Kids need books. That’s it. That’s the Tweet.

L.M. Montgomery taught me that the value of a person is not related to utility or even a capacity to love others. “‘Father wasn’t a failure!’ cried Emily, choking with anger. ‘You had no right to call him a failure. Nobody who was as loved as much as he was could be a failure.’”

This is the only poem for which I've ever received h*te-mail. But I'm going to keep sharing it and hoping it grows wings.

Deep into THE NIGHT IN QUESTION & loving it - smart, snarky YA mystery. Serious Veronica Mars vibes. #fridayreads

Loving every page of @albadonati's DIARY OF A TUSCAN BOOKSHOP. #fridayreads

Started BABEL last night & I have a feeling it's going to be a RIDE. Loving the Oxford setting! #fridayreads Rebecca F. Kuang

WOO HOO! LEFTIES! Raise your left paw if you celebrate International Left-Hander's Day! #InternationalLeftHandersDay

Okay, places everybody! New week, take one, scene one. Lights... camera... ACTION!!!

Late August, given heavy rain and sun For a full week, the blackberries would ripen. At first, just one, a glossy purple clot . . . Like thickened wine: summer’s blood was in it Leaving stains upon the tongue and lust for Picking

Revisiting one of my favorite passages from an interview with Toni Morrison:

So grateful to James Martin, SJ for his kind words about my book. What We Remember Will Be Saved tells the stories of six women and men and what they rescue from war when they escape. It publishes a week from today.

The city we call home showed us its resilience, strength, and hope after the events of September 11th, 2001. To everyone affected by that day, wherever you are, we love you and we will #neverforget. ❤️

In a world of performative cruelty and outrage, it takes tremendous courage to be gentle, to love well, to read widely, to embrace curiosity instead of bigotry, to pursue kindness instead of hate.

We lift our gazes not To what stands between us, But what stands before us. We close the divide, Because we know to put Our future first, we must first Put our differences aside.

So, Monday...we meet again.

I rarely critique someone's work because I can’t know what it is like to do their job, perform their dance, swing a bat, paint a canvas, drive a truck, lay pipes, put out a fire, catch a criminal, write a novel, perform surgery, code a website etc. To my fellow mets. see below.

We can act like social media "isn't real life" but it is--for so many of us, we have been shaped and changed by interactions here. We've been educated, built communities, shaped careers, watched movements happen in real time. It's powerful, dangerous, beautiful, all of it.

@jessicajlee "probes, researches, and even delights in the ways in which plants—seeds, trees, rhizomes—consistently defy human notions of borders and boundaries," in her new essay collection. Read the full review of DISPERSALS by Katie Noah Gibson, online! thecommononline.org/review-dispers…

Plants are a lesson in belonging and migration in @jessicajlee's new essay collection, DISPERSALS. Reviewer Katie Noah Gibson praises Lee's weaving of "the scientific and the poetic". Read the full article online at: thecommononline.org/review-dispers…