In the early 90's, Barnes was giving a jig at New Yorker magazine as their London correspondent -- his assignment was to write essays explaining London (and England) to Americans. I am guessing this collection does not represent all of them, just the best of them. And I have to wonder if the title is a gentle nod to Helene Hanff's "Letters from ( Read more... )

Let me start out by saying that I love Sarah Vowell's work and this book has not changed that.  Unfamiliar Fishes is a look at Hawaii's history roughly from the first meeting with haoles [whites] until the de-throning of Hawaii's last monarch and what is essentially their gang pressing into the Union.

Vowell's interest in Hawaiian history was ( Read more... )

Mennonite in a Little Black Dress, by Rhoda Janzen.  Definitely the pick of the litter.  Janzen renders her handful of horrible years after her 40th birthday in such a fun and funny manner that it makes Mennonite the perfect book to read when feeling sorry for oneself over pettier problems.

This little excerpt describing the author's careful choice ( Read more... )

I know this will probably have no problem going viral on its own, but I wanted to add my push as well.

Click to view

And since I'm already off the topic of books, I'd like to comment on a campaign ploy being used by the Republican Senate candidate here in CA, Carly Fiorina. It's actually quite a good one -- a bunch of people announce that Republican, Democrat ( Read more... )

I may need to stop watching TV.  Today the TV told me, via some political pundit or other, that the Tea Party people represent "normal" Americans.   People who, apparently, believe in witchcraft and the benefits of exorcism in protecting oneself against said witches, and that masturbation is adultery (if you're single and masturbate, you must be ( Read more... )

I dearly love reading Kaminer's books, even fairly dense collections of essays like Free for All: defending liberty in America today, which are tied together by the theme of the erosion of the Constitution, esp. Kaminer's (and my) favorite, the second amendment.

She's totally unsentimental but nevertheless compassionate and even-handed, intelligent ( Read more... )

Can't believe it's been a month since I last posted -- it's not that I stopped reading, but somehow I couldn't bring myself to write about it.

I finished Barbara Kingsolver's The Bean Trees, about a quirky young woman who gets handed a baby, just like that.   Rather than hand the little girl over to the authorities, she keeps her and a number of ( Read more... )