<p>&#8220;If music be the food of love, play on,&#8221; says Duke Orsino at the opening of Shakespeare&#8217;s comedy, Twelfth Night. He goes on to request his musicians give him such an excess of music that he may kill his appetite for it entirely. And with it, his yearning for Olivia, the woman who does not&hellip; <a class="more-link" href="https://jynnemason.com/2019/02/04/aphrodite-after-therapy/">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">Aphrodite After Therapy<

<p>Is it true that how you acquire, keep, and shelve your books is a reflection of how you maintain friendships? Can a properly folded pair of socks improve your relationship with siblings and parents? Before you dive down the Netflix rabbit hole and bingewatch Marie Kondo&#8217;s hit series on tidying up, check out the book&hellip; <a class="more-link" href="https://jynnemason.com/2019/01/23/tidy-marie-kondo/">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">Tidy Marie Kond

<p>Did you say dragons? In turn-of-the-last-century Vienna?? Enchanted and entrapped as everyday working Joes??? What ought to be a most marvelous storytelling feat turns into a lengthy, dozy tellingstory book. Weyr, Garret. The Language of Spells. Illus. Katie Harnett. Chronicle Books: San Francisco, 2018. Print. Genre: middle grade fantasy Summary: Grisha the dragon and his&hellip; <a class="more-link" href="https://jynnemason.com/2018/12/12/the-language-of-spells/">Continu

<p>In this memoir, doubt dances with glorious vistas where success, aspiration, and limits all fight for a grip on the same dime-thin ledge. Caldwell, Tommy. The Push: A Climber&#8217;s Journey of Endurance, Risk, and Going Beyond Limits. New York: Penguin Publishing Group, 2017. Print. Genre: nonfiction, memoir Summary: Caldwell&#8217;s memoir chaperones readers up treacherous escarpments&hellip; <a class="more-link" href="https://jynnemason.com/2018/12/05/the-push/">Continu

<p>The bear track halted my run. It and a string of identical cousins imprinted the sandy trail ahead of me. If I paid no attention to the crescent moons pressed by the claws, the tracks resembled a child&#8217;s delicate footprint. Rounded, plump indents. Chubby toes. The cherubic tread traveled north on the trail, the same&hellip; <a class="more-link" href="https://jynnemason.com/2018/11/21/my-bearings/">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">My Bearings</span></

<p>I need only one word whenever I am asked, “What’s your all-time favorite book?” Eliot, George. Middlemarch: A Study of Provincial life. 1872. New York: Penguin Putnam, 1994. Print. Genre: fiction (19th century British) Summary: An idealistic young woman and a noble-minded doctor enter disastrous marriages. The consequences of their choices ripple through the wider&hellip; <a class="more-link" href="https://jynnemason.com/2018/06/07/middlemarch/">Continue reading <span clas

<p>Eyes do not see; they touch. Vision evolved from skin gathering light in minute detail. The brain does not think; it smells. It evolved from a large olfactory nerve in skull. It helped us sew memories and scents together.This book will change how (and who) you are in the world. Meloy, Ellen. The Anthropology of&hellip; <a class="more-link" href="https://jynnemason.com/2018/05/24/the-anthropology-of-turquoise/">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">The Anthropol

<p>We know what happens when entire nations cannot stymie their collective fears. We know what happens when whole civilizations select a scapegoat for inexplicable suffering. History maps these trends. Throughout the Myths Across the Map series (now available through Gareth Stevens Publishing), I chronicled 4 of the 6 major global myths. I tracked down the&hellip; <a class="more-link" href="https://jynnemason.com/2018/05/10/myths-across-the-map-by-jennifer-mason/">Continue re

<p>A five-week beginner meditation class? Right now? In the middle of letting go…processing loss&#8230;the death of my wildest dreams? Yes, please! For the first class, I and fifty other beginners settled on the zafu cushions at the local Dharma Center and listened to the instructor’s lectures on mindfulness, the Four Noble Truths, accepting the inevitability&hellip; <a class="more-link" href="https://jynnemason.com/2018/04/19/when-words-breathe/">Continue reading <span class

<p>Can we convince young people to enjoy failure as much as they enjoy play? Can we teach them that the two are inseparable travel-mates on the path to success? “Pick Up Sticks: How One Toy Became a Space-Exploration Robot”—my latest article appearing in the April 2018 issue of Muse—confronts these very questions. Like all scientists,&hellip; <a class="more-link" href="https://jynnemason.com/2018/04/12/pick-up-sticks-turn-toys-into-robots-by-jennifer-mason/">Continue reading

