Aging

A Chinese Jewish Christmas Story

It seems like a poor marketing idea for a Chinese restaurant staff to piss off a collection of Jews on Erev Christmas. Let me back up.  I live in the…

A Love Story (If I Wrote It)

In nearly every book I have ever read, from classical literature to bodice-ripper romance to biography to history, there is a character, almost always female, who transforms from a quiet,…

Book Review — False Horizon

False Horizon is the second book in the Seth Walker series by Joseph Reid.  The first is Take Off.  Seth Walker is a former Air Marshall with a troubled past. …

Book Review — The Unfaithful Widow Ten Years Later

Barbara Barth follows up her delightful The Unfaithful Widow with her new book The Unfaithful Widow Ten Years Later: My Life with Dogs and Every Day Magic.  In this biography,…

Self-medication

My friend called me the other day.  For purposes of this blog, I shall call her Jennifer, mainly because most women my age are named “Jennifer” and I know a…

Quiet Burgers

When I go out to dinner with my friends, it is because I want to talk to my friends live and in person.  I don’t want to thumbtype awkward messages…

Forgiveness

As I write this, we are in what is known in the Jewish Community as the “Days of Awe.”  Granted, a lot of the Days of Awe are spent with…

Book Review — Hollow Kingdom

Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton One of my favorite things is when I find a book that is completely unlike one that I have read in the past, which…

Vintage

I was on the phone conducting business with someone who was younger than the vast majority of my t-shirts.  This pup of a man described another person, who I hadn’t…

Book Review — Giddy Up, Girl!

Giddy Up, Girl by Jeanie Brosius King is a story of grit and determination and, ultimately, inspiration.  Jeanie is the mistress, so to speak, of the Beautiful Network of Women…

Trifocals

If you’ve ever run into me at the grocery store on the weekends, you’ll know that I’m not a particularly vain person.  I don’t mind looking terrible in public if…

Book Review — You Might Forget the Sky Was Ever Blue

You Might Forget the Sky Was Ever Blue By Michael Chin is a collection of short stories.  None of the characters in these stories seem comfortable in their own skins. …