Every age is an age of infinite possibilities!  [hardcover copy of I'm Mostly Here to Enjoy Myself: One Woman's Pursuit of Pleasure in Paris by Glynnis MacNicol propped up inside a hat box with a pattern of the Eiffel Tower and "PARIS L'EXPOSITION" around the rim of the top]  I'm Mostly Here to Enjoy Myself: One Woman's Pursuit of Pleasure in Paris by Glynnis MacNicol  non-fiction memoir  Viking/Penguin Life, June 2024  In a world that works hard to shove women over forty into irrelevance and invisibility, this author celebrates life as viewed, lived, experienced to its fullest by one grown woman and other grown women in the present and from the past. The breezy, contemplative narration style invites readers to observe and consider the author's adventurous journey of investigation and confirmation of self through the uninhibited pursuit of all kinds of pleasure. References to other memoirs, movies, art, history, fashion, geography and more parallel, re...

Jump, jump into your joy!    [Sharks Don't Sink: Adventures of a Rogue Shark Scientist by Jasmin Graham hardcover book with 3 black & white images of the author on the front; then the following books with their spines facing outward - Yellowface by R.F. Kuang, Business Casual by B. K. Borison, The Au Pair Affair by Tessa Bailey, Summer Romance by Annabel Monaghan, The Art of Catching Feelings by Alicia Thompson]  Sharks Don't Sink: Adventures of a Rogue Scientist by Jasmin Graham  non-fiction memoir & scientific research  Pantheon, July 2024   Seeing the author during a recent appearance on CBS Mornings made me curious to learn more about her life and her scientific pursuits. To quote a passage from chapter 13, "As is so often the case in science, you go looking for the answer to one question and end up with another unanswered question altogether."  Throughout the prologue, thirteen chapters, and epilogue filled with thoughtful personal and pro...

Gorgeous weather, lovely humans (and a few precious fur babies), talented musicians, artisans, authors, delicious food, assorted adult libations...  Too much goodness and joy to list.  Abundant gratitude to every attendee and the phenomenal P.G. Parks & Recreation/Marietta House Museum teams!  Special thanks to everyone who stopped to chat with the authors and to buy (or find out how to borrow from pgcmls.info) books and pick up some author swag.  This year's Jazz & Wine Fest at Marietta was outstanding in every way. [4 musicians moving among a drum set, an amp, music and  instrument stands arranged under a tent]  [half of a six-foot table assorted author swag of t-shirts, ball caps, a jute & cotton basket containing items for a raffle, framed pages with various QR codes, book purchasing/borrowing instructions, and content warnings, business cards, and hand sanitizer] [multiple copies of Prison Love, a non-fiction memoir about one woman's experi...

  [front cover of a hardcover book of Your First Million: Why You Don't Have To Be Born Into A Legacy of Wealth To Leave One Behind, An Entrepreneur's Course by Arlan Hamilton with a photo of the author]  [Your First Million by Arlan Hamilton atop and next to two book stacks: the first has three trade paperbacks - Love in Tandem, Love You Mean It, Effie Olsen's Summer Special; second stack: Lady Eve's Last Con, The Body in the Backyard, Pride & Preston Lin, Bruno, Fiasco, The Dixon Rule, Love & Whiskey: The Remarkable True Story of Jack Daniel His Master Distiller Nearest Green and the Improbable Rise of Uncle Nearest, I'm Mostly Here to Enjoy Myself]  Your First Million: Why You Don't Have To Be Born Into A Legacy of Wealth To Leave One Behind, An Entrepreneur's Course by Arlan Hamilton  non-fiction, business, memoir  Little, Brown Spark, January 2024  Underestimated.  Underrepresented.  Two labels that apply to millions (billions?) of pe...

[ a collection of 7 books: Your First Million by Arlan Hamilton & Prison Love by D. Braxtonbrown-Smith with front covers facing up; Bruno by Delaney Diamond, Birding with Benefits by Sarah T. Dubb, Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez, The Summer Escape by Jill Shalvis, A Ruse of Shadows by Sherry Thomas with their spines facing up]  [a "Marietta House Museum Adventure Awaits You" postcard slanted across the upper left corner of a "Wine & Jazz at Marietta Sat., Aug. 3 2PM - 7PM $10/Person Ages 21 & up..." flyer with the silhouette of a saxophonist and a wine bottle]  Prison Love by D. Braxtonbrown-Smith  non-fiction memoir  AuthorHouse, 2008  Prison Love offers readers an intimate look at incarceration as experienced by a woman whose education and other advantages weren't enough to protect her from being tangled up in the criminal justice system. With compassionate candor, the author uses the acknowledgments, forword [sic], introduction, and nine titl...

  [front cover of Seducing the Burks: Five Erotic Tales by Cardyn Brooks with the image of an open hand making a beckoning gesture, a "2004 Independent Publisher IP Award Finalist" medallion sticker; back cover with blurb, "authorHOUSE" logo - formerly 1st Books, barcodes]  Self-publishing 21 years ago was still often considered "vanity publishing" as in ego-driven by writers not talented enough to merit a contract with a traditional  publisher. My decision to self-publish came after years of feedback praising the compelling nature and professional quality of my submission as prefaces to rejections that included phrases like, "Will your target audience of readers relate to the level of privilege your main characters have?"   WT...  It took me awhile to understand that since my Black characters are educated and middle class, agents and editors assumed that most readers wouldn't identify with them since (they also assumed) most Black people wer...

  [horizontal bookstack of 2 hardcover books: Madness: Race and Insanity in a Jim Crow Asylum by Antonia Hylton and The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center]   [9 books in a messy horizontal stack next to 4 books arranged vertically: When I Think of You, A Gamble at Sunset, The Prospects, The Takedown, The Fake Out, The Five Year Lie, A Grave Robbery, Winter Lost, Madness..., I Curse You With Joy, Inconceivable, Dear Black Girls: How to Be True to You]    Madness: Race and Insanity in a Jim Crow Asylum by Antonia Hylton*  non-fiction  Legacy Lit, January 2024  Crownsville State Hospital began as Maryland's Hospital for the Negro Insane. This author's personal family history and academic and professional pursuits led to this detailed, thoughtful investigation into the overlapping layers of racism with access to resources, compassion, and opportunities for healing and advancement. It's an emotional, informative, and essential read  in order to honor...