Motivations behind some choices seem so impenetrable that even squinting close enough to crash into the subject you won’t find a mental foothold. That’s how I felt about Bernie Madoff and everything connected to his Ponzi scheme. How did he do it? Did his family really not know? How did he fool so many … Read more
Recently I listened to Joe Queenan—author of a book about his love of books and reading—on NPR (the soundtrack of my life) eager for the pleasure of hearing someone who reads as voraciously (okay, more) as I do, and loves books as intensely (not possible that it could be more) and who, like me, is obsessed … Read more
The perfect first line. How we chase it, scrambling phrases and our brains, seeking magic words to pop open our stories like magic keys.( Sometimes I want to create an entire book because a great beginning sentence pops into my head.) Tougher, can be that last line; Tougher because it’s culminating an entire world. … Read more
“At work, you think of the children you have left at home. At home, you think of the work you’ve left unfinished. Such a struggle is unleashed within yourself. Your heart is rent.” — Golda Meir I suspect that it’s easier to find authentic novels about the difficulty of being a daughter or son than down-and-dirty … Read more
Everyone has something that keeps them going when nothing else will do. For some it’s cupcakes. Others choose wine. My husband has football. I have beauty magazines. I’m not exactly sure where I get my make-up, hair product, fragrance, and clothes jones. Partially from my mother, who could transform herself in miraculous ways between walking … Read more