Book Pilgrim

Some Banned Books That Changed Me

It’s Banned Books Week again and I’m thinking about banned books that changed me because they changed the way I saw the world.

Oct 6 • 

Barbara Shoup

15

9

September 2025

The Homemade God

In these days of super-sized male personalities, it’s more interesting than usual to consider the effect of a parent’s beliefs and behavior on their…

Sep 30 • 

Barbara Shoup

12

2

Bug Hollow

A while back, invited to give a talk on a short story from a writer’s point of view, I chose my all-time favorite story, Edith Wharton’s “Roman Fever…

Sep 8 • 

Barbara Shoup

11

4

August 2025

What Kind of Paradise

I recently listened to “Mother Country Radicals,” a podcast series hosted by Zayd Ayers Dorhn that explores the legacy of his parents, Bill Ayers and…

Aug 27 • 

Barbara Shoup

13

6

Still Life

Still Life

Aug 15 • 

Barbara Shoup

12

8

July 2025

Our Beautiful Boys

When Vikram Shastri walks onto the football field, mid-season, one of the kids on the team says, “Bin Ladin is playing now?”

Jul 16 • 

Barbara Shoup

9

6

June 2025

Hag-Seed

When I was working as the writer-in-residence at Broad Ripple High School’s Center for the Humanities and the Performing Arts (best job ever), I worked…

Jun 2 • 

Barbara Shoup

17

2

May 2025

On the Mad River

It’s fate, Rosa Linda del Rio decides when, trying to decide where to go, she finds a one-way bus ticket to Mad River, Ohio in an envelope tucked behind…

May 22 • 

Barbara Shoup

8

1

The Boyhood of Cain

Recently, I’ve been thinking more than usual about what makes people do what they do, the paths that lead them from birth to moments of action that…

May 7 • 

Barbara Shoup

14

6

April 2025

Idle Grounds

If you’re lucky enough to have a tribe of cousins, as I do, you will love Krystelle Bamford’s Idle Grounds.

Apr 25 • 

Barbara Shoup

9

4

The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus

“Arriving at the University of Edinburgh for her first term Pen knows her divorced parents back in Canada are hiding something from her.”

Apr 18 • 

Barbara Shoup

9

2

River of Books

It’s National Library Week!

Apr 12 • 

Barbara Shoup

16

4