Posts by Kimberly Sullivan
A springtime stroll along Rome’s Tiber River
Springtime is one of the most beautiful seasons in Italy’s capital. This year, with so many exhausted from endless lockdowns and COVID-weary, the tempting spring warmth is beckoning, and Romans are eager to get out an enjoy a walk through the city. Not surprisingly, the walkways along the Tiber River are full in these days.…
Read MoreMargaret Atwood on book reviews by authors
I think of reviewing like giving blood: some day you might need some yourself. -Margaret Atwood I liked this Twitter comment from Canadian author Margaret Atwood. This was in response to a person who suggested that authors – especially famous authors – should recognize their success and pay it forward by writing book reviews for…
Read MoreMore Big 10 Football at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
I can’t write about one pillar of Big 10 Football without writing about its rival. Last week I wrote about Columbus, Ohio’s campus of Ohio State University, tremendously famous for its impressive football team. As luck would have it, its biggest sports rival is just a three hour drive due north in Ann Arbor, Michigan.…
Read MoreFinding our author voice
For those who love writing and reading, the discussion about author voice and that feeling we experience when we’re fully immersed in a character voice in a new novel we’re reading is endlessly fascinating. Sadly, it also takes lots (and lots, and lots) of practice to develop. This is why I was eager to sign…
Read MoreA mega campus & Big 10 Football at Ohio State University
I’ve already written about my visit this past summer to Ohio’s capital of Columbus. In previous posts I’ve written about German Village, the Scioto Rover walk and the Short North District. Not far beyond Short North lies the sprawling campus of Ohio State University, so we had to stop off to see it, even though…
Read MoreHemingway’s take on life’s not fair, get over it
“The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places.” -Ernest Hemingway I grew up reading Ernest Hemingway, and devoured most of his works in my younger years, but I couldn’t say he was ever a favorite author of mine. Yet, in this odd age of “Words are violence!” and a quest…
Read MoreBarbarians (and kids) at the gate
The Aurelian Walls of Ancient Rome are still in remarkably good condition in today’s Rome. It isn’t called the Eternal City for nothing. Built between 270- 275 AD under Emperor Aurelius, the Aurelian Walls eventually reached 19 kilometers of defensive walls guarded by Roman soldiers who were vigilalant in ensuring the Barbarians were not capable…
Read MoreBook Review: Grown Ups
Irish author Marian Keyes always delivers interesting characters, and her latest novel, Grown Ups, doesn’t disappoint. The novel unfolds in Dublin, and on various holiday locales around Ireland – and one further afield in Tuscany, Italy. We’re introduced rather quickly to a large cast of characters. The Casey brothers – Johnny, Ed and Liam –…
Read MoreBack for more olive ascolane (& finally sunshine) in Ascoli Piceno
I’ve already written about the quest my son and I fulfilled, journeying to a deserted, rainy, lockdown-mode Ascoli Piceno in search of the local specialty: olive ascolane (stuffed olives). Luckily, a second race took us once again to the Marche, and this time we were able to stop by on a sunny day free from…
Read MoreBook review: All the Lonely People
I so enjoyed reading my first Mike Gayle novel, Half A World Away, earlier this year that I decided to also read his newest, All the Lonely People. It didn’t disappoint. This story opens as we observe a grumpy, old man, Hubert Bird, speaking from his London home with his daughter who works in Australia.…
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