“Paddy Corcoran’s wife was for several years afflicted with a kind of complaint which nobody could properly understand,” writes William Carleton in his story, aptly titled “Paddy Corcoran’s Wife,” in W.B. Yeats Fairy and Folk Tales of Ireland. “She was sick and she was not sick; she was well and […]

Just in time to be too late, I have a good question to ask at reunions, which are pretty much over for the year. Anyway, the question is — instead of the stupid-sounding “What are you doing?” meaning, “Where do you get your money?” — I suggest, “What are you […]

I can’t tell you what a great time I’m having reading We Took to the Woods by Louise Dickinson Rich about life on the shores of Lake Umbagog in northern Maine in 1942. Well I could, but it would take too long. Just to give you an idea, here’s a […]

Here’s W.B. Yeats’ introduction to the section on changelings in his collection Fairy and Folk Tales of Ireland: “Sometimes the fairies fancy mortals and carry them away into their own country, leaving instead some sickly fairy child, or a log of wood so bewitched that it seems to be a […]

At last I found it. There’s a New Hampshire novelist named Winston Churchill who wrote in the 1800s and is always confused with the British prime minister of the same name. You see his books often, bound in red with gold trimming, so they must have been popular in their […]

I went down to the flea market in Hadley Sunday and picked up a book called We Took to the Woods by Louise Dickinson Rich. It was in a bunch of books that once belonged to a religious person named Ethel Holmes, who bought it the year it came out, […]

I saw a box of books at the flea market today and asked the lady, “How much for books?” She said, “They’re all different prices. Some are marked.” I hate that. Books are a buck for hardbound, fifty for paperback. I looked at the book I wanted, the only old […]

The joke around the office is I help edit a travel website, but I hate to leave New England. It’s true I did turn down trips to Paris and Madrid and drive ten hours to a B&B in Maine. No disrespect to those ancient capitals, far from it. I suggested […]

I’ve been digressing from the main purpose of this blog lately to indulge my latest hobby, bringing peace to the Middle East. I apologize. Back to great reads for a quarter, and you can’t miss if you buy a book by Jimmy Breslin. I consider Table Money the best American […]

I had the great good fortune, just last night, of bringing together two indomitable forces of nature, and golly was it ever fun to watch. Susanne Hoder gave a moving and insightful presentation about her visit to the Holy Land and ace videographer Sonya Starr got it all on film. […]