Archive | Musings

What “Sort of Book” Do You read?

An all to frequent response to my books is, “I don’t usually read that sort of book, but I really got into it.” So what “sort of book” do I write? Stories that sweep you into the life of the characters and move you, change your perceptions or your sense of your own life. But […]

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Book Review: The Weird Sisters

As another of a series of reviews on the rewards of reading “reality” or”serious” fiction, let me introduce Eleanor Brown’s New York Times bestseller, The Weird Sisters ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   “We came home because we were failures.” So Eleanor Brown opens her debut novel of three sisters, born in a college town of a father immersed […]

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Why Read a Novel?

Earlier this month I urged readers to “Drop Out and Read” , and talked about its value to me. I was delighted to see that a good friend and marvelous writer, Toni Fuhrman, had blogged on the same subject, so let me share with you a brief excerpt and link. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   Why read a […]

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reading

Drop Out and Read

  I’ve dropped out. Reinvented Sunday. I’ve given myself permission to not read my e-mail, catch up on Facebook, converse with other writers on LinkedIn, or review in my head all of the things, including writing my blog, that I ought to be doing. I feel liberated, relaxed, utterly euphoric. I dip into one magazine […]

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Downton Abbey

Our Thirst for Family Sagas

From Downton Abbey to Dallas, from The Sopranos to Days of Our Lives, family sagas keep us thirsting for the next chapter. Maybe it is to escape our own lives, but I don’t think so. I think it is to escape the loneliness of our own crises, to recognize them in the lives of others—after […]

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The Perfect Host

Creativity and Madness

The relationship between creativity and madness is a longstanding topic for psychologists and artists alike, but answers elude all. Nevertheless, the question continues to haunt students of the human psyche. So, if others think you half-mad to be a writer, or if you sometimes fear they may be right, take a look at this take […]

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lock

Family secrets

    Family secrets are imprisoned stories. The silences, the unnamed people or events that threaten the family’s sense of itself or bring stigma are erased by silence. Such is the power of language—cease speaking of it, naming it (or the person), and it ceases to exist. But someone knows or they’d never get passed […]

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Oliver Sacks’ Ode To Aging

If you’ve never read Oliver Sacks, you should. He is a physician, neuroscientist, and best-selling author of twelve books, the latest of which, Hallucinations, was published in 2012. No dry scientist, his eloquence reaches deep into what it means to be human. In the February/March AARP magazine, he “muses on the gift of a long […]

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Autumn note

A Note for November

I’d like to share a note for November, passed on by a neighbor from a local nursery newsletter. “Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings.” – William Arthur Ward   As long as I can remember, I have been a serendipity enthusiast. I was […]

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Harper Quadrangle

Where’re You From?

  Why is that so often the first question we ask a stranger? To place him or her geographically, sure, but also in the whole universe of language, culture, and attitudes we associate with place. So it used to be, when people asked me that, I’d mumble apologetically. I longed to say “the mountains of […]

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