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A man stands, paging through a book, in front of 6 rows of upright books. Text: National Book Lovers Day

National Book Lovers Day!

Photo by Gunnar Ridderström on Unsplash  Yes, it’s our annual special day, National Book Lovers Day! In honor of which, here are some reading suggestions. (Since I’ve been abroad for the past six weeks, these suggestions are heavily travel related.) 12 Literary Cities Every Book Lover Must Visit New Lives in New Lands: 5+ Journeys […]

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Background: 3 stacked, closed books; open notebook with pen on top. Text: 15 Years Ago on Notes in the Margin

15 Years Ago on Notes in the Margin

Looking back at July 2010, I discover that the literary world was celebrating the 50th anniversary of the publication of Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird. I’ll focus on two posts from that month:  (1) From July 7, 2010: I was gratified to find that the link to the Christian Science Monitor still works.

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A small ocean cruise ship on the water, with green hills and a snow-covered mountain peak in the background.

On Vacation

Today my husband and I embark on a vacation that will take us up the coast of Norway, to Iceland, to Greenland, across the Atlantic Ocean to Canada, then down the east coast of North America to New York City. Since we will be at sea most of the time, internet accessibility will be spotty

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Background: 3 stacked, closed books; open notebook with pen on top. Text: 15 Years Ago on Notes in the Margin

15 Years Ago on Notes in the Margin

Related Post: A look back at the archives reveals that I didn’t publish much content during June 2010. That doesn’t surprise me, since I was concentrating on finishing my dissertation so that I could graduate the following summer. Here’s the single substantive piece for that month, from June 5, 2010: The Psychology of Reading: A

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Background: light oak floor boards. A collage of mass market paperbook covers: Coma by Robin Cook, Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin, Smilla's Sense of Snow by Peter Høeg, Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein, The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty, The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough, The Godfather by Mario Puzo. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Text: R.I.P., Mass-Market Paperbacks

What Mass-Market Paperbacks Do You Remember Reading?

Discussion These are some of the many books I remember carrying around and reading in mass-market paperback format. Since my late adolescence and early adulthood (my late teens, 20s, and 30s) coincided with the height of the mass market age, I felt a twinge of nostalgia when I read that mass-market paperbacks will no longer

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Background: 3 stacked, closed books; open notebook with pen on top. Text: 15 Years Ago on Notes in the Margin

15 Years Ago on Notes in the Margin

For the first installment of this undertaking, I focus on this post from May 29, 2010: Fictive Worlds and Real Brains: The Psychology of Reading This extended discussion of several articles I had read online is from the year before I received my doctorate in psychology. One of the areas I studied was the psychology

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Women are reclaiming their place in baseball

Many Americans see baseball as a sport for men and softball as a sport for women. It wasn’t always this way in the US – and it isn’t that way in the rest of the world. Source: Women are reclaiming their place in baseball

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Photo: a long shot of a baseball field from seats high above home plate; crowds in stands along left and right sides and across the field behind the fences,

Play Ball!

5 Books About Baseball Feature image (Turner Field, Atlanta, GA) by Joshua Peacock on Unsplash   ’Tis the season! In honor of opening day, here are five books (2 novels and 3 works of nonfiction) about the boys of summer and the game they play.  What books would you add to this list? Play Ball:

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Background: 3 stacked, closed books; open notebook with pen on top. Text: Reading Notes: January

Reading Notes: January

Here’s the first entry in my effort to do better this year in documenting the books I read each month. I read (well, listened to the audiobook) and reviewed Yellowface by R.F. Kuang. I also read The Last Russian Doll by Kristen Loesch for my book club meeting in February. I’m going to wait until

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Discussion

2025: Another Year of Unplanned Reading

Just about a year ago I wrote what Notes in the Margin would be up to during 2024. Now, I’m happy with the way last year’s reading turned out, particularly how I ended the year with a sense of accomplishment rather than anxiety and disappointment. Therefore, I’m going to use the same approach to reading

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