A split second of silence. Suddenly, the faint sound of birdsong and a close up image appears on the screen, – a bird perched on a branch, a close-up of a rose, a bee hovering over a flower – stunningly vivid if you own a high def television. I sip my tea. Cut to a widescreen shot of the garden. The man himself walks into … Continue reading Welcome to Gardeners World
I began a post on my 2018 reading resolutions a few days ago. It was so boring I fell asleep. Hell, it was so boring it put my dog to sleep. Don’t believe me? I began with a section on time management. TIME MANAGEMENT. And while that might be a very worthy endeavor, and there are quite a few very good books that tackle the … Continue reading Hello 2018! Some News & Reading Resolutions (shhhh!…. don’t wake Emma)
2017 was not the best year. I am very aware that may be the understatement of the decade, but there it is. I med an old blogging friend at this year’s Brooklyn Book Festival and tried to explain to him why I’d retreated from Social Media (and the world) – which amounted to a list of the same reasons that everyone who eventually retreats from, … Continue reading 2017 In Review
When I was in art school I discovered a deep love for the materials out of which art is made: the brushes, the differences in brands of paint pigments, pens and pencils and the cases made to store them. Hours would go by at Pearl Paint on Canal Street spent looking at different types of paper. This passion for tools has crossed over into my reading … Continue reading The Reader’s Toolbox
I’m currently enjoying The Brotherhood of Book Hunters by Raphaël Jerusalmy – a swashbuckling Alexander Dumas kind of tale translated from the French by Howard Curtis. It’s completely charming! The two main characters remind me quite a bit of Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd & the Gray Mouser. Jerusalmy has taken what’s best about sword & sorcery fiction and moved it into a historical setting – 15th century … Continue reading Random Updates: What I’m Reading, WIT Month Cometh, Summer Holiday Reading & Two Translation Awards Get Together
READER AT LARGE 