I’m having tremendous fun with a book by a friend of mine, Laszlo Tikos, called “Gogol’s Art: A Search for Identity.” Laszlo was a professor of Russian literature at UMass for many years, and with this book he has added a whole new dimension to my appreciation for one of the world’s greatest writers. The […]

when I saw a copy of Destry Rides Again by Max Brand at a tag sale, I picked it up, thinking of the excellent movie with Henry Fonda as Tom Destry and Marlene Diectrich as Frenchy, the saloon owner who famously sings “See What the Boys in the Back Room will Have.” But as I […]

When I learned earlier this year that my Uncle Nat had cancer and his days were numbered, I went into a sort of shock. I just wasn’t ready to lose him. I still find it very hard to accept the loss. He was such an inspiration to me my entire life, it’s hard to imagine […]

Thank you, Sue Grafton, wherever you are, for many, many hours of enjoyable reading. The value of your books is partly your great talent, but it was mostly your hard work, and I want you to know it is greatly appreciated. I read your books every five years or so, and each time I appreciate […]

It was with deep sadness that I learned this week of the passing of Bob Hay, a close friend of nearly fifty years, a man who delighted me with his whimsical art and poetry and who, through our many discussions of life’s big questions, shaped my world view and my personal philosophy. To those who […]

I really became immersed in The Sixties, the last volume of Edmund Wilson’s journals. There was a lot of interesting stuff about our family, conversations with my grandmother, who was his first cousin, and her brother Sandy who was his classmate at Princeton along with F. Scott Fitzgerald. Wilson was the first to recognize and […]

I was looking through my mother’s scrapbooks and correspondence because one of her close friends recently passed away and I was looking for a letter she wrote to my mom when they were little girls. My mom saved everything — letters, of course, but also birthday cards, tickets to the circus, wedding announcements, news clippings, […]

For second hand book lovers, the League of Women Voters Book Sale in Amherst is a real mother lode. I picked up some Lindsey Davis mysteries (set in ancient Rome), a couple of Elmore Leonard books, a few Robert B. Parker books, and the First and Second Rumpole Omnibi (Omnibuses? Omnibusses?) with more than 40 […]