JPL’s Summer Reading Program has officially started, and this year’s theme is Oceans of Possibilities! In keeping with that theme, I thought it would be fun to crochet jellyfish. I just found out that the name for a group of jellyfish is a smack, though they can also be called a bloom or a swarm. […]
SPACE OPERA by Catherynne M. Valente is a book so up my alley that I put off reading it for years because I was afraid it couldn’t live up to how amazing it sounded. I can tell you now that I was wrong. But before I tell you about the book, let me ask: have […]
When the pandemic started, many people – including myself – thought that no one would want to read fiction set during this time. On top of the fact that this is a disaster we are all living through, everyone was stuck in their homes learning to make their own bread and hoping they had enough […]
One of the trickiest parts of crafting, in my opinion, is selecting colors for a project. Sticking to the colors shown in a pattern can be great, but choosing your own is an excellent way to bring your own style to your work. At our March meeting, we are going to talk about color – […]
Do you have a closet full of unfinished projects? Have you gone to the craft store “just to look around” and found yourself leaving with an armload of goodies? Got a project you’re muddling through? Did you just pick up a new hobby — and now you’re dying to show it off? Why don’t you […]
For these dark, cold winter nights, many readers turn to the cozy mystery genre. It is a genre full of stories of charming small towns beset by serial killers and warm winter cabins playing host to locked room mysteries – with victims and perpetrators alike trapped inside by record snowfall. While the book I read […]
When Nicolette Farrell was eighteen, her best friend went missing. The entire town came together to scour the woods for her, and the local police looked into everyone who knew anything about her disappearance. In the end, a detective was sent by the state to the small town of Cooley Ridge, and – according to […]
Over the last couple of years there has been a movement back toward mending. Rather than getting rid of old clothes, you can grab a needle and thread and give them a new life with a few simple techniques. And if the techniques are simple, they can be made complicated – that is where visible […]
As the title implies, MEXICAN GOTHIC by SILVIA MORENO-GARCIA is an homage to the gothic fiction novels of the 20th century, but one set deep in the mountains of Mexico rather than the English countryside. Noemí Taboada is the strong-willed, somewhat-spoiled daughter of a wealthy family. She spends her free time reveling in the glamor […]
With its brightly colored cover and its strange title, WE RIDE UPON STICKS by QUAN BARRY caught my attention immediately. If I had been more familiar with the plot, it is possible that I would have been more suspicious of the way it instantly grabbed me. In the summer of 1989, the members of a […]
1901 East 20th Street
Joplin, MO 64804
Phone: 417-623-7953
