I’ve loved her writing since I discovered it in the late ’70s. She has died of breast cancer. Here’s her obit

…. my longtime Thursday night critique group. Some of

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In the summer when it grows too warm to sit around my dining room table, we meet in the front yard. Here we are, outside.

In the summer when it grows too warm to sit around my dining room table, we meet in the front yard. Here is my essay class, now over, though some of my students will continue in the fall with the memoir class. We do have fun.

Light Sunday fare….

I’m a sucker for these sorts of silly quizzes. You can click on the link below to take the test. Here are my results:

You Are: 40% Dog, 60% Cat

You and cats have a lot in common. You’re both smart and in charge – with a good amount of attitude. However, you do have a very playful side that occasionally comes out!

Report back with your results.

At an Angels game last night, as we took our seats, I turned around and saw yet another person reading the latest Harry Potter.

Am I the only person I know who has not finished an entire Harry Potter novel? It’s great that J.K. Rowling gets kids reading, and entrances adults as well, but I just cannot get into these books. I don’t tend to not go for fantasy or science fiction (though I loved Dune and Stranger in a Strange Land) and never have. Not that I haven’t always had a ton of things in my life from which I’d like to escape.

When I read fiction, which is most always, I’d rather spend my time with realism (however far-fetched): a literary/main stream novel or suspense. (I just read Diana Abu-Jaber’s Origin, which fits both of those categories. She was just on the show. I loved the book.)

I have a good friend that adores Harry Potter. She is bright, funny and well-read. We talk about how reading inclinations evolve.

You Harry Potter fans out there–is this your favorite type of writing? Has it always been? Or was there a transforming moment where one minute you were, say, a lover of D.H. Lawrence or Lawrence Block, and the next moment it was Harry Potter? Seriously….! Inquiring minds want to know. This mind, anyhoo.