Readers of Sue Grafton’s Alphabet Series know that her heroine, Kinsey Millhone, was orphaned at the age of five and raised by her Aunt Gin, who died when Kinsey was in her twenties. So, at least at the start of …

I took out two books from the Jones Library in Amherst, both delightful views of the world of Emily Dickinson. Ferguson Jenkins’ ‘Emily Dickinson: Friend and Neighbor’, which I discussed in my last post, is an inside view by one …

I just finished rereading the most delightful book I’ve read in a very long time: ‘Emily Dickinson: Friend and Neighbor’ by MacGregor Jenkins. “Mac” Jenkins and his sister Sally, known as “Did,” were part of a group of …

The ignoramuses (ignorami?) who write automobile advertisements have declared Chevrolet to be “the most awarded car company in the USA.” And this deplorable diction has been picked up by ignorami all over the place. Diplomas are awarded. Damages are awarded …

I always look forward to the Amherst League of Women Voters book sale — a whole gymnasium filled with good books for not much in a town with a lot of readers.

I stocked up on my guilty pleasure, Robert …

I have heard for years about the Lilith Fair, and when I asked who Lilith was, I always heard, “Adam’s first wife,” and that was puzzling to me because I couldn’t find any reference to her in the bible. Turns …

I have blogged before, on numerous occasions, abour my effort to get rid of the clutter in my house. I have undertaken a mission of ‘Swedish death cleaning’ to relieve my heirs of the problem of getting rid of my …

Some years ago, on a car trip, my daughter and I listened to a tape of How the Irish Saved Civilization, a really superb book by Thomas Cahill, about how Christianity, and learning, and even literacy, and all the writings …