Being invisible is pretty hard for a kid. Crummy childhoods take many forms; usually, it’s an amalgam of yuck. Smacks and screams thankfully have a time limit, but neglect is the gift that never stops. Even the most benign neglect—like being a latchkey kid—can foster loneliness. When trouble fills a family, kids are pushed to … Read more
Hint: It’s Books Stories of survival fill me with shivery delight. I rarely meet a story of man/woman vs. elements that won’t keep me up until all hours. Heartpounding adventure stories are, no doubt, one of my favorite sub-genres. And yes, I am the most fearful of creatures. I’ve never skied, but I will explode … Read more
First, they put Vaseline on the camera lens. Next up was rose-colored lighting, shooting through pantyhose and soft focus. And then, just in time for my first author photo in 2010, came Photoshop. Few tell the truth, so for the “me-too-ism” of writers everywhere, I offer the unadulterated, unvarnished, un-photoshopped truth. These are the things … Read more
I started Jesse, A Mother’s Story twice. The stark beauty of this memoir hit me the moment I began. Marianne Leone’s narrative, written with an unrelenting immediacy, yanked me into her world. Leone’s son Jesse owned me from his first moment on the page. By the end of the prologue, Leone had so engaged me that … Read more
I love books; I love them more than bagels, jewelry, or cashmere sweaters, and that’s a lot. Reading kept me from teen pregnancy, heroin, and robbing convenience stores with a badass boyfriend. I’ve read great books, good books, mediocre books, and books so awful they damaged my eyes, and it was never the genre that … Read more