Tag: Book Club

Holidays, Reading

Comfort reads and quiet creativity: finding peace in a busy season

Mandy Webster

When life speeds up, it’s tempting to set reading and writing aside until “things calm down.” But this season rarely slows — and maybe it’s not supposed to. Instead, it’s the perfect opportunity to carve out small pockets of quiet and reconnect with the stories and ideas that bring you joy.

Combine reading with social time this winter season!

The shorter days and long to-do lists can drain our energy, but they can also push us to slow down in small ways. Curl up with a comfort read that makes you exhale. Revisit an old favorite or try something cozy and atmospheric. For writers, even a single paragraph or a page in a day counts. Sometimes creativity thrives in small, stolen moments.

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Find Your Next Read

Historical fiction book club picks for 2025

Mandy Webster

Are you looking for new historical fiction for your book club to read in 2025? Check out my list on Elderfly Books & Gifts!

https://bookshop.org/widgets.js Read more: Historical fiction book club picks for 2025
Find Your Next Read

New Fiction Book Club on Facebook

Mandy Webster

Despite my addiction to mainstream thriller novels, I also love it when I find an amazing book that no one is talking about. When this happens, I find myself wanting so bad to get people talking about the book. I’ve joined book clubs in the past hoping to find like-minded individuals only to end up reading a bunch of books that I just didn’t like (one book club even made me read George W. Bush’s memoir about George H.W. Bush). So, what do I do when I can’t find what I want? I make my own! That’s why I’ve decided to start my own online fiction book club on Facebook!

I’m currently in the “inviting members” phase of this project and would love it if you could join my group! The club officially launches in January, so if your New Year’s Resolution is to read more or expand your reading horizons, then maybe this group can help keep you accountable so you can reach that goal!

If you’re in, visit the book club page on Facebook and join. Be sure to answer the questions to get into the group. I know it’s annoying to have to go through this vetting process, but anymore it’s the only way to keep spammers out of Facebook groups. I’ve already posted our first read, so if you’re looking for something to read over a holiday break (if you’re lucky enough to have one,) you can get started on our very first book club read today!

I can’t wait to get started on our first book, which I actually haven’t read yet myself, and start the discussion. Feel free to invite your reading friends to join us. Happy reading!

Author Interview

Author interview with Melissa R. Collings

Mandy Webster

Melissa R. Collings is the award-winning author of the bittersweet love story, The False Flat. Before Melissa started writing, she worked as a surgical physician associate in Nashville, where one of her favorite procedures was reconstructing a lower-lumbar tattoo after a back surgery. Her stories, like her, are always a mix: light and dark, laughter and tears, outlandish and grounded, beautiful and ugly, glitter and charcoal smears. Her interests are way too varied; her imagination never fails to get her into trouble; and she lives by her life philosophy: nothing is impossible, and everything is better with glitter—except surgical wounds.

Q: When did you first catch the writing bug? What drove you to persist?
A: I’m originally a surgical Physician Associate (medical provider). I worked 50-60 hours per week doing spine surgery, rounding on hospital patients, and seeing patients in the clinic. I enjoyed my job, but when my husband and I were expecting our first child, I decided to take a long hiatus from medical work and stay home to raise our daughter. I’d worked since I was very young, so this was a steep adjustment for me. I needed something for myself, so I turned to a psychological suspense novel I’d started before college.

Back then, I’d been working as a receptionist and had a lot of down time. I had an idea for a book and started writing it to fill my time. I didn’t think anything would come of it. But when I was at home with a newborn, I picked that novel up again, and I discovered a whole new world.

Continue reading “Author interview with Melissa R. Collings” →
Blogging, Book Reviews, Memoir, Women in the World

Read with me: Spring 2015 reading list

Mandy Webster

Two of the books on my reading list
I just barely managed to get these two books purchased in time to get my reading done for class this week. I’m planning to get the rest of my books from the library as I need them. Seriously, who can afford to actually buy books?

This semester, I am taking a graduate-level course in women’s life writing in an attempt to generate blog post ideas. I’ve found that I write more when I’m taking classes, so my plan is to just continually take classes for the rest of my life whether I need any more degrees or not. It’s lucky I recently landed a full-time civil servant position at a state university where one of the benefits is free tuition!

It’s also too bad you can’t eat tuition, but that’s another blog post entirely.

Since I’ll probably end up discussing some of the books we’re reading for class this semester, I thought I’d share my reading list with you in case you would like to read along: Continue reading “Read with me: Spring 2015 reading list” →