Ninety Percent of Everything by Rose George Reviewed by Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge

Ninety Percent of Everything by Rose George; Picador/Henry Holt & Company, 2013.  287 pages; $16.00 (paperback); reading level: adult. The title of Rose’s book clues us in to her first main point:  ninety percent of the food we eat and the things that fill our homes, cupboards, offices, and yards comes to us by sea…. [Read More]

Gator Dad by Brain Lies Reviewed by Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge

Gator Dad by Brain Lies; illustrated by the author. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016. 32 pages; $17.99 (hardcover); reading level: ages 3-7. This stay-at-home alligator dad takes care of his three offspring his way! Breakfast fish fly through the air, errands are run with the emphasis on “run,” and a neat house is definitely a low… [Read More]

Nora Webster by Colm Tóibín Reviewed by Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge

Nora Webster by Colm Tóibín; Scribner, 2014.  373 pages; $27.00 (hardcover); reading level: adult. This is the quietest of books. So quiet that, after you take your place behind Nora Webster eyes and realize she’s just lost her husband, you might wonder if anything is going to happen…or if this will be a psychological study… [Read More]

All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr Reviewed by Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr; Scribner, 2014.  530 pages; $27.00 (hardcover); reading level: adult. The story begins not with part one but with part “Zero” on the French Island of Saint-Malo, August 7, 1944. Through the course of the novel, we travel in a negative direction in time and space –… [Read More]

Work in Progress #26: Waiting To Find A Publisher For My Emily Post Biography

Any seasoned writer will tell you that after you submit a piece to an editor or an agent, you should immediately start in on your next writing project. I’m following that advice to a point. I’ve started doing some reading on various topics I might be interested in pursuing. To be honest, though, ninety percent… [Read More]

Work in Progress #25: How I Got Myself to Send My Emily Post Biography to My Agent After 4 Years of Work!

The first step in my revision process was to print out the manuscript and read it through from beginning to end making big-picture comments in the margins like “painfully slow here” or “Where exactly are you going???” or the old standby “awk” (for awkward). I wouldn’t let myself stop for typos or to make small… [Read More]

Work In Progress #24: The First Draft of My New Emily Post Biography is Completed!

This is a euphoric moment: I have finished my first draft! I know from past experience that it’s useless to try and keep myself contained and realistic. My imagination is running like wild, far into the future…past the submission process (there’s no guarantee my book will find a publisher at this point)…past all the work… [Read More]

Work in Progress #23: Terrified! It’s Time to Make a Large Point in My Emily Post Biography

I have been writing for two hours, not one word of it on my actual manuscript. I have reached the place where I have to make a large point. Everything in the book has been leading to this moment. I probably have a paragraph…two at the very most…to say some very conclusive things and I… [Read More]

ABC Dream by Kim Krans Reviewed by Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge

ABC Dream; by Kim Krans; Random House, 2016. 32 pages; $16.99 (hardcover); reading level: ages 2-5. The letters on the pages of this alphabet book are the main event: large and bold, some solid black and white, others plaid or quilted (you guessed it – P and Q!). It’s the surrounding illustrations, however, that are… [Read More]

Check Out the Books On My Reading List Through 2017 and See Why I Choose Them. My Reviews Will Follow!

Because I write nonfiction, I have to read a lot of books as part of my research. That means I have to be terribly picky about the books I read for pleasure. I’m not completely through my 2015-2016 stack (three more to go!) but I’ve already selected the nine titles that will be stacked on… [Read More]