Timothy Weiner, Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA, New York: Doubleday, 2007. Stefan Rudniki, narrator, Blackstone Audio, Inc. There’s something about becoming a member of your local library that makes one feel like they have finally settled in a community. Two weeks ago, with an itch to have […]
Candice Millard, Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President, New York: Random House, 2011. While working on my master’s degree, one of my professors told me that when it came time to write my dissertation, find a book I love and write […]
Mary Roach, Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, New York:W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2003. Shelly Fraiser, narrator. I was twelve or thirteen, making my younger cousin seven or eight, when we saw our first cadaver. It was not the first time I saw a dead body, although […]
Like many in my generation, I didn’t grow up singing hymns. I knew some of the old standards, but I was much better acquainted with campfire songs, praise courses, and other, more contemporary tunes. After graduating from high school, I moved away from home for college and started attending a […]
Amy Chua, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, New York:The Penguin Press, 2011. This book is a memoir, not a parenting guide. This was my repeated explanation as to why I–a single, childless, underemployed young attorney–was reading Amy Chua’s Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. I was relieved to see […]
Figures of history have gripped my imagination and retained my wonder since I was a little girl. A character didn’t have to do much to interest me. The very fact that people remember them piqued my curiosity. People like Abraham Lincoln, the Pharohs, Annie Oakley. People who existed before modern […]
I'm Ames. I hope you enjoy your time browsing my various thoughts, reflections, and experiences. I love receiving comments, so let me know what you think. Thanks for stopping by!