‘ve been reading two biographies simultaneously: Edmund Wilson by Jeffrey Meyers  and Savage Beauty: Edna St. Vincent Millay by Nancy Milford. It’s a truly fascinating study. The scion of an upper-middle-class family in Red Bank, NJ, and the genius child of an impoverished single mother from Rockland, Maine, who became, […]

I went to New Haven this weekend for my 45th college reunion. Not too many of my classmates showed up. I don’t think the class of 1974 identifies much with the institution. Some buddies of mine live in Niantic and Greenwich and they weren’t there. I confess I don’t have […]

I’ve been greatly enjoying Nancy Milford’s biography of Edna St. Vincent Millay title ‘Savage Beauty’.  Millay at one time was the best known poet in America, reading to sold-out houses all across the country. The famous literary critic and author Edmund Wilson (my grandmother’s cousin) fell in love with her […]

Readers of Sue Grafton’s Alphabet Series know that her heroine, Kinsey Millhone, was orphaned at the age of five and raised by her Aunt Gin, who died when Kinsey was in her twenties. So, at least at the start of the series, Kinsey has no family. (Some cousins turn up […]

I took out two books from the Jones Library in Amherst, both delightful views of the world of Emily Dickinson. Ferguson Jenkins’ ‘Emily Dickinson: Friend and Neighbor’, which I discussed in my last post, is an inside view by one of the children Miss Emily allowed into her inner sanctum. […]

I just finished rereading the most delightful book I’ve read in a very long time: ‘Emily Dickinson: Friend and Neighbor’ by MacGregor Jenkins. “Mac” Jenkins and his sister Sally, known as “Did,” were part of a group of children who played on the grounds of the Dickinson mansion. Their father, […]

The ignoramuses (ignorami?) who write automobile advertisements have declared Chevrolet to be “the most awarded car company in the USA.” And this deplorable diction has been picked up by ignorami all over the place. Diplomas are awarded. Damages are awarded to plaintiffs in lawsuits. Degrees are awarded to worthy recipients. […]

I always look forward to the Amherst League of Women Voters book sale — a whole gymnasium filled with good books for not much in a town with a lot of readers. I stocked up on my guilty pleasure, Robert B. Parker detective stories, and picked up some Lillian Jackson […]

I have heard for years about the Lilith Fair, and when I asked who Lilith was, I always heard, “Adam’s first wife,” and that was puzzling to me because I couldn’t find any reference to her in the bible. Turns out she’s not in the bible, but she’s mentioned in […]