This is where you’ll find book reviews, reading lists, and other musings about literature.
I’m rereading Bird By Bird, a book by Anne Lamott. The subtitle is “Some Instructions About Writing and Life.” Lamott is a writer and writing teacher who lives in California, somewhat neurotic, very funny and a good follow on Facebook. This book is about what it means to be a writer—the work and mindset...
Before we get into the books I’m reading to start the new year, I have a little boasting to do about my 2017 reading. I actually met my goal for the year, which was to read 25 books written by women. And a couple more by the guys, getting me to 27 for the...
I don’t mean to brag, but I’ve gotta tell you, I’m a VERY good procrastinator. If I have a deadline for something next week, you can bet your last dollar that I’ll get to work on it—next week. And so it was that one day a few years ago, I was down to the...
It’s hard to believe that we’re almost to the end of October, which means we’re almost to the end of the year. The last few months have flown by, and I expect the next couple will go even faster. That means we’re in a race against time, to fit in as much of 2017...
Don’t mind telling you, I’m pretty happy about how my reading year has gone so far. I’ve finished 14 books, well on my way to reaching my goal of 25 books and 100 short stories by the end of the year. AND, since every book I’ve read so far was written by a female...
The election of our first woman president was a momentous occasion, and I decided to commemorate the milestone by reading a lot of books by female authors this year. Oh, wait… Turns out, we didn’t elect a woman president. (Well, WE did, but the Electoral College chose someone else, but that’s another story…) I’m...
Author Jonathan Franzen, in the essay “On Autobiographical Fiction,” part of his 2012 collection Farther Away, writes that whenever a novelist gives a public talk or reading, he or she is invariably asked four “unpleasant questions.” They are, he writes “apparently the price we have to pay for the pleasure of appearing in public.” The...
It’s been way too long since my last Five Books list. But it’s been a crazy-busy last few months, and for a while there my reading seemed to have just fallen off a cliff. But hopefully I’m back on track now. So herewith, are the last five books I’ve read, and a semi-wild guess...
A few weeks ago I had to drive to Little Rock, Ark., to cover a towboat christening for my work. I drove down there on a Friday, attended the christening on Saturday morning, and returned home that afternoon; the driving, round trip, was about 800 miles. St. Louis to Little Rock might be one...
I’ve just finished reading The Submission, a novel by Amy Waldman. It was one of the most powerful books I’ve read lately. It begins as a jury is picking the winner of an anonymous competition to design the memorial at Ground Zero in New York City. Primarily at the urging of one member—who had...
