I’m a big believer in role models. While we are growing up, we emulate the behavior of those we admire, hoping we’ll be admirable too. Eventually we sort our our own priorities and personalities but until then, it helps to have someone to follow. Given all that, I probably could have picked a better person to imitate than Lillian Hellman. For one thing, Lillian Hellman was a professional dramatist and...
I still remember the first day I saw it, upright in a metal paperback stand in my English teacher’s class. Because I recognized the author’s name, it took me a week or two before I asked about the paperback; I was already a dweeb to the other students and I didn’t need that image underscored by carrying around this book. The teacher probably guessed I was interested but he played it cool saying the books in...
My mother loved historical romance novels. These tales were the “chick-lit” of her day, usually set in an era of voluminous skirts and low, square necklines (which looked good on the cover) and centered around headstrong, resourceful heroines who caused scandals and made mistakes until circumstances or the right man came into alignment and the heroine became a part of history. Mom’s favorite writers w...
I’ve called this column “The Books that Follow you Home” and for these first two months I’ve focused on the books but during “this festive season of the year” to quote my hero, Dickens, I must admit I’m thinking about the other noun in the title, Home. Home is, of course, a big part of the culture of Christmas but it means different things to different people. To some, home at ...
People interested in books are fascinated by first lines. Their favorites usually include the evocative “Last night I dreamt I went to Manderly” and Orwell’s line about the clocks striking 13 and of course, “Happy families are all alike.” These are great first lines. Whether they fill less than an line (“Call me Ishmael”) or take the entire paragraph, first sentence...