to buy the sign above, you can get it at safetysign.com. I’ve mentioned in other posts and most of my students from the past decade or so know that I offer time for a short check-in near the beginning of every class and that I encourage students not to complain during that…
213. Why Read Banned Books
You’ve probably all heard or seen the quotation above. I fully endorse its idea (if not its modifier placement — please switch the order of “only” and “function” as you read it) even though I hadn’t given much thought to the final word until recently. The benefits of having an open mind seemed obvious to…