Summer Cleaning

Been a whole lotta cleaning going on this summer. Seems everyone I know is pitching, storing, trying to get a handle on their “stuff.” A child is leaving home (and leaving stuff behind); another is returning (with a whole new batch of stuff). And after two decades...

Are Books Dead?

Various strands have been floating through the atmosphere of late and consequently through my alleged mind. The LA Times recently shut down its book review section moving content and three of its now former five book review editors to a features page. I pray the...

When One Thing Leads to Another

There are labors of love and then there are labors of love so deep and committed that one must bow one’s head in admiration and awe of the laborer’s perserverence and devotion to her chosen quest.  My sister Lisa Thaler is one such laborer and her just-published book...

A Mother/Daughter First

привет (Free cyber-shot of vodka to the first ten readers who correctly translate the above greeting.) Well, to paraphrase John, Paul, George, and Ringo I’m back in the U.S., back in the U.S., back in the, um, U.S.A. And alas on the way the paper bag was on my...