Night at the Museum: A Look through the Louvre
There is usually at least one day of the week where Louvre opening hours extend; at the moment it appears to be open until 9:45 p.m. on Fridays. That is right in the middle of Parisian dinner hours, and it is a wonderful time to meander through the capacious and ornate halls in the quiet amongst much fewer people than you’ll find in the morning and afternoon hours. I went one May evening from about 7:30-9 p.m., and it was my most memorable visit.
A Novel Pairing: Agatha Christie & An Homage to Golden-Age Mystery Writers
These books are a lot of fun and have me wanting to do a deep-dive into so many writers, which to me is the best thing books with an homage to a classic can do! I’ve read most of Christie’s catalog at some point in my life, but I’ve only dipped my toes into Dorothy Sayers, Josephine Tey, and Daphne du Maurier (who Wingate includes for her suspense even though she’s not technically a writer of detective fiction). I think if you enjoy Agatha Christie and her ilk, you’ll enjoy The First Edition Library Mystery series.
A Novel Pairing: Dickens’ Classic Carol and The Imagined Story Behind It
If you enjoy re-reading A Christmas Carol every year, you might enjoy pairing it with Samantha Silva’s Mr. Dickens and His Carol. I’m sure much of it is imagined and fictionalized, but it makes for a charming read in the month of December.
Storks in Holland
At the time I read The Wheel on the School I had no idea I’d ever have the chance to visit Holland, but reading it tripled my enjoyment of that day, and I derived so much pleasure seeing the storks and the their babies in the nest and the welcome the Dutch still gave to them as seen by the intentionality of having wheel-shaped tripods near their houses. Now I always think back to this experience when I think of the power of stories to connect us to their settings, especially when we have the opportunity to travel and see the landscapes for ourselves.
Corrie Ten Boom house
Corrie’s memoir of life in the Netherlands during the Nazi occupation is both inspiring and harrowing; the faith and hope shared by Corrie, her sister Betsie, and her father Casper, permeate the pages and touch even the tragedies with triumph.
Five Places from A Tale of Two Cities
Since places are always enhanced by stories, here are five places that have a starring role in A Tale of Two Cities.
A Novel Pairing: A 20th Century WWII Story & 19th Century Science Fiction Adventure
Marie-Laure’s enjoyment and immersion in the fantastical underwater world created by Jules Verne permeates Doerr’s book, and diving into it directly after All the Light We Cannot See has been a good choice for me.
Walking on Baker Street
Everyone has a travel style, and mine is very much about absorbing and feeling the atmosphere of a place.
The Little Miracle
I was extremely expectant about my first spring in North Yorkshire because I couldn’t wait to take pictures of the lambs.