Living Your Personal Legend

Dec 14, 2015 | Books, The Writing Life

They were looking only for gold,” his companion answered. “They were seeking the treasure of their Personal Legend, without wanting actually to live out the Personal Legend. Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist While reading The Alchemist, I felt my quest to be a published...

Best Book I've Read This Year

Dec 13, 2015 | Books

The Bookends column in Sunday’s New York Times Book Review asked sixteen authors what was the best book, new or old, he or she read this year. Only two of the books listed stood out to me. The first one was Outline by Rachel Cusk.  It’s about a woman...

Reading is Fundmental

Apr 16, 2014 | Books, The Writing Life

Sometimes the hardest thing about writing is getting started. First, you fight the internal battle to sit your bum in the chair. Once you actually sit, you have to figure out what to write. Then there’s the issue of having an idea in your head only to forget it the...

A Life Lesson from Edith Wharton

Aug 29, 2012 | Books, Quotes

  I finally finished House of Mirth from my summer reading list. I wanted to abandon it several times, but it felt like cheating to not to read any of the classics off the list. I tried to read Lady Chatterly’s Lover several years ago on the beach in Aruba....

Support Your Local Independent Bookstore

Jun 15, 2012 | Books

After creating my summer reading list, I headed over to Barnes and Noble to purchase a few books. And much to my dismay, they didn’t have any of the books I listed. I asked a bookseller to check the computer to see if they had How to be Alone by Jonathan Franzen....

Summer Reading List

May 24, 2012 | Books

Call me weird, but I get excited when my daughter brings home her summer reading list. I can’t wait to see which books the teachers selected. And I feel a certain vindication when one of my favorites makes the cut. I’m always tempted to read one of the...