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I need “alone time.” I like being with people, but sometimes I just need some solitude. When I started reading The Girls, by Lori Lansens, I tried to imagine always having someone next to me—physically, mentally, and emotionally—and never being able to get away. What a difficult concept to grasp! It’s also hard to get my arms around not being able to look into the eyes of the one closest to me, as well as the balance needed to move separate bodies in the delicate dance of life.

By Nancy Jelinek

Coastliners, by Joanne Harris, is one of my favorite books.

I love to travel, but when I can’t leave the confines of my office or favorite reading chair, I enjoy travel guides. Novel Destinations: Literary Landmarks from Jane Austen’s Bath to Ernest Hemingway’s Key West, by Shannon McKenna Schmidt and Joni Rendon, is just the ticket.

Elizabeth Ironside, author of Death in the Garden, is the pseudonym of Lady Catherine Manning. She is the wife of Sir David Manning, the recent British ambassador to the United States.

I can hardly believe it. We've made some plans for Christmas already. We usually start talking about it with family members at Thanksgiving, and then we can't really come to an agreement because everyone has multiple celebrations to schedule with in-laws and out-laws.

I bought quite a few old paperbacks at our library book sale, and I've been doing some reading in them. I found several I liked, but I'm not going to review them because they may be out of print or difficult to locate. The authors are familiar names: Ken Follett, Alice Hoffman, and Jonathan Kellerman.

I understand there was some confusion about two of the books I previously reviewed, To Kill a Mockingbird and Mockingbird. Here's the difference:

To Kill a Mockingbird is the story of Scout Finch, a young girl growing up in Alabama during the 1930s, her father Atticus, and brother Jem. The three of them are affected by the legal case of a black man accused of raping a white girl. It is fiction, although loosely based on people and events in the life of Harper Lee, the author.

I stayed up too late watching the Beijing Olympics. Men's gymnastics—what a nail biter! The young USA team managed to pull out a bronze despite losing two of their experienced members. It was also fun to watch Michael Phelps in his quest for more Olympic gold. He's some kind of athlete!

I have books on shelves, stacked next to the beds (ours and in the guest room), and in boxes. Well, you get the picture. I’ve determined I need to get organized. I’m now in the process of developing a worksheet on my computer, listing titles, authors, hardback or paperback, type—fiction, nonfiction, biography, etc.

Dame Stella Rimington, author of Secret Asset, retired to write after more than 30 years with the British Security Service. MI5’s responsibilities include countersubversion, counterespionage, and counterterrorism.