saving your life with bullet journaling

You’ve been bullet journaling for about a year now. Carrying the thing with you and pulling it out whenever you can. You’ve been getting down tasks and reminders. You even read the Bullet Journal Method book by Ryder Carroll. And after a year you are having thoughts like, This method is saving me. This methodContinue reading “saving your life with bullet journaling”

reading books together: a podcast with deborah brothers and john paul jaramillo episode 17

Reading Books Together:  A Podcast with Deborah Brothers & John Paul Jaramillo  This December we discuss two Christmas-ritual themed works: Truman Capote’s “A Christmas Memory” and E.T.A. Hoffman’s Nutcracker and the Mouse King. Deborah gives some context for the children’s lit aspects of both selections and John Paul decides we should have read Alexandre Dumas’ The Nutcracker. (He did alsoContinue reading “reading books together: a podcast with deborah brothers and john paul jaramillo episode 17”

reading books together: a podcast with deborah brothers and john paul jaramillo episode 14

Join us this month as we talk about Good Night, Irene: A Novel, Luis Alberto Urrea’s fictionalized account of his mother’s WWII service with the American Red Cross. It is clear Urrea is a poet at heart and his rich descriptions help anchor the reader into Irene and Dorothy’s world and what it takes toContinue reading “reading books together: a podcast with deborah brothers and john paul jaramillo episode 14”

reading books together: a podcast with deborah brothers and john paul jaramillo episode 13

Join John Paul Jaramillo and Deborah Brothers for the July edition of “Reading Books Together,” a monthly podcast where we talk about a book we’ve read. We focus our discussion on recurring themes in the life and short fiction of Texas-born writer Katherine Anne Porter, winner of a Pulitzer, a National Book Award, a GoldContinue reading “reading books together: a podcast with deborah brothers and john paul jaramillo episode 13”

reading books together: a podcast with deborah brothers and john paul jaramillo episode 11

Join us this month as I interview Reading Books Together co-host, John Paul Jaramillo, about his newest novel.  Carlos Montoya, published by Twelve Winters Press, explores many of the same themes (and even characters) as John Paul’s previous works, The House of Order (Anaphora Press, 2012) and Little Mocos (Twelve Winters Press, 2017). The bookContinue reading “reading books together: a podcast with deborah brothers and john paul jaramillo episode 11”

reading books together: a podcast with deborah brothers and john paul jaramillo episode 9

For January’s podcast, we talk about George Eliot’s 800 page masterpiece in 19th century realism, Middlemarch. We talk about its scope, impact, and Deborah gets mad at John Paul for spoilers while he says, “Spoilers?  It was published in 1872!”  We also have some fun reading one-star reviews from Goodreads. –Deborah Brothers holds a Ph.D. inContinue reading “reading books together: a podcast with deborah brothers and john paul jaramillo episode 9”

reading books together: a podcast with deborah brothers and john paul jaramillo episode 8

For December’s podcast, we discuss Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. We talk about Dickens’ background and his poverty. We discuss Patrick Stewart and Mr Magoo. We also have some fun and read one-star reviews from Goodreads. –Deborah Brothers holds a Ph.D. in English Studies and reviews books for Choice and The Lion and the Unicorn and her essays, fiction,Continue reading “reading books together: a podcast with deborah brothers and john paul jaramillo episode 8”

reading books together: a podcast with deborah brothers and john paul jaramillo episode 6

In this month’s Halloween Spooktacular, we talk about Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein: the 1818 Text. We discuss science fiction, horror, and organic chemistry as well as Percy Shelley’s gifted heart. –Deborah Brothers holds a Ph.D. in English Studies and reviews books for Choice and The Lion and the Unicorn and her essays, fiction, and scholarly work have appeared in severalContinue reading “reading books together: a podcast with deborah brothers and john paul jaramillo episode 6”

reading books together: a podcast with deborah brothers and john paul jaramillo episode 5

Radiant Child is a 2016 picture book by author/illustrator Javaka Steptoe.  It is a biography of artist Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988) whose work first appeared in NYC in the late 1970s.  In this month’s discussion, we talk about picturebooks as a form and the lives and work of both Basquiat and Steptoe, which overlap in several ways. Continue reading “reading books together: a podcast with deborah brothers and john paul jaramillo episode 5”

reading books together: a podcast with deborah brothers & john Paul jaramillo episode 4

Reading Books Together:  A Podcast with Deborah Brothers & John Paul Jaramillo  Music “Viv” by Joel Styzens from Relax Your Ears  John Paul Jaramillo and Deborah Brothers sit for a 40 minute discussion of 2022’s novel Woman of Light by Kali Fajardo-Anstine. The August “Reading Books Together” podcast discusses young people and reading, historical fiction and ColoradoContinue reading “reading books together: a podcast with deborah brothers & john Paul jaramillo episode 4”

reading books together:  a podcast with deborah brothers & john paul jaramillo–episode 3 July 2022

Reading Books Together:  A Podcast with Deborah Brothers & John Paul Jaramillo  Music “Viv” by Joel Styzens from Relax Your Ears  Join John Paul Jaramillo and Deborah Brothers for a 30 minute discussion of Peter Wohlleben’s 2016 non-fiction work The Hidden Life of Trees. Our July “Reading Books Together” podcast dives into the mysteries of undisturbed forests and what author, aContinue reading “reading books together:  a podcast with deborah brothers & john paul jaramillo–episode 3 July 2022”

reading books together:  a podcast with deborah brothers & john paul jaramillo–episode 2 June 2022

Reading Books Together:  A Podcast with Deborah Brothers & John Paul Jaramillo  Music “Viv” by Joel Styzens from Relax Your Ears  For June 2022, Deborah Brothers and John Paul Jaramillo feature the 2015 book by Los Angeles native and columnist Wendy C. Ortiz, Excavation–A Memoir. They discuss memory and the difficulty of writing about trauma.   –Deborah BrothersContinue reading “reading books together:  a podcast with deborah brothers & john paul jaramillo–episode 2 June 2022”

reading books together:  a podcast with deborah brothers & john paul jaramillo–episode 1 may 2022

Reading Books Together:  A Podcast with Deborah Brothers & John Paul Jaramillo  Music “Viv” by Joel Styzens from Relax Your Ears  For their first foray into book review podcasts, Deborah Brothers and John Paul Jaramillo feature the 2021 novel by Canadian-American author Ruth Ozeki, The Book of Form and Emptiness. They discuss aspects of postmodernism metafiction, Buddhism, and bildungsroman.Continue reading “reading books together:  a podcast with deborah brothers & john paul jaramillo–episode 1 may 2022”