Hello, book lover. I’m a husband and father (two sons) who spent 20 years teaching high school English and Journalism in California’s Central Valley. In 2016 I established a freelance editing business, which ran for several years until I began working at a local library.
I grew up in Los Angeles, with brief periods in Honolulu and the San Francisco Bay Area. I attended California State University, Northridge, earning a BA in English with a minor in Journalism. After working for a few years as a journalist, I attended Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. I practiced law for several years, when I decided to make a career change to teaching. It was the work I was meant to do. I taught at my last school from 1999-2016. In 2005, I was named District Teacher of the Year.
My other interests include photography, all things Australia (especially music and Australian Rules Football, aka “footy”), politics, culture, travel, and spending as much time as I can at the coast.
I began this blog in June 2013 for a few reasons. First, I wanted to share my love of books with more people. Second, I realized that about half of the books I read were by women, and back in 2012-2013 I was seeing a lot of articles and social media posts about gender bias in publishing and in coverage of authors and books. I knew that most men read very little fiction by women, and I thought I might be able to persuade them to read more. And I wanted to support women writers, especially those published by small, independent publishers. So I decided this would be rich territory for me to work in. I was following a lot of book blogs and authors at the time and I ran the idea past them. The response was encouraging and they even helped me brainstorm ideas for the blog’s name.
Now it’s 12 years and several thousand readers later and, to my surprise, it’s still a going concern. I hope you’ll decide to subscribe/follow in whatever way works for you. You can also find Read Her Like an Open Book on Instagram. Thanks for your interest!
READ HER LIKE AN OPEN BOOK 
Hi Bill, thank you for reviewing my friend, Lisa Lenzo’s new short story collection. She and I have been friends for decades, so I am thrilled to see folks reading and writing about her work. Do you ever read nonfiction written by women? If so, would you be interested in reading my latest collection of essays about being a woman farmer? All of the short selection in Wedded to the Land first appeared in the Christian Science Monitor. And keep watching for Lisa’s novel….one of these days that excellent book will also rest in folks’ hands. Joan Donaldson
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Nice to hear from you, Joan. Lisa is a major talent and more people should know about her (and read her books, of course). I would be happy to read your book. I live in a small agricultural town about 20 miles outside of Bakersfield, and I’m a fan of this genre, especially folks like David “Mas” Masumoto and Verlyn Klinkenborg. I will send you my address.
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Hello Bill. I just found your blog this morning thanks to the WordPress “Discover” page. I, too, was an English major drawn to literary fiction much more than other fiction genres (I eventually graduated with a concentration in poetry). The only literature class I have fond memories of was a class on 19th century female authors. The class, titled “Romanticism and the Feminist Imagination, was taught by a man, and I understand now just how rare that is. But at the time I was a naive 20-year-old and thought that everyone flocked to good literature, regardless of gender. I’m glad that I didn’t know any “better” because I’m now an English professor and a (soon to be professional) writer. I’m going to have this discussion of the “gendered reading” of fiction with my students this month.
Thanks for your blog.
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Glad to meet you, Robert. I think you’ll like my blog. I’ve subscribed to SoulDaddy to return the favor and keep up with your views on things. English teachers/profs have to stick together.
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Dear Bill:
Mary Kay Zuravleff said I should contact you about my debut novel, INVINCIBLE SUMMERS, that came out yesterday. How crazy weird that another INVINCIBLE SUMMER (without the s) by Alice Adams is out this month as well. What are the odds?
I’d be grateful if you’d consider my debut novel for review. Your site gives readers and authors a wealth of wonderfulness.
Best,
Robin Gaines
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Robin, can you contact me via email at bwolfe@bak.rr.com? Thanks.
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