Going for the Cobalt

Around our house cobalt blue is called “Debra blue” because everyone knows how much I love the intensity of that hue. I wear it, collect it, plant it. I’ve been told I’m drawn to this color because the lightwaves projected by cobalt blue resonate with my own...

Two by Marisa de los Santos

Marisa de los Santos’ novels maybe too sweet and predictible for some readers, but I’ve quite happily escaped into Love Walked In and Belong to Me. Who needs harsh and unsettling all the time? de los Santos’ characters are charming — Cornelia Brown, a winsome...

Blogs & sites/sites & blogs

I don’t know if lassoing an agent is any easier these days but the resources afforded by the internet sure are helpful. Whatever your stage in the writing game, the sites below provide useful information, interesting discussions and good leads. Ponies, ponies...

In Memory of McKenzie

One week ago I had to put our beloved Bichon Frisee to sleep. Such a gentle euphemism for ending (it felt like taking) the life of the sweet little white bundle who adored each member of our family as only a dog can. When you’re Jewish, the phrase “To Life!” permeates...

The Zookeeper’s Wife

This week’s read kept me turning the pages, except when naturalist Diane Ackerman’s marvelous digressions into botany, linguistics, and Nazi Germany’s monstrous goals to reprogram the entire genome of the planet stopped me in my tracks. Ackerman recounts the...