I’ve been having great fun reading The Sixties, the last volume of Edmund Wilson’s journals. They’re more accessible (for me) than many of his other writings, and I’ve learned a lot about many notable literary figures, and even my own …

I’ve always had trouble understanding the works of my grandmother’s cousin, Edmund Wilson, but I have continued to labor away, largely as a point of family pride. Axel’s Castle and To the Finland Station receive high praise from people smarter …

I’ve been reading Black Elk Speaks, transcribed by John G. Neihardt, the autobiography of a Sioux warrior and medicine man, a cousin of Crazy Horse who was present at the Battle of the Little Bighorn and the Wounded Knee Massacre.…

In my last entry about Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry, a novel about the Old West, I made the observation that love and romance make up a big part of the book’s exploration of human nature.

Women were rather scarce …

As I mentioned before, I was laid up for a week or so with gout, something I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. It’s like having a broken leg only worse, because it hurts even when you hold still. Anyway, …

I’ve been debilitated for the past week by an attack of gout, a condition wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. I’ve had it in my feet before; you take some pills and goes away.

But this time its in my …

I’m watching the last episode of “Big Little Lies” for the third time. It’s worth watching more than once because of the lush visuals — the gorgeous scenery of the California coast, the incredibly beautiful women, the sweet faces of …

Dashiell Hammett, Alexander Dumas, Homer (the blind Greek guy, not Homer Simpson), Georges Simenon, Sue Grafton, Mikhail Lermontov, Nikolai Gogol — these are authors whose books I automatically buy when I see them at tag sales and flea markets.

If …