We are spending Christmas in Italy this year with my parents and it’s been fantastic. We’ve been in Sorrento since Christmas eve and this is the first time I’ve had internet access, so please excuse the radio silence! Things will probably be quiet until we’re back in civilization (i.e., Africa) again, so for now, please […]
Since the much-hyped Mayan apocalypse failed to materialize today, I can finally look forward to Christmas! I mean, just as soon as I clear out a space in my doomsday bunker where I’ve stockpiled canned foods, weaponry, and a Nibiru-English dictionary, I’ll be able to hunker down and enjoy my favorite part of the Christmas […]
Bad news: I’m sick. I think I’ve run my immune system down with too much rich food, booze, and exposure to my crazy family. (Sorry, family. But you know you’re crazy. This is news to no one.) Anyway, I woke up yesterday with a sore throat, headache, and cough, and the situation has deteriorated. This […]
I want to apologize to all of my faithful readers who’ve been expecting more frequent posts from California. I’ve let you all down. But the thing is, I’m on vacation. And between visiting with friends and family and finishing a manuscript, I’ve been busy and blogging has not been a top priority. Instead, I’ve been […]
I recently finished Alan Hollinghurt’s The Line of Beauty, winner of the 2004 Man Booker Prize for fiction. It is an excellent and intimidating book: excellent in that it’s exquisitely plotted and crafted, intimidating for the very same reasons. One of the reviewers on the back cover (Publishers Weekly) raved that it is “almost perfectly […]
My husband and I have an ongoing friendly debate about who was nerdier as a child, which always gives way to a debate about what actually makes one a nerd. Al advocates for a more narrow, traditional definition of the word “nerd.” He’s a nerd originalist. In his book, a nerd is someone who is […]
Since there’s an NHL lockout, hockey fans have to get their fix where they can — and thank goodness for minor league hockey! My cousin Emily’s husband Greg is a big hockey fan, so last night, they organized a cousin excursion to a minor league game at the Cow Palace. The game was between the […]
I grew up with dogs. In fact, from before the time I was born to now, my parents have never not had a dog. And every single one of our dogs was bad — loveably bad — in its own way, to the point where I’m pretty much ruined for good dogs. I need my […]
“The test of a vocation is the love of the drudgery it involves.” -Logan Pearsall Smith I saw this quote the other day and it spoke to my little writer’s soul. Isn’t it the truth? You know that you’re meant to do a job if you can stand the mind-numbing tedium that comes with it. […]
Since I’ve been off the radar for a week, I feel that I must make up for it by giving you some bang for your blogging buck. Today, I want to talk about a series of books I recently finished, the so-called The Giver Quartet, by Lois Lowry. Four book reviews for the price of […]
