Welcome!

I’ve revamped my newsletter a little bit, so I thought a little re-introduction might be in order. I’m Karen, (bummer of a name in 2025, I know) and I live in the suburbs of Philadelphia with my husband Ross and the best dog in the world, Frankie. I’m 57, and I’m a former stay-at-home Mom of 2 girls. Maddie is 29 and lives in Idaho, and Tori is 27 and lives in Philadelphia. My main hobby as an empty nester is that I read. Like, I read a lot. Originally my plan for this newsletter was to write a lot about life in general as a mid-life GenX-er, and there are some posts still up of that ilk. But this has become more about books, books, and more books.

I put out a weekly newsletter each Monday morning with a summary of the books I read in the past week. And my favorite part of these weekly newsletters has become how, even with fiction, there’s always a tie in to real life, and I can always have a take away to draw on and carry with me. So I try to find something relevant from the weeks’ readings to each weekly newsletter. It’s been fun to do, and I’m grateful to all of you who choose to come along for the ride!

As always, you’re welcome to follow along with my Goodreads to see everything I’ve read or my list of favorite books. I don’t write reviews on there very often, as I’m saving those for this newsletter. And if the mood strikes, I’ll certainly throw in other odd newsletter topics too like recipes, life updates, midlife rants, and things like that.

Thanks for subscribing and following along with my hobby! Reading brings me a lot of joy and I love sharing these books with others, so I hope you can find a book or two that make you smile as well. And if you want a little bit more than just books, I also co-host a podcast with my daughter Tori called Let Me Call My Mom. We record it on or around Mondays and we upload it on Thursdays. You can find us on Apple, Spotify, Youtube or wherever you like to listen to or watch your podcasts. This is kind of a fly-on-the-wall type podcast of a GenX mom and her GenZ daughter talking about things that Moms and Daughters talk about. We giggle, we debate, we disagree, but we always connect with love and honesty, and as long as we’re talking, all’s right in my world. Join us!

Love, Karen