Skip to main content

—

—

—

Les Brown

Shoot for the moon.  Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars.

Attribution

Les Brown

Norman Vincent Peale

Resentment or grudges do no harm to the person against whom you hold these feelings but every day and every night of your life, they are eating at you.

Attribution

Norman Vincent Peale

September 14, 2012

No matter how old your children are, the first weeks of school are soooo hectic. Besides all the “usual” paperwork, which now is done electronically but still requires attention (and now includes remembering passwords), last night was “Senior Night,” where a myriad of details about college admissions were discussed. I could sense palpable tension and anxiety in the room as various statistics were discussed about acceptances and rejections, and all you need to know about the total dice roll that getting into college has become. Tomorrow, Cory and I are going to look at a school that he is really interested in. I had such fun doing this with Greg a couple of years ago that I am looking forward to it.

Read More

Author Talk: Bob Spitz, author of Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julia Child

Sep 14, 2012

DEARIE, Bob Spitz’s latest biography, is an up-close and personal look at the Queen of Cooking herself, Julia Child. Spitz lovingly outlines the story of the privileged and unmotivated young Julia McWilliams throughout her life and transformation into Julia Child, The French Chef. In this interview, Spitz discusses how Child forever changed US supermarkets and household cuisine, and the crush he developed on the passionate, no-nonsense woman who inspired Americans to go back into the kitchen.

Junot Diaz, author of This is How You Lose Her

On a beach in the Dominican Republic, a doomed relationship flounders. In the heat of a hospital laundry room in New Jersey, a woman does her lover’s washing and thinks about his wife. In Boston, a man buys his love child, his only son, a first baseball bat and glove. At the heart of these stories is Yunior, a young hardhead whose longing for love is equaled only by his recklessness --- and by the extraordinary women he loves and loses.

Read more »

Those We Love Most by Lee Woodruff

September 2012

If I could describe THOSE WE LOVE MOST by Lee Woodruff in one phrase, it’s about the seasons of marriage. Anyone married a while knows that feelings ebb and flow over time. This happens in long relationships as well as shorter ones. Here, a family is brought together when a crisis hits that has them circling the wagons and grieving together before they spiral back into the larger world with a new view of their lives. Two of these couples will re-examine their marriages in light of what has happened --- and how they have changed.

The multi-layered story unfolds with pitch precision --- one small act of distraction will be the catalyst for all that comes later. It’s a book that would be perfect for book club discussions; there are so many ways that this discussion could go!

Read more »

Trust Your Eyes by Linwood Barclay

September 2012

Typically, Bookreporter.com Bets On selections are based on books that I love, but in the case of TRUST YOUR EYES, a thriller by Linwood Barclay, my husband and son, Greg, are voting with me. I have been a huge fan of Linwood’s for years, but the depth of his talent is shown in a whole new way in this book. There were so many aha moments, twists, turns and surprises that even a quarter of the way through I was thinking this is sooooo cleverly done. The plot revolves around two brothers. One is a schizophrenic and rarely leaves the house. Instead he explores the world through a website called Whirl360 (very similar to the Street View on Google Maps). As he “wanders” down a street in New York City "visits," he sees what appears to be a murder. He convinces his brother to investigate it further, and from there the action gets really wild. NONE of us could put this book down once we started it.

Read more »