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Lori's Book Loft

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Cheat Sheets for Life by Ayesha Ratnayake

on February 21, 2021

Ayesha Ratnayake Cheat Sheets for Life

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Author Spotlight Ralph Webster on The Other Mrs. Samson

on February 15, 2021

Ralph Webster The Other Mrs. Samson

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Don't Shoot Your Future Self A Pathway for the Veteran's Transition

on February 10, 2021

Don't Shoot Your Future Self A Pathway for the Veteran's Transition Eric Power US Military VA disability

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January 2021 Reads a Cool Month

on February 05, 2021

Lethal Family by Blake Sebring

on January 21, 2021

Blake Sebring Lethal Family

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2021 Happy New Year

on January 01, 2021

December 2020 Reads and Reruns

on December 31, 2020

November 2020 Reads and Neighbor's Adirondack chairs

on November 30, 2020

Heaven's Open Book

on November 21, 2020

Heaven's Open Book Sheldon Peart

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Here She Is: The Complicated Reign of the Beauty Pageant in America

on November 18, 2020

Here She Is: The Complicated Reign of the Beauty Pageant in America Hilary Levey Friedman

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October 2020 Reads and Leaf Peeping

on November 01, 2020

Blind Spots: Why Students Fail and the Science That Can Save Them, Kimberly Berens, Ph.D.

on October 24, 2020

Blind Spots Kimberly Nix Berens

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The Complete Poetical Works of John Greenleaf Whittier

on October 10, 2020

John Greenleaf Whittier

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Family in Six Tones: A Refugee Mother, an American Daughter' by Lan Cao and Harlan Margaret Van Cao

on October 05, 2020

Family in Six Tones Lan Cao and Harlan Margaret Van Cao

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Love Across the Divide by Krystal Ford

on October 01, 2020

Krystal Ford Love Across the Divide

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September 2020 Reads at Hidden Lake Gardens

on September 30, 2020

Unfettered Journey Gary F. Bengier

on September 24, 2020

Gary F. Bengier Unfettered Journey

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The Secret of Rosalita Flats Tim W. Jackson

on September 09, 2020

The Secret of Rosalita Flats Tim W. Jackson

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Confess: The Untold Story of Dorothy Good by Juliette van der Molen

on September 08, 2020

Confess: The Untold Story of Dorothy Good Juliette van der Molen

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Knee Deep Karol Hoeffner

on September 03, 2020

Karol Hoeffner Knee Deep

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You Were Not Born to Suffer: Overcome Fear, Insecurity and Depression and Love Yourself Back to Happiness, Confidence, and Peace Blake D. Bauer

on September 02, 2020

Blake D. Bauer You Were Not Born to Suffer

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WELCOME TO MY BOOK LOFT

I'm Lori, a lifelong reader, and the person behind Lori's Book Loft. Here you'll find book reviews, conversations with authors, bookstores worth visiting, books being adapted for film, and the occasional story about why a particular book found its way into my hands.

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Why I’m Reading What the Dog Saw

I spent the better part of the summer watching documentaries. There’s something about the way a documentary gathers little pieces—people, places, events, memories, and bits of history—and brings them together to tell a larger story that I find fascinating. I’ve realized that I really enjoy stories that make me curious about the world and send me down an unexpected path. That same curiosity is probably what led me to What the Dog Saw . This summer, I made it to a new bookstore and, naturally, spent some time wandering the shelves. I also stopped at a few book sales and came home with several older books. I love finding books this way. You never quite know what is going to catch your attention. One of those books was What the Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell. I'll admit that the title was what initially pulled me in. At the time, we were mourning the loss of our beloved dog, Buddy , who was nearly sixteen years old. Seeing the word Dog on the cover was enough to make me pick it up...

Beyond Goose and Maverick: Discovering the Real Top Gun

When I wasn’t watching documentaries this summer, I seemed to find myself rewatching Top Gun: Maverick. More than once. Okay… probably more times than I should admit. There is just something about this movie that clicks with me. It has the action, the incredible flying scenes, the music, and that wonderful bit of nostalgia that comes with seeing familiar characters again. But I think what really keeps bringing me back is the story underneath all of it. I love the idea that sometimes you can't simply follow the book. The mission in Top Gun: Maverick requires the pilots to draw on everything they have learned—their training, knowledge, experience, and instincts—and then figure out a way to do something that hasn't been done before. They have to trust what they know, trust each other, and find a new way to reach the target and come home. There is something about that that resonates with me. Maybe because life is often like that. We collect experiences along the way, and eventually...

A Sentence That Made Me Stop in Straw Shoes

One of the things I love about communicating with authors through email is that you just never know what might land in your inbox. Sometimes an email leads to a conversation, and sometimes it leads to a book you might never have discovered otherwise. That is how Straw Shoes found its way to me. I received an email from Mathias B Freese asking if I would like to read his book and reminding me that he is not getting any younger. Mathias is 86. Of course, I told him I would love to read it. I also told him that I had just heard about a 91-year-old man who had finished the Appalachian Trail, so I was hopeful that perhaps Mathias still had another book in him. He sent me a PDF of Straw Shoes , and I opened it. I even emailed him back to tell him I was beginning the book. There is something I really enjoy about that little connection between an author and a reader. A book can begin as an email and, a few minutes later, you are holding someone's words in your hands. I started readin...

Birdbrains: A Book That Reminded Me to Look Closer

Earlier this year, I received a PDF copy of Birdbrains: A Lyrical Guide to Washington State Birds from Raven Chronicles Press via Shannon O’Grady. I have to admit, I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I first opened it. I love books that bring together different pieces of a story, and this one immediately caught my attention because it isn't simply a book about birds. It is a collection of poetry, stories, observations, artwork, and facts that encourages you to look a little closer at the birds we so often take for granted. Birdbrains is a 314-page anthology featuring 107 species of birds from Washington State, along with other species from across the United States and around the world. It was edited by Washington State poet Susan Rich, with original pen-and-ink sumi-e paintings by artist Hiroko Seki and bird facts and notes from Stephanie Delaney. But what really makes this book interesting is the collection of voices inside it. Ninety-eight poets and writers contributed ...

What Stayed With Me After Ham’s Heaven

I don't think we can look at the early days of space exploration without understanding how much courage, curiosity, and determination went into figuring out whether humans could actually survive in space. I have to admit, when I first picked up this book about Ham, I wasn’t sure how I’d get through the story. Before Ham, there were rhesus monkeys known as Albert I through IV. These monkeys were part of Project Albert, which aimed to study the effects of space travel on living organisms. None of them survived. Reading that part of the story is important. It shows that the risks were already known. By the time Ham came along, there had already been loss, and the people involved in the space program had learned some lessons from those earlier attempts. That stayed with me as I continued reading about Ham. There was already a history behind what he was being asked to do. Before he was Ham, he was simply known as Number 65 . Captured in Cameroon in 1957, he became o...

FROM THE ARCHIVES

June 201748
July 201728
August 201716
September 20177
October 20174
November 201717
December 201724
January 20185
February 20187
March 201827

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