These Precious Days“These Precious Days” is a compilation of 23 essays, an introduction and an epilogue, describing Ann Patchett’s life, relationships and experiences.

In the introduction Ann Patchett explains that she fears death the most when she is writing a novel. She is afraid something will happen to her before she is done creating the world she

The Splendid and the Vile“The Splendid And The Vile” focuses “on Churchill’s first year as prime minister, May 10, 1940 to May 10, 1941, which coincided with the German air campaign as it evolved from sporadic, seemingly aimless air raids to a full-on assault against the city of London.” The book “is a more intimate account that delves into

A Long Petal of the Sea“A Long Petal Of The Sea” is a moving, brilliantly conceived historical novel that follows the lives of Victor Dalmau and his wife, Roser, through the Spanish Civil War, the Chilean coup and beyond. The novel describes human cruelty, strength and perseverance through a compelling and emotional form of storytelling that is quintessential Isabel Allende.

The Mirror and The LightThe Mirror & The Light is the story of Thomas Cromwell and King Henry from May 20, 1536 through July 28, 1540. The novel, which begins with a beheading and ends with a beheading, is the final novel in Mantel’s trilogy chronicling Thomas Cromwell’s rise and fall. Since it is a historical novel, with some

Grand Central StationMy friend Val lives in Westchester and travels to the city each day for work. She has been describing to me the dystopian feel of her days. An empty ghostlike grand central station, fearful commuters and anxious parents are just a few of her observations. Below is her as yet unpublished COVID-2019  Lament (NYC/March 2020)

“…the American justice system repeatedly fails to fully analyze its own mistakes and abuses. In wrongful convictions, lawsuits and cash settlements have become common, but the system itself has little inclination to push deeper with detailed inquisition into how it could break down so catastrophically.”

“Good Kids, Bad City” is the story of the wrongful

My passion for libraries, good writing, great storytelling and history all come together in Susan Orlean’s “The Library Book”. The Library Book tells the story of the Los Angeles Public Library, beginning in 1986, when the main branch burned to the ground, back to the establishment of the Los Angeles Public Library in 1844, then

Hisham Matar, an American born British-Libyan author, is an acclaimed novelist and essayist. The Return—Fathers, Sons and the Land in Between, is a memoir about his 2012 return to Libya and attempt to come to terms with the unfathomable loss of his father, Jaballa Matar.

Jaballa Matar was a wealthy Libyan, having made a small

Sometimes, particularly if you want to effect positive change, you just have to step outside your comfort zone—work or play, conversation or listening, reading or writing. Matthew Desmond’s Pulitzer Prize winning “Evicted” is definitely outside my comfort zone. For one thing, it’s nonfiction and I do not read a lot of nonfiction. But more importantly