Rob Eagar An elderly woman who lives in my condo complex told me her mother had advised never to talk about religion or politics, a common caveat. The reason, of course, is that both are charged issues, and liable to arouse emotions that create discord, or worse, anger. But there are times, I […]
Hello y’all out there in reader land. ‘Fraid I’ve been remiss in letting you know about this great opportunity to win so many free mysteries and thrillers, plus a new eReader, one of those devices that lets you read just about any book you want to at a real low price. All you have to […]
If you’re a procrastinator like me, you often miss out on great opportunities. So you may have delayed entering a contest to win 45+ books and possibly an eReader, and thought you were too late because it expired today, Wednesday, May 5. If so, you’ve been granted a reprieve. The contest sponsor, BookSweeps, has extended […]
E.M. Forster On my trip in March to Costa Rica for dental implants, I found a book, E.M. Forster’s A Room With a View, left in a drawer where I lodged, and began reading. It was tattered, the back cover almost severed, and I took it home to finish it. Okay, so I’m a thief. […]
Judge Martha Warner On the heels of the awarding of the Pulitzer Prize to the teenager who videotaped the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, courts in Florida have sided with police who arrested a woman for recording them on her cellphone as they detained her teenage son. The incident happened in 2009, and […]
Covid-19 A novel idea occurred to me the other day. Excuse me, I don’t mean I got an idea for writing another novel, not just after finishing the gut-wrenching process of penning a work of creative non-fiction that had me rifling through perhaps a couple thousand papers delivered to me in hopeless disarray. No, I’m […]
Senator Rick Scott A letter on the editorial page of the Palm Beach Post at the end of August so incensed me that I determined to write a newsletter about it if I could work my way out from a pile of projects, including the breaking of my contract with my publisher of Blood on […]
Doris Lessing Good thing I took a book with me to Nicaragua, because I didn’t take my email password. The book is The Grass Is Singing, by the late British author Doris Lessing. I didn’t know what the password was, and that was a huge problem, because I get about 325 to 350 emails a […]
Lubben Brothers The evening air under clear skies had just enough of a nip to be bracing, and the mix of folk, light rock and hints of jazz music by the Lubben Brothers drew sidewalk strollers to the stage for the talented duo’s takes on Christmas favorites and other delights, waxing inventive on guitar, […]
George Saunders In middle and high school literature classes, I remember grousing about having to look for the “hidden meanings” in short stories, mainly because I could never find them. Why don’t the authors just tell us what point they’re making, I wanted to know, without forcing us to bust our brains trying to […]