According to the dictionary, bookends are objects that help keep books upright. You are in the right place if you believe books are what keep YOU upright, your reliable support system for adventure, inspiration, and life lessons.
At Bookended, you'll find all things book related: what we're reading, what we think you might like to read, to-read lists that are a mile along, and a chronicle of one writer's journey to write a book.
PS. This is your place to be if you've always romanticized bookclubs. (Doesn't everyone?) And if you like lots of talk about how much we love to drink tea and read books, preferably at the same time.
I hope you and your family are doing well. Welcome to The Book Life, a type of post that I’m hoping to be more regular with. It talks about how things are going but from a reader’s perspective. It’s August and I think it’s fair to say that we’ve all gotten used to a new way of living. I’m a biologist and to me, the shelter in place has felt like an incubation reaction: we’re forced…
If you are searching for clarity on how to follow your passion, to find the path that is perfect for you, The Crossroads Of Should And Must, Find And Follow Your Passion by Elle Luna is a must-read. It’s also a quick, short read but it asks us to sit with a very important question: Which one will you choose? The path of Should or that of Must? Should is other people’s expectations of how you…
June 23rd, 2020 A few nature preserves near our neighborhood stayed open during the coronavirus shelter in place but most of the others were closed. To be safe and to avoid crowds, I stayed away for 3 months until the restrictions were relaxed in June. That’s when I realized how much I had taken for granted the easy opportunity to be in natural surroundings, hills covered with trees, tiny brooks gurgling through them. Pre-coronavirus, I went…
Updates from life in the times of a pandemic It’s a hot summer Monday afternoon in June. A case of perfectionism, wanting the writing I share here to be perfect in relevance, length, clarity, and emotion, has led to my not posting at all. I’ve battled these before and obviously, continue to do so. The number of hours spent reading has also gone down. When I think about the reasons for this, I can narrow it…
Being asked to stay home because of the coronavirus pandemic has resulted in a number of changes to our lives but one of the most prevalent ones is we are eating more home-cooked meals. Our relationship with food is complex: eating, cooking and sharing food whether it’s on regular, ordinary everydays or at life-changing occasions like weddings or funerals creates potent sensory memories and ties the food to a particular time of our life and the…
As a lifelong reader and aspiring writer, my first instinct is to turn to words and books for everything. I want to use words to express my grief for the hate and violence that still runs rampant in our societies, both in the United States and in other parts of the world. And I want to use words to educate myself so that I may continue to learn and take informed action. This is my prayer:…
It’s May 16th, 2020 as I type this and we are at about two months of social distancing amidst the coronavirus pandemic. I hope you and your loved ones are doing well. Lessons learned from creative projects: Present Day It’s a time of contrasts, the most obvious one being the difference in how each one of us is affected by the pandemic, scattered as we are on a spectrum that ranges from bored and inconvenienced to…