Jacqueline H. Harris's Blog

Concepts of Managing:
A Road Map for Avoiding Career Hazardsby Ronald Harris
with Jacqueline H. Harris, PhD, and Casey B. Harris, JD, MBA

Genres: Business, Nonfiction, Career Self-Help, Academic
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Length: 208 pages
Published: October 18, 2023Formats: Available in hardback, paperback, and e-book
Purchase Links: AuthorHouse, Amazon, Barnes & NobleAuthor Website: ronaldharrisauthor.comAuthor LinkedIn: 

My Goodreads Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

I co-wrote a book!

I'm excited to share the publ...

 

Middle-Grade Mystery Recommendations

If you're looking for fun and engaging middle-grade mysteries, look no further than the following two series. Both are now well-established and popular with young readers and feature vivid characters,  historical fiction settings, and young and capable sleuths puzzling together page-turning whodunits.

The Myrtle Hardcastle Series
by Elizabeth C. Bunce

(order the entire series here)

Set in early twentieth-century Edwardian England, Myrtle Hardcastle is a smart an...

The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper
by Hallie Rubenhold

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, History, British History, Biography, Mystery, Feminism
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Length: 333 pages
Published: April 9, 2019
Purchase Links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble

Official Book Summary:

"Five devastating human stories and a dark and moving portrait of Victorian London—the untold lives of the women killed by Jack the Ripper

Polly, Annie, Elisabeth, Catherine, and Mar...

Murder in Mesopotamia
(Hercule Poirot #14)
by Agatha Christie

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Detective, Thriller, Murder Mystery, British Literature
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks (HarperCollins)
Length: 288 pages
Published: December 2001 (originally published July 6, 1936)
Purchase Links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble

Official Book Summary:

"Suspicious events at a Middle Eastern archaeological excavation site intrigue the great Hercule Poirot as he investigates Murder in Mesopotamia, a classic murde...

 

House of Dreams: The Life of L. M. Montgomery
by Liz Rosenberg
illustrated by Julie Morstad

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Canadian History, Middle Grade
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Length: 339 pages
Published: June 12, 2018
Purchase Links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble

Official Book Summary:"An affecting biography of the author of Anne of Green Gables is the first for young readers to include revelations about her last days and to encompass the complexity of a brilliant and sometimes troubled life...

  The Book of Joy:
Lasting Happiness in a Changing World

by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu
with Douglas Abrams

Genres: Nonfiction, Self Help, Spirituality, Philosophy, Religion, Friendship, Inspirational
Publisher: Avery (Penguin Random House)
Length: 354 pages
Published: October 18, 2016
Purchase Links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble

My Goodreads Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Official Book Summary:

"The occasion was a big birthday. And it inspired two close friends to get together...

Last Witnesses:
An Oral History of the Children of World War II
by Svetlana Alexievich
translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky

Genres: Nonfiction, History, World War II, Russia, Autobiography, Memoir, War
Publisher: Random House
Length: 320 pages
Published: July 2, 2019 (first published in 1985)
Purchase Links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble

My Goodreads Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Official Book Summary:"From the Nobel Prize-winning author comes an oral history of children's experiences in ...

Other-Wordly:
Words Both Strange and Lovely from Around the World

by Yee Lum Mak

illustrated by Kelsey Garrity-Riley

Genres: Nonfiction, Picture Book, Art, Gift Book
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Length: 64 pages
Published: October 11, 2016
Purchase Links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble

My Goodreads Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Official Book Summary: "Discover words to surprise, delight, and enamor. Learn terms for the sunlight that filters through the leaves of trees, for dancing awkwardly but with relish, a...

Bookstagram, BookTube, and BookTok:
Reading Communities in the 21st Century

As an active reader, book reviewer, blogger, but also a literature professor, I try to make sure I'm somewhat caught up on new reading trends and communities so I can share that information with my classes. The following article is adapted from one I recently wrote for my department. I hope it is of help to many of you and readers at-large everywhere.

Please note that by no means is this a complete list. I'm only quickly re...

 

 

To conclude my year in review, here are all of my favorite fiction and poetry books that I read during 2020. I had a chance to reread several longtime faves as well as encounter new books that I adored. Books were a welcome form of escape during so many months spent in isolation.

What were your favorite books from 2020?

Circe
by Madeline Miller

Jane Eyre
by Charlotte Brontë

Frankenstein
by Mary Shelley

The Thursday Murder Club (Thursday Murder Club #1)
by Richard Osman

Troubled Blood (Cormoran Strike #...