My mother’s imminent death and the disruption Covid-19 caused me to forget an important anniversary in May of this year.  Just Read It, my YouTube review of the New York Times bestsellers in fiction and memoir turned 5. I want to thank the local writers who joined me during this ti

I’m thinking today about the ways Covid-19 has rendered our society dysfunctional. We seem to blame the virus for much of what’s happened of late.  For example, I scheduled a  phone conference at 10 a.m. last Friday with one of my computer gurus. We had planned to do a trial run

Where it has been imposed, the Covid-19 lockdown begins to seem endless, particularly because the number of victims continues to rise despite the precaution. In some states, sheer economic exhaustion has emboldened a few businesses to open. But, if the spike continues to rise, these s

  The month of May marks a new beginning for Just Read it and for me.  Just Read it is the 10 minute YouTube video program Susan Stoner and I have co-hosted over the last 4 years.  During each show, a Portland, Oregon author joined us to discuss a book from the New York Times B

During my blog hiatus, so many news items begged for comment, I kept salivating, like one of Pavlov’s dogs. Sticking to a memoir about my foreign travels in the 1960s took discipline. I’m glad I did. I found I had much to learn.  For a start, memoirs are out of fashion. The new g

I don’t click on Amazon much.  Their sales strategy bothers me. For example, why I should pay almost $200 a year for the benefit of “free” shipping.  Do I detect an oxymoron here?  No matter.  I’m a bricks-and-mortar person.   The last item I purchased was an electric to

On March 11, 1483, Charles VIII (the l’Affable) became king of France.  Only a handful of historians will remember the fact.  Far worse, to my thinking, is that a smaller number will note  I published my first blog, March 24, 2010.  Even so, I feel chuffed about the 9 year accom

I was wandering around the cosmetic section at Macy’s the other day, looking for an eyeliner.  I’d just seen a test edition of a new series of “Just Read It” and noted I looked as pale as a curtain sheer.  After 4 years of co-hosting the 10 minute book review program on YouT

I’m reading two books for an upcoming taping for Just Read It, a book review program fellow writer, Susan Stoner and I air on YouTube.  One book is a dystopian novel about life in a space ship after humans have destroyed planet earth, The Book Of Joan by Lidia Yuknavitch.  The sec

Susan Stoner and I have been producing, Just Read it, a 10 minute YouTube book review series for over two years.  When I first proposed it, I doubted Susan or her cameraman husband, George, would be keen.  But they agreed to give it a try, and we’ve been having fun ever since.  W