This spring I nearly declared a moratorium on violent fiction after reading three savage novels: The Orphan Master’s Son, The Sympathizer and A Little Life. Afterward life felt dirty. Basta! After all, the news is horrific: a toddler refugee washes…
I come from a long line of liars. My grandfather, a Russian potato farmer, was conscripted into the army in World War I to serve on the eastern front. Most of the soldiers couldn’t read or write, but my grandfather…
The end of year always puts me in the mood to clean. A new year might be an arbitrary marker of time passing, but finishing up a calendar fills me with the desire to say good-bye to some things, to…
One of the first 45s* I bought was Donna Summer’s “Bad Girls.” I typically prefer the words “woman” or “broad” or “amazing organizational powerhouse,” but I can still get down with the G word on occasion, and invite you to…
It’s a grab bag of links this week, kind of like all those leftovers that end up in your fridge from holiday parties and cookie swaps. At the last party I attended, I scored some homemade fudge brownies. ‘Tis the…