One of my favorite books is a little classic called The Human Comedy by William Saroyan. It’s the story about a boy, Homer Macauley, who owns a second-hand bike and works as a telegraph messenger in the San Joaquin Valley during World War II. His is a coming of age story much like m
I’ve recently finished The Pilot’s Wife by Anita Shreve. Published 1998, most people have probably already enjoyed it. If not, I’d recommend it as a good beach read. I bought the novel at a bookstore that specializes in mysteries and having completed it, I’m hard pressed to
In Aldus Huxley’s Brave New World, children are created and raised without parents in Hatcheries and Conditioning Centers where they are divided into castes ranging from the highest, Alpha, to the lowest, Epsilon. The society is one without parents or nurturing, and people’s moods
In October, I went to hear Richard Dawkins speak on secularism. He was promoting his latest book, The Magic of Reality and as I’d read and admired his earlier work, The God Delusion, I was eager to hear him. For many in the room of approximately 500, the lecture must have been satis
Recently, I joined a small group of local writers, some published by small presses and others self-published. Our purpose was to share ideas on how to promote books. Nine of us gathered at the home of writer/attorney, Susan Stoner, whose two novels, Timber Beasts and Land Sharks I’v
Garrison Keillor of Lake Woebegone and Prairie Home Companion fame, wrote a short article entitled “Of Vice and Men,” a memoir about his younger days of striving to be a writer. Guided by the belief that ,” A true artists must engage with dark forces,” (The Week, 10/3/12, pg.
I’m half way through The Pilot’s Wife by Anita Shreve. It was one of my recent $1 finds. (See Blog 10/10/12) I picked it up because Oprah’s Book Club recommended it, though I don’t know why. I’ve always been disappointed by their choices. So far, my experience with Shreve’
Recently my face was on a billboard with a slogan that read: “I am a secularist and I vote.” I sent a photo of the sign to a friend in Canada, thinking she’d be amused. Instead, she emailed to ask if I wasn’t afraid to identify myself as an atheist. Given the rise in conservat
Meg Wolitzer, author of The Uncoupling, recently observed that one of the virtues of being disorganized is that in sorting through her piles of “stuff, ”she sometimes rediscovers unrelated lost treasures.” (“The Secret Delights of Disorder by Meg Wolitzer, More, 10/12, pg. 184
As I mentioned in yesterday’s blog, my publisher and I recently talked for over an hour about whether I should make some last minute changes in my upcoming novel, Trompe l’Oeil. She was concerned about the book’s complexity and whether or not I should give the reader more clues.