books – Ellen Kolb

Open Book: on completing a commonplace notebook

A few evenings ago, I picked up a well-worn notebook from my desk and began to copy a short passage from the work of fiction I was reading. I wrote to the bottom of the page in the notebook, turned the page, and found I’d reached the end of the volume. It had taken 20Continue reading “Open Book: on completing a commonplace notebook”

Open Book: a classic outside a classroom

Greek amphora decorated with images of warriors from the story of the Iliad

I was casual about the reading lists from my English courses in high school. “Recommended” reading looked different to me from required reading. I interpreted recommended as “not quite assigned.” When I read Edith Hamilton’s Mythology – the required starting point for what was at the time a 3-year Advanced Placement English curriculum – IContinue reading “Open Book: a classic outside a classroom”

Open Book: faith, art, and a heck of a hike

My To Be Read pile never gets any smaller. No regrets or apologies. For a bookworm like me, the turn of the year brings the cheery prospect of new books ahead. I’m savoring my way through Frank Herbert’s Dune, and I can already see that I’ll be looking for its sequels. I so seldom pickContinue reading “Open Book: faith, art, and a heck of a hike”