by paige on August 1, 2010
A FEW YEARS back, my family made its own venture into the wilderness, moving from the urban sprawl of Los Angeles to the expansive green hills of the Hudson Valley. It’s paradise, yet the climate where we live can be wretched and unforgiving, the land hilly and full of stones. We marvel aloud at the tenacity and sheer strength of this area’s early settlers, the people who cleared all the trees, built the stone walls that still stand. We are awed by what they accomplished, and quite certain we, with our reliance on power tools, the internet, and central heating, would not have a prayer of replicating their achievements. [click to continue…]
by paige on July 29, 2010
AM I ALONE in having a too-long list of authors I’ve been meaning to read, it seems forever, yet somehow never get around to? Allegra Goodman, a prolific and much-beloved novelist, is on that list for me, but I’m taking charge. Right now. [click to continue…]
by paige on July 14, 2010
WHO COULD RESIST a book with the subtitle “My Life in a Harem”? OK, probably a lot of people. But I’m not one of them. [click to continue…]
by paige on February 17, 2010
MY GOOD FRIEND told me that Mary Karr’s Lit was the best non-fiction she’d read in years, that while she couldn’t bear to put it down, the prose was so divine it made her want to stop after each passage just to savor it. This friend is no easy sell when it comes to writing and reading, so ok: add that book to my reading list, stat. [click to continue…]
by paige on October 23, 2009
I‘VE BEEN A SLACKER of late when it comes to reading, as the piles on my nightstands can attest. But I think the first new book I’ll add to the stacks will have to be Gail Collins’ When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present, a history of the transformations of women’s lives from 1960 to the present. [click to continue…]
SOMETIMES WHAT YOU really want to read on the beach is a book that’s more entertainment than demanding literature, a story that takes you on a ride through an unexpected world, that surprises with clever plot twists and turns. If that book also happens to be smart, well-written, thought provoking and teaches you a bit of interesting history (painlessly) it’s a home run. This summer, a new thriller, The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe, manages to hit it out of the park. [click to continue…]
by paige on April 13, 2009
From the Mississippi Dept. of Archives and History
I CAN’T REMEMBER when I first became aware of the work of Eudora Welty, what story I read first, or when. I was probably in high school, and though I appreciated both Welty’s craft and her Southern settings (having spent part of my childhood in Tennessee) I lost track of her as an adult. Today, her birthday, is a good day to apologize to her for such a flagrant omission, and to remind myself that it’s time to dive back in.
[click to continue…]
A FEW YEARS back, my family made its own venture into the wilderness, moving from the urban sprawl of Los Angeles to the expansive green hills of the Hudson Valley. It’s paradise, yet the climate where we live can be wretched and unforgiving, the land hilly and full of stones. We marvel aloud at the tenacity and sheer strength of this area’s early settlers, the people who cleared all the trees, built the stone walls that still stand. We are awed by what they accomplished, and quite certain we, with our reliance on power tools, the internet, and central heating, would not have a prayer of replicating their achievements. [click to continue…]
First time here? Here's the idea: