(un)published

My love of books began when I was a child, too young to even read.  I loved the way a book felt in my hands when I held it, and I loved the look of the words on the page—even though I couldn't read, I knew the words were something important.  I especially liked library books with their mylar covers.  The mylar cover elevated the book to a higher level of importance. Our parents were paying attention and took us on outings, usually on Friday evenings, to our municipal public library. We also had a book mobile that parked in our school parking lot one Friday afternoon each month.  When I was around age twelve, my parents purchased an encyclopedia set for their many kids.  It was a cost they probably could not have afforded, but I remember my dad's pride when the large, heavy box arrived and we unpacked each volume.       When I think back to my young reading, I am struck by the kinds of authors I read:  Austen, Dickens, Bronte' sisters, Wilke C...

I did it.  It was a fight to the finish, but I did it.  I read Middlemarch !  To write that it was a fight to the finish is not exactly right.  But there is a lot to get through in the first half of George Eliot's novel.  Once I got beyond Edward Casaubon's death, my reading became less onerous.  I'll explain. Middlemarch is considered by many, who are qualified to hold such opinions, to be the greatest novel of the 19th century. Many readers consider it to be their favorite novel ever and re-read it on a regular basis.  This same fondness is frequently described with Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice which is an 18th novel, so there is no conflict for readers who love both.  When asked which book of great fiction they have not read, many readers will admit to never having read Middlemarch.    I am proud to say that I have now left this group of readers and have joined the enthusiastic Middlemarch readers.  While I will not say t...

I must be a true adventure reader.  Perhaps I was influenced by Larry McMurtry, who was not only a great writer, he was also a great reader.  In fact, books were his passion ;  the reading, buying and selling of them, occupied essentially all of his adult life.  This is the central theme of his memoir, appropriately titled Books (Simon and Schuster, 2008).  In Books ( chapter 62), Larry McMurtry writes:  "For most of my fifties, what I read for pleasure was travel writing, and the book that introduced me to the pleasures of inspired travel writing was called Tent Life in Siberia by George Kennan" (1845-1924), originally published in 1871 by S. Low, Son & Marston and reprinted in 1986 by Gibbs M. Smith, Inc.  Larry McMurtry wrote the introduction for the reprinted edition of Tent Life in Siberia .   Larry McMurtry died in March 2021 and in 2024 I went through a Larry McMurtry reading phase that gave me pleasure and comfort.  Almost certa...

The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai, Hogarth, an imprint of Random House, New York, © 2025. I have just finished reading Desai's novel.  Knowing I wanted to write this review, this morning, while waiting my turn in the ophthalmologist's exam room, I read the NYT's glowing review  from September 14, 2025 on my phone.  Then I read some of the 81 commenters mixed reviews.  Some abandoned the book almost from the start, others read through but did not like it and, finally, there were those who loved it.  Regardless of the category commenters fell into, many made interesting and insightful observations.  The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny is that kind of book. Full disclosure, I have no particular literary expertise that credentials me to write this review.  I'm much more comfortable reviewing field guides and the like—although some might argue that I have no particular expertise there either.  What I do have is that I am a reader who love...

Nightingales:  The Extraordinary Upbringing and Curious Life of Miss Florence Nightingale : by Gillian Gill, Ballantine Books, published by The Random House Publishing Group, 2004.  535 pages: text, illustrations, footnotes and index. I love the little serendipitous events that occasionally happen in life.   Nightingales is such an event for me.  My local public library does fundraising with used books that have been donated to the library for this purpose.  A couple of months ago I made one of my routine visits and happened to see this hardcover book on their shelf for $3.00.  I don't believe the original owner of the book had ever read it.  Possibly had never opened it.  As a nurse, I could not leave it on the shelf and it's now been opened, and read. I recently saw the movie Downton Abbey, The Grand Finale .  I watched every PBS episode of each season and loved it. After reading Nightingales, the lives of the Downton Abbey characters came...

A guest editorial in the NYT yesterday, May 8th,   How Will We Know when We Have Lost Our Democracy ? by Steven Levitsky, Lucan Way and Daniel Ziblatt is enough to rattle anyone's cage. On Wednesday, May 6th I woke up to make coffee, get breakfast and while that was brewing I took my blood pressure.  I have hypertension, take a daily medication that has not been that great at controlling it. My internist requested that I take my BP a couple of times a week for a more thorough check.  On Wednesday morning it was so high, I panicked.  I started out looking for a same day appointment - none available, then I made an appointment for June 18th.  That wasn't going to do much when my blood pressure was shockingly high this minute.  Finally, I had an extended telephone conversation with a triage nurse who was able to both calm me down and get a note to my doctor for the additional medication we had discussed.  I picked up this medication on Wednesday evening a...