My only wish when I open a book is that somewhere amongst the thousands of words, there will be a few that will stick with me. That line that speaks to my heart, makes me laugh or shed a [...]
Ylva author and Carmilla webseries story editor Ellen Simpson has jumped on board the Ylva Top 5 Books challenge. Here she names the novels that were meaningful and influential in her life, revealing a taste for timeless classics, historical [...]
New Year’s resolutions. Oh, how I hate them. Wait, should I start a blog post like that? Ah, well. I can’t help it. I think we all know we make these well-intentioned statements, resolved and a little liquored up [...]
For me, the end of the year is always a special time, not just because I get to eat way too many Christmas cookies and spend time with family and friends. It’s also a time for reflection and resolutions—taking [...]
In Manhattan, where I live, Chinese restaurants are mobbed on December 25th. This is because in days past these were the only restaurants open on Christmas. The other establishments open that day were movie theaters. And so it became [...]
When Ylva’s publisher Astrid Ohletz asked me early in November if I would be willing to contribute a holiday blog, I eagerly said yes. After all, I love the holidays. When I think back, it’s not that they’ve always [...]
I admit it; this list could change at any moment. A long-forgotten and much loved novel could pop into my head and push someone else off the end of the plank. It’s a cut-throat world, this favorites game. But [...]
One aspect of growing into my more mature years is realising that I’m never going to get through my current To Read pile(s) of books. Does that stop me buying more? No! Nor does it prevent me from asking [...]
The Christmas holiday in our house officially starts when we pull the decorations out of storage from the garage. For a couple of days the house is a mess and then, like magic, our home is transformed into a [...]
Midwinter celebrations of light, in many varieties, have long been part of human culture, but Christmas is unique in that the Christ is the incarnate symbol of the light in the darkness. And, while I have not been a [...]