thoughts, tales and travels
The Guest House By Sarah Blake. New York: Flatiron Books, 2019. 484 pages. It began with a distinctive landscape, the island in Maine that Sarah Blake’s grandparents fell in love with and bought immediately on impulse during the Great Depression. From that familiar family ground, Blake conjured an entirely different...
We decided to stop in Park City, famous for Robert Redford’s Sundance Film Festival, so that I could adjust to some altitude before visiting Bill’s son John in Leadville, Colorado,. Leadville is above 10,000 ft. The last time we were there, we spent a glorious golden day of autumn hiking....
We are on the road! Maybe for the last time driving–we’ll see.First day was very fine. We left Eugene in the morning and arrived in Boise Idaho just in time to check in, have dinner, and take a quick look around Boise. First stop was the familiar Sahalie Falls. Lots...
Lisa Halliday’s debut novel Asymmetry is the best I’ve read this year, but I’m not going to go around recommending it. It’s just not for everybody. It’s not going to entertain you, unