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As you know, I’m not a fan of short stories. I’m hooked and then — it’s over? There are exceptions to this rule (Lauren Groff’s Florida, Alice Adam’s The Stories of Alice Adams, John Cheever’s The Stories of John Cheever, and just about anything by Mary Gaitskill.) And now I’ve come upon Claire Keegan’s Antartica

Publicists regularly ask me to read and review books. I rarely bite. When I do, I typically gobble it up. That’s how I consumed Ronald Gruner’s Covid Wars, America’s Struggle Over Public Health and Personal Freedom. It’s a page turner, with helpful graphics. It’s been five years since the first days of the pandemic, and

What a stretch! Nearly every book I picked up in the past three months has been a winner. In no particular order, these are reads I’m happy to recommend.  I’d been put off by early reviews of All Fours, by Miranda July, because it was described as raunchy. (It is.) My friend Flora (thank you)

I have no words about the election, and it’s impossible to console the young women in my life. My comforts are walking and reading. Here are my latest thoughts and recommendations. I was, and then I was not, a fan of Sally Rooney. I loved Conversations with Friends but not Normal People and didn’t bother to

I read all the time but I read most when I’m at our summer house in Quebec. Indoors, there’s a lofted reading nook with a big chair and an ottoman. Outside, there are cushioned lounge chairs (thank you, Georgia Dent, who designed and built them.) By the water, I love to sit on our dock

A Complicated Passion: The Life and Work of Agnes Varda, by Carrie Rickey  I receive countless pitches from book publicists. I rarely bite. When I saw this one, it was an immediate “yes, please.” I know and love Varda’s films (Cleo from 5 to 7, Vagabond) and remembered that Rickey had been a newspaper film

As a reminder, I only review books I’ve loved. Night Watch by Jayne Anne Phillips  As a young poet in New York, during college, I came upon Black Tickets, Phillip’s first work. It’s fragments. I read it repeatedly, so often it fell apart. I’ve followed her career since then and picked up this one after

I typically wait to post when I’ve read three books to recommend. I’ve read four in the past month and can recommend two. Aside from that, I’ve been enjoying gorgeous weather with walks in beautiful Lincoln Park, watching TV series, and traveling. Here goes: James, by Percival Everett This is a retelling of Mark Twain’s

As this is typically a book blog, I’ll start this post with a shout out for the doorstopper I brought with me to Spain. At 774 pages, Elsa Morante’s Lies and Sorcery is a dual — and dueling — family saga set in Sicily in the early 20th century. At its simplest, this is the

Apologies for neglecting this site and you, my dear readers. I’ve been traveling in Spain — will write about that next — and returned home with a massive head cold. First time I’ve been sick since before Covid-19.  I want to share with you my most recent reads, which again are books by or about

It’s still February, the month of women’s heart health. Take care! Loved and Missed, by Susie Boyt  The aching bond of motherhood is the subject of this beautifully told novel. Ruth is a schoolteacher of teenage girls and mother of drug-addict Eleanor, who has just given birth to Lily. At the baby’s christening — a

The war in Gaza is top of mind, which led me to books and a television series set in Palestine and in Israel. You may remember that in mid October, after the Hamas attack on Israel, the Frankfurt Book Fair canceled a celebratory award for Palestinian author Adania Shibli, for her novella Minor Detail, a finalist

I made a bullet list but it seemed dull. We need to talk about why we loved a book, a film, a ballet this year. Here’s my favorites.  First, Joffrey Ballet’s Frankenstein was like no other ballet I’ve ever seen. Literally, electric. Also, frightening. Mary Shelley’s story is changed and tightened, though the themes of

My mind is a jumble: more than one war, migration, building and preservation, what to make for dinner… Reading is a balm. The Postcard, by Anne Berest This autobiographical novel is the story of a family in France undone by the Holocaust.  Our narrator Anne receives a postcard oddly inscribed with four names: Ephraïm, Emma,

I admit to putting down Lauren Groff’s Matrix months ago; I liked the writing but didn’t cotton to the 12th century story of an ungainly French girl sent from the royal court of Eleanor to prop up a failing nunnery in England. It seemed dreary. Later, my friend Deborah mentioned the book as a study

I ran out of books earlier this summer at our lake house and vowed to bring enough for my latest two-week visit. Other folks go to Lac Pythonga to fish, hunt, hike, sail. I go there to unplug, read, swim, sun, spa and hike. Mostly, I read. I brought four books; I’ll tell you about the

I gave up on e-books years ago. I hated the clicking noise to “turn” the page; I couldn’t “see” how far I’d gone; I forgot the title of the book I was reading. Sure, it makes sense for traveling, but not for me. I’d rather weight my bag with a book, or three. There’s another

As you know, I love a train wreck. I’m sucked into a story, enjoying its setting and characters and then — wham! — it’s buckle up time. We’re going for a ride that probably won’t end well.  That’s what happened, leisurely, when I began Emma Cline’s The Guest, the story of 22-year-old Alex, who works

The best movies about women — Tar and Women Talking — didn’t get much love at the box office, or at last week’s Academy Awards.  So, let’s spread the word about new fiction I’ve loved that’s by and about women.  Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus is laugh-out-loud funny. That’s not to say it’s not

Apologies for neglecting this site.  I’m always reading, and I’ve watched some wonderful serial television. Let’s start with books.  Have I mentioned that I love a train wreck? Case in point, the life of superstar television wanderer Anthony Bourdain, who killed himself — over a girl — in 2018. Newly published is the biography of