<p>Growing up, did you have that slick and sneaky friend who lured you through the slit chain-link fences or the windows left unlocked, into restricted zones, behind the STAY OUT signs, into the smoky dim rooms packed with music so loud it turned your senses sideways? Annie Dillard is that friend. Dillard, Annie. The Abundance:&hellip; <a class="more-link" href="https://jynnemason.com/2018/03/29/the-abundance/">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">The Abundance b

<p>At last—the recipe for limitless, lifelong learning (and remembering) is here! Ingredients include: bean bags, buckets, Mark Twain, England’s monarchs, and some elbow grease. Brown, Peter C., Henry L. Roediger III, and Mark A. McDaniel. Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard UP, 2014. Print. Genre: nonfiction Summary: Researchers&hellip; <a class="more-link" href="https://jynnemason.com/2018/03/14/make-it-stick/">Continue

<p>Imagine Harry Potter as told by Professor McGonagall, Petunia Dursley, Hedwig, and Neville Longbottom&#8217;s grandmother&#8230; Barnhill, Kelly. The Girl Who Drank the Moon. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Young Readers, 2016. Print. Summary: A doddering witch rescues the sacrificial babies abandoned in the woods. Normally, she feeds them starlight before adopting them out to new families.&hellip; <a class="more-link" href="https://jynnemason.com/2018/02/14/the-girl-who-drank-

<p>Was the 2 a.m. emergency room really the best place to tease open the knots life ties between love and loss? I had no choice. I could not be anywhere else. Oliver, Mary. Felicity. New York: Penguin, 2015. Print. Genre: poetry Summary: Mary Oliver&#8217;s poetry and essay collections normally focus on nature. She lays bare her raptures&hellip; <a class="more-link" href="https://jynnemason.com/2018/02/07/felicity/">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">Felicity b

<p>Imagine a children&#8217;s book that combines The Truman Show with The Tale of Desperaux. Peck, Richard. The Mouse with the Question Mark Tail. Illus. Kelly Murhpy. New York: Puffin Books, 2013. Print. Genre: middle grade historical fiction Summary: Days before Queen Victoria&#8217;s Diamond Jubilee, a nameless mouse runs away from the bullies at school. From then on, he is&hellip; <a class="more-link" href="https://jynnemason.com/2018/01/24/the-mouse-with-the-question-mar

<p>Read these three books, my friend gushed, and you’ll experience a gummy, disorienting waltz with truth, memory, and trauma. Krakauer, Jon. Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster. Jon Krakauer, Narr. New York: Random House Audio, 2007. CD. Genre: nonfiction memoir Summary: Krakauer documents his experiences during the Mount Everest disaster&hellip; <a class="more-link" href="https://jynnemason.com/2018/01/18/the-everest-disaster-trilogy-challenge/">

<p>This author is really for e.v.e.r.y.o.n.e on your holiday shopping list. Warning: you will become the heroine dealer of literature. Friends will stalk you, shaky, half-dressed, begging, &#8220;Got any more of that?&#8221; Meloy, Ellen. Eating Stone: Imagination and the Loss of the Wild. New York: Pantheon Books, 2005. Print. Genre: nonfiction Summary: Meloy spends a&hellip; <a class="more-link" href="https://jynnemason.com/2017/12/05/eating-stone/">Continue reading <span c

<p>Need a gift for someone on the &#8220;naughty&#8221; list? No problem. My holiday gift guide excludes no one! Gravett, Emily. Wolves. New York: Simon &amp; Schuster for Young Readers, 2005. Print. Genre: picture book Summary: Rabbit gets a book about wolves from the library. As he reads, he gets more and more engrossed until the&hellip; <a class="more-link" href="https://jynnemason.com/2017/11/28/wolves/">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">Wolves by Emily&nb

<p>Black Friday shopping? What could be better than a guide to world domination!? A perfect gift for the evil or ethically shady scientist and/or science fiction fan in your social circles. The Mad Scientist&#8217;s Guide to World Domination: Original Short Fiction for the Modern Evil Genius. John Joseph Adams, Ed. New York: Tor, 2013. MP3.&hellip; <a class="more-link" href="https://jynnemason.com/2017/11/24/the-mad-scientists-guide/">Continue reading <span class="screen-read

<p>In this edition of my holiday gift guide for book geeks and rabid readers, I bring you the perfect book for the young Tolkien fan, the Beowulf-to-be (boy or girl) who loves an epic tale with a teary twist woven in. Schmidt, Gary. What Came from the Stars. Prince Frederick, MD: Recorded Books, 2013. MP3.&hellip; <a class="more-link" href="https://jynnemason.com/2017/11/22/what-came-from-the-stars/">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">What Came from the Stars b