Exhibition book accompanying scrimshaw exhibition of same name at the Cahoon Museum of American Art in Cotuit, MA (May-October 2022)

Exhibition Catalogue for Susan Page Exhibition at Couch Rare Books in London during Asian Art in London, October, 2021.

I read The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane this weekend and had trouble putting it down (though I had to at times as family beckoned). I love the interplay of China's history (of tea, of minority populations, of tradition) coupled with an intensely contemporary set of late Twentieth-early Twenty-First Century circumstances and evolution in Chinese society (both in China and abroad). The scenery is vivid, the characters real, and the story engaging.

I love to travel. When I cannot do so in person, a great travel story is the next best thing. Mark Adams took me on an entertaining journey past and present to a site that has long fascinated me. I'm not planning on roughing it to the degree that he does (ever!), but his description of these Inca sites (on, off, and way off the beaten path), their history and culture, is wonderful. He writes with humor in a down-to-earth style. The opportunity to share in his travels, to experience, learn, and understand that the entire area around Machu Picchu is part of a cosmological whole, much more than the sum of its fascinating parts, is well worth picking up this story, this adventure.

Donald Miller learns to live his life and write the story of that life, of the process of living, but not to live a life to write the story. Life is what we make of it. Risk is an inherent part of our stories. Donald Miller is a good story teller. A Million Miles flows easily. We experience his stories as he jump starts his life, and we learn the components of what goes into telling a strong story. I originally picked up this book for tips on writing memoir. I finished it feeling more knowledgeable about life and satisfied at time well spent.

My son and I very much enjoyed this novel. Running Black is a fast-paced chase. Set in the near future, the places and scenes are familiar and relatable, yet at the same they push the boundaries of the comfortably known. The story grabs you and doesn't let go. A surprise plot twist throws good and evil on their head. Who is good? What is good? How do you justify good? Bad guys and good guys--conscionable versus callous--by the end, we were emotionally invested in trying to figure all of this out.