This essay was originally posted on Medium.com. I have started wondering why I like to ski so much. Yes, it is the beauty of the mountains, the fresh air, the social component, but it’s also because I regularly push myself. Every time I drop in somewhere steep or carve early morning turns maybe a little […]
Crossroads by Jonathan Franzen Crossroads, the first book in the Key to All Mythologies trilogy, is everything I love about Franzen – a big, American, family story. The author commands the luxury of time going deep into the psyches of each member of the Hildebrandt family, all terribly flawed, all trying to do good. The […]
Weather by Jenny Offill This was a fast read both in length but also because of the writing style. Narrated in the first person, Weather by Jenny Offill is a beautiful portrayal of the modern mind at work, flitting to and from between the personal, professional, familial, and then of course the global situation around […]
This essay was originally published on Medium.com. The first time I did a long drive by myself, I was nineteen. It was 1985 and I drove from Dallas, TX back to college in Northampton, MA with a detour through Detroit (long story), a hot minute in Canada and some time in upstate New York. A cooler […]
Five Tuesdays in Winter by Lily King Such a great story collection. The range of characters and situations was striking and highlights King’s gift of insight and observance. It seams like many novelists are publishing story collections recently and so I actually wasn’t anticipating this collection to be as great as it was. My favorite […]
As we move toward another new year, I’m considering what’s a priority. On a recent Saturday afternoon, my husband and I were walking in Boston’s Back Bay and shared a stunned expression. We had a free afternoon in front of us. No plans or commitments – I hadn’t felt like that for about twenty-five years. […]
The Dangers of an Ordinary Night by Lynne Reeves Brava to Lynne Reeves for a who-done-it that delivered on so many fronts. Not only was I constantly second-guessing myself on the identity of the true culprit, I was ensconced in Boston’s Back Bay, the world of the theatre, and high-stakes parenting—a subject on which I […]
Sankofa by Chibundu Onuzo I listened to this title and believe the narration added to my enjoyment. Sankofa takes you in to the world of Anna Bain at the moment she discovers her father’s diaries. The thing is, she has never met her father nor had her mother ever told her much about him. The […]
The Teller of Secrets by Bisi Adjapon This review was originally posted on the New York Journal of Books. The Teller of Secrets by Bisi Adjapon is a coming of age, character-based novel that follows Esi’s first-person recounting of her girlhood in newly independent Ghana in the 1960s. The narrator’s voice is fresh and observant, and in the […]
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer If I hadn’t already been feeling a deep pull back to the earth, this book was everything I needed to choose a different path moving forward. The author starts out this beautiful book of connected essays by painting a picture […]
