Author
If you’ve read my short story, “Nothing to Fear but Fear Itself (and Spiders),” you might be curious about the meal that Macy prepares for Stan: “carrot bisque with sour cream drizzled into a spider web pattern on the top […]
More a collection of linked short stories than a novel, Jami Attenberg’s “The Middlesteins” paints a family portrait from a number of different perspectives. Each chapter is told from the POV of a different character, among them matriarch Edie, a […]
I’ve had a soft spot for “Oliver Twist” ever since I played a small role – that of Charlotte, the undertaker’s slatternly daughter – in my high school’s production of the musical “Oliver!” So when I saw “Artful: A Novel” […]
These are not necessarily my “favorite” books, but 10 that have a special place in my life for various reasons. Presented roughly in the order in which I encountered them: The Outsiders. The book that made me believe I could […]
My niece and a lot of other kids are headed back to school this week, and while I don’t have children of my own, I still get caught up in the excitement of the season. Growing up, I always loved […]
I suffered a personal loss while reading Marcus Zusak’s “The Book Thief” – my husband and I buried our beloved dog, who passed away last month after a long illness – so I’m sadly familiar with how our minds struggle […]
Hubby and I were flipping through channels Sunday night, and we landed on “The Yearling,” the 1946 film adaptation of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings’ 1938 novel, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. I never had to read “The Yearling” for […]
Daniel Handler’s “Why We Broke Up,” a birthday gift from my brother, took me two months to finish — not because I didn’t enjoy it, but because it’s so dense, with pages-long stream-of-consciousness passages consisting of carefully chosen phrases that […]
Do you want to know what it’s like out tonight?I could tell you that the sun has just gone down,That the sky is streaked with pink clouds,That the air is warm and sweet with the smell of honeysuckleAnd a cool, […]
I’ve been a huge fan of Pamela Des Barres since high school, when I read her autobiography “I’m With the Band” and dreamed of living a life so interesting that one day I, too, could write a book about my […]