This article was originally published on Medium.com. Disclosure: This page may contain affiliate links, meaning if you decide to make a purchase through one of these links, I may make a small commission (at no additional cost to you), which I will donate to literary organizations in Boston. Thanks! I sat on a panel last […]
Fleishman Is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner Loved this book in its fun beginning and extremely profound ending – it’s an amazing explanation of the predicament we find ourselves in, with all of our choices and ambition and the pulls on our being. What’s more, the narrative structure was so clever and the writing so […]
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed by Lori Gottlieb This insider’s view into the world of therapy was fascinating. I learned a lot about my own issues in the process and often found myself thinking, maybe I should talk to someone. An entertaining and human examination of […]
Appearances by Sondra Helene This a realistic portrayal of conflicting loyalties. When women play so many roles and aim to please – not easy. I loved this novel for tackling modern challenges so well, not to mention grief. It’s the type of book that keeps you turning the page to see how Samantha copes with […]
This essay was originally published on Medium.com. The school year may have just begun, but many families are already in the process of thinking about “the next school.” If that consideration includes boarding school, read on. Even though my recent novel, The Nine, portrays a mother’s harrowing experience as her son navigates boarding school, I […]
Vida by Patricia Engel Sparse, raw. Engel can be succinct because her word choice is expert. I loved Sabina’s imperfections, her doubt, her confusion, her humanness. Engel is one of a new generation ushering in the literary tradition of American coming of age protagonists with one foot still in another place and a stained America. […]
This essay was originally published on Medium.com. When parents of teens gather, the conversation offer turns to what’s going on with the kids, which schools they attend or have attended. I’m not bringing this up to bash parents for being “too involved” or pile on more evidence that an admissions-driven obsession is dragging our culture […]
Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls by T Kira Madden This memoir was beautiful in that it truly credited the reader with the ability to carry threads through chapters and scenes that were not always linear. It was smartly written and left room to be smartly interpreted. The use of language was sparse yet […]
This article was originally published on Medium.com. The best medicine I found for easing the anxiety of parenting boundary-pushing teenagers was remembering my own risky behavior at their age.… “One of you has got to call your parents,” said the officer at the Palm Springs police department. We’d been rounded up and taken in when […]
This post was originally published by the Jewish Book Council. My novel, The Nine, will be published on August 20, and as with my debut, Eden, I took inspiration from the Torah in writing it — not in literal terms, but using our sacred stories as metaphor. I don’t write in an ancient setting, but in a modern one. […]
