“Fourth floor,” warbled the disembodied female voice in our hotel elevator in Edinburgh. She drew out “fourth” like it was two syllables, “FAAH-uth.” Our “Roads Scholar” tour guide Kevin, who is English, tilted his head and said, “That’s a rather posh voice.” Can a voice be posh? This was news to me. I always thought […]
Sure-footed as mountain goats, my sister Long-Long and I picked our way down the steep, narrow dirt path that typified much of Hong Kong’s terrain. Rough-cut slabs of stone, some cracked and dangerous, bridged over ravines. I was seven. Rose was a year younger. We were on our own, on our way to catch the […]
“Cairo.” Sister Cathlin, our High School English teacher, pointed to the word she had written on the blackboard and asked, “Does anyone know where this is?” “It’s a city in Egypt,” I blurted. I burned in embarrassment when she said, “Yes, but … it’s also a town at the Southern tip of Illinois. It’s pronounced KAY-row.” […]
Every night, the sharp rap of mah-jongg tiles being discarded and the clatter of tumbling tiles being “washed” echoed throughout our small apartment compound. The sound carried as every window was open to let in the breeze in sub-tropical Hong Kong. I was only six in 1953, but I already knew that the native Cantonese […]
In his 2021 novel Cloud Cuckoo Land, Anthony Doerr masterfully fits disparate people – across centuries, across continents, across planets – into this story of how humans respond to the fall of empires, to environmental degradation, to civilizational collapse. Twining throughout these episodes or escapades, like a vine girding a tree or like an evocative sound […]
You don’t survive medical training without being hard on yourself. You can’t function as an internist without being obsessive-compulsive. Even though Bill and I are retired physicians, we’ve retained previously-useful values: a hyper-vigilant alertness of the world around us and the fear of mistakes. Even though our decisions nowadays are no longer life-and-death, we still agonize over […]
“Just be yourself!” That is horrible advice. The “self” is a moving target. We constantly evaluate and re-define who we are. Our “personality” changes every time we get new input from what we hear from others and from what we tell ourselves in response to events. Usually, we’re not even aware that we’re re-thinking our […]
‘Tis the Season! For forgiveness, generosity, renewal! So, of course, we’re going to talk about A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. A Christmas Carol is a thin book, a novella really, that has resurfaced in many iterations: the 1938 movie with the Lockhart family as the Cratchits; the 1951 Alastair Sims version; and friend Laurie’s favorite, Mr. Magoo’s Christmas […]
A guest review by Susan Caba Susan Caba is a writer who has been house – and dog – sitting around the country for the past few years, caring for beloved pets while their human companions travel. She and her son read many dog-focused books when he was a child, including Where the Red Fern […]
Who’s ready for a GOOD NEWS review? Yeah, me too!
For my birthday, Bill got me The Metropolitan Opera Murders by Helen Traubel. He knows I love opera, and I love murder mysteries. I have written about both. How did these two loves bring me to write this essay extoling the goodness of libraries? Well, read on!
Scooch over, Lizzie Bennet and Jo March. Make room for Becky Paulson. For decades, my favorite literary role models have been Lizzie from Pride and Prejudice and Jo of Little Women. Both lived in the 19th century, Lizzie in England and Jo in New England. I admire them for their smarts, independence, and if the term is not too old-fashioned, “goodness.” […]
“Forget it, Jake. It’s Chinatown.” Debate continues about this line from the 1974 noir movie Chinatown. Interpretations include: You are in over your head. Things don’t make sense. You can’t win. In Chinatown. How should Chinese people consider this comment? Are we different? Charles Yu explores the question of being Asian in America in his National Book Award-winning novel Interior […]
State of Terror, the political thriller by Hillary Clinton and Louise Penny, is a satisfying romp. Sticking close to her bailiwick, Clinton casts her heroine, Ellen Adams, as the US Secretary of State. Ellen’s girlhood friend, Betsy, functions as her Counselor. I googled whether Secretaries of State really had Counselors. Yes, they do. Both women […]
Highway driving used to be like playing Pac-Man. I’d catch up to a car and gobble it up, or at least put it in my rear view. When did I get so timid? Fearful, even? Bill had already packed the car. We left at St. Louis at 8:15, only fifteen minutes late. For once, we […]
I’ve been thinking about death. Why? Could it be because US Covid deaths are closing in on three quarters of a million lives? Could it be because I’m 74 years old, and I’ve already lived the bulk of my life? Could it be that, just this week, I’ve had to write condolence notes to two friends? […]
Relationships are hard, Covid or no Covid. Many of us have squeezed into too-close quarters going on a year and a half. We assumed at the start of Covid that our enforced togetherness was make-shift, temporary. With the delta surge and vaccine-resistance, normality keeps retreating into the future. But, it’s not too late – or […]
In 1960, we eighth-graders at St. Raphael’s Catholic school took a series of standardized tests. Solemnly, Sister Cyprian went desk to desk handing each student a multipage test booklet and a number two pencil. We were tested on language and math skills, and I don’t remember what else. For inexplicable reasons, the results came to […]
“Oh, it’s heavenly,” I said to Bill, as I bite into a piece of the piping hot lemon bread. The corners of the loaf were just this side of burnt, a bit of crust. The top had a sweet drizzle in contrast to the moist citrusy inside. (I associate this level of moistness with butter […]
Nothing fits! I tossed and turned. I was losing sleep over … the elections? Corona? Hurricanes and wildfires? No, no and no. I had just finished reading John Banville’s Snow, ostensibly a murder mystery, and my mind was churning over why I felt so unsatisfied. I started the book on election day because I needed distraction […]
“We need to think about how to get you more readers.” Laurie says this like a dear aunt who might be concerned about a teenager’s grades or her social life. “I know, I know.” I bleat. We’ve had versions of this conversation for over a year. Why bother writing book reviews with a personal take […]
Dr. Bookworm