I’ve met people whose knowledge and everything else will die with them, as Shel Silverstein conceived in this poem: I’m grateful to report that Jennifer S. Brown is no such hoarder. She selflessly forked over all she learned and endured as first at bat. Aya explained the “conceptual cover” and convinced me there’s no harm asking contacts for support (after all, the boys all do it). Louise laid the emotional reality…
I am a believer that many things happen for a reason. Not everything. Not, say, death. But many life hiccups have proven to serve a greater purpose for me. Even loss offers up slivers of beauty, togetherness, and understanding that– while not making up for the empty chair at the table– certainly deliver insight and strength. So it’s odd but not totally unexpected that I was initially devastated by what…
I’ve never met an avid reader who was also an asshole; I’m convinced the two are mutually exclusive. I’m a white, financially secure, American who empathetically did “the skedaddle” with Jeanette Walls in THE GLASS CASTLE, endured footbinding through Lisa See’s SNOW FLOWER AND THE SECRET FAN, feared Biafra alongside southeastern Nigerians in HALF OF A YELLOW SUN (Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie), struggled as a teenager with Scout to understand things that cannot be understood in TO…
August is the perfect month for Louise Miller’s debut– THE CITY BAKER’S GUIDE TO COUNTRY LIVING– to hit shelves. Why? Because it’s the end of summer; the season change is upon us. And change is what Louise’s book is about. What I loved most about Livvy, the character whose life takes a twist after a flaming flambé incident, is how genuine she is in her search for happiness. She doesn’t set out to impress…
Congratulations to my new friend and talented author Aya de Leon on her debut novel, UPTOWN THIEF. I will do a gush-fest below– and mean every word– but it’s a bit doomed to read like a paid advertisement, so before I do I’d like you to read this article from THE WASHINGTON POST. They stole the point I planned to make today. Aya’s genius with UPTOWN THIEF is in creating entertainment with accessible social…
I cracked opened Heather’s debut after having read her posts for six months, so I knew the writing would be strong and thought provoking. Still, I was apprehensive. Why? Because I tend to internalize what I’m reading– storylines invade my dreams and daily thoughts– so I avoid books with violence, especially when children are involved. But I am a dutiful Debutante, so I put on my big girl pants and jumped in….
The topic this week is fun facts. I wrote them as they came to me, freestyle: Sometimes I’m carrying on about something and I find myself thinking, Oh my God, this person must be so annoyed because I’m irked and I’m the one talking. What I’m saying is: I occasionally annoy myself. This is painful to admit, but I’m obsessed with that Justin Bieber song Love Yourself. It takes me less than 5 minutes…
Eleanor Brown– Debutante Ball alumni turned bestselling author– is here to visit! I was so wowed by Brown’s first novel, THE WEIRD SISTERS, that I pre-ordered the LIGHT OF PARIS and squealed like my daughter at Disney when it arrived Tuesday. A little background on this thoughtful new release: In 1924, Margie defies her parents and spends an exhilarating summer in Paris – writing in cafés, living on her own, and falling for…
The topic this week is hindsight. My husband and I are debriefers. We extract takeaways from every purchase, major life event, and experience. Try it, fix it, try it, my father used to say, and we do. This leads to increasingly better outcomes, but, we’ve come to see, also means we are hard on ourselves. This past week, on vacation, drinks in hand, we did something new: instead of considering what we could…
The topic this week is how we are doing on 2016 resolutions. The first half of the year has proven eventful: I flew to San Francisco for an emergency surgery that was a success. We sold our home of a decade, a boat, and two cars. We bought a house two thousand miles north that we’re renovating. I now own a Volvo because it’s the state car of Connecticut. I gained…
