Thursday, October 22, 2026

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Posted February 05, 2025in Book Review

Book Reviews

‘Cleavage: Men, Women, and the Space Between Us’ Jennifer Finney Boylan has written several phenomenal books including her profoundly influential memoir, “She’s Not There,” which has won numerous awards, and deservedly so. I picked up this book with a lot of expectations and anticipation. I was pleased to find this

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Posted January 01, 2025in Book Review

Book Reviews

‘The King Arthur Baking Company Big Book of Bread: 125+ Recipes for Every Baker’ I love a challenge, so it’s not surprising that I joined with the many thousands who have tried to master bread baking over the last few years. It turns out, it’s both more complicated and blissfully

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Posted December 04, 2024in Book Review

Book Reviews

‘I Heard There Was a Secret Chord: Music as Medicine’ Thinking of music as a balm isn’t a new concept. There have been numerous articles and quips and even songs written about the human compunction to use sound to express oneself and tap into something raw. Here, though, we have

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Posted November 06, 2024in Book Review

Book Reviews

‘That Librarian: The Fight Against Book Banning in America’ Book banning is an appalling stain on our society, and this book is a light, showing just how much damage it can do — and how to fight it. A one-time librarian of the year, working in the same school system

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Posted October 02, 2024in Book Review

Book Reviews

‘Blood Over Bright Haven’ Intent versus impact. Does it matter if the result causes harm? Somehow, both compulsively readable and deeply philosophical, I was completely consumed by this book to the point that I left ice cream melting on the counter while I read.  Sciona is a member of the

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Posted September 04, 2024in Book Review

Book Reviews

‘A Haunted Girl’ Over the last decade or so, mental health and its importance has been a balm for anyone with a chemical imbalance. Understanding and empathy have vastly improved in many spheres, but, for children and teens, the complications of mental illness are especially harrowing. In this beautifully sad

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Posted July 31, 2024in Book Review

Book Reviews

‘A Sorceress Comes to Call’ Fairy tales are supposed to teach us things. Sometimes trite truisms like not telling lies, other times the tales are meant more as a warning, a call to trust your instincts, to know that not everyone is who they say they are. Cordelia knows she

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Posted July 03, 2024in Book Review

Book Reviews

‘The Daughters’ War’ To be perfectly clear before we start, this is a book about grief. It is a story of loss and war and lives cut short in the pursuit of survival. Sure, this is a military fantasy at its most basic level, but, in truth, it is an

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Posted June 05, 2024in Book Review

Book Reviews

‘Rakesfall’ There’s a school of thought that there are only a handful of stories in the world, and everything else is just a retelling or mishmash of those few tales. I’m not philosophical enough to argue the concept, but something about this dark and glorious novel makes me think this

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Posted May 01, 2024in Book Review

Book Reviews

‘Alien Earths: The New Science of Planet Hunting in the Cosmos’ I love space. I follow all the launches, the probes, the landers on Mars; I can’t get enough of all the fascinating and paradigm-shifting discoveries that surround us in this era of technological wonders. If you’ve got a penchant

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House - Rack LocationsIowa Farmers UnionBest of Des Moines 2027Iowa HHS