What I’m Reading
Vladimir Nabokov, the Russian dissident and author of Lolita and Pale Fire among other works, stated that readers make the best writers. Reading books by great authors is the spark that sets my creative kindling ablaze. In this space, I will share my thoughts on books and reading. Feel free to comment with thoughts of your own.
This is a truly magnificent book, one that stays with you and disturbs your sense of stability as I imagine an earthquake would as it trembles and shifts the ground beneath your feet. It was written in 1994, and takes place in a small fictitious town outside Dusseldorf between WWI and WWII. However, it struck […]
This novel, described as a historical mystery, was first published in 1998. It was recommended to me by a friend, perhaps because she knows I write mysteries and love historical fiction. Although many people shy away from long books – this one is 725 pages – I usually enjoy them. I’m a fast reader and […]
Sometimes it’s really important to read a book that someone you barely know highly recommends. I really don’t think I ever would have found Man in the Woods had it not been thrown out there as the best book she read this year by a woman I have never met but with whom I share […]
One of the most common remarks I hear about Pat Conroy is that “he takes a hundred words to say what he could have in ten.” While that may be true, those words are so lovely that I wish he had taken even longer to describe the South as he knows it. Some writers are […]
When I was at Barnard College in the 1970s, Anna Quindlen was a year ahead of me. She was famous in her own way even then. I admired her focus and early recognition that she wanted to be a writer. I love her work, particularly her New York Times column “Life in the 30’s” and […]
I don’t place much value on prizes – or best-seller lists – to help me decide what to read. But I have found that the Man Booker Prize is usually awarded to a book of extraordinary depth and originality, so I follow this prize looking for gems. Noteworthy among the titles I found among Man […]
