Whenever I hear someone calling someone else a ‘thug,” I think of the line in ‘The Princess Bride’ when Inigo Montoya says to Fizzini:
“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it …
I make the same two resolutions every year, even though I know I cannot keep them. The thing is to try.
The first is never to be annoyed by the bad manners of others. It’s okay to deplore bad …
When a family puts all their unwanted stuff out on racks and tables in the driveway, besides the bargains you might find on pillowcases and winter coats, you also get a glimpse into their lives — the Nordic Trak that …
I’m having a splendid time with Edmund Wilson’s book about the literature of the Civil War, with the strange title of ‘Patriotic Gore’. It comes from a song of the Confederate South, “Maryland, My Maryland”: “Avenge the patriotic gore that …
On August 13, 1837, in a sermon he preached at the Spring Creek Campground, six miles west of Springfield, Illinois, the Reverend Peter Akers predicted that a great civil war would put an end to human bondage in America.
He …
Finding a book you really like is great, but finding a whole series is even better. Tony Hillerman’s Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee, Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone, Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe, Georges Simenon’s Inspector Maigret — these characters all feel …
Everybody’s got a lot of reading time nowadays, and I find it’s an especially good time for me to make a decision about all these books I have kicking around. No more “Maybe I’ll read that someday.” It’s either read …
I had fun reading my Uncle Nat’s journals, which my cousin Max thoughtfully dropped off at the nursing home where I was recuperating. It’s a chance to sit down with my beloved uncle once again and hear what he’s doing …