About

My name is Renee, and I’ve been in love with reading since I was four years old. My “academic” credentials are thin enough: I received a B.A. in English Literature from John Carroll University in 1982. That’s it!

I live near Cleveland, Ohio and in the buckle of northeast Ohio’s snow belt, making our winters, well let’s just say challenging. For eight years I homeschooled our only child. Lucky for me Alex loved to read (and still does as a college student), and thus homeschooling was a delightful experience for both of us (most of the time).

The other experience that characterizes me is my 26 year involvement in a Great Books Group. I dropped in in January 1983 because I missed discussing books. The short version is that the torch was passed to me after 13 years, and I develop the annual list with another colleague using the 60+ years of  GB records that I inherited from the charter members.

Like many of you, I read… well everything. I love fiction — high and low brow. I love nonfiction: history, biography, humor, travel, self-help, and on and on.

In The People’s Reading Room, I’ll write about all my reading experiences, from the lofty heights of Plato’s Republic to the silly but entertaining stories spun by Janet Evanovich. I hope we can discuss our reading experiences; I’d love to know what you are reading, and I’m interested in what you think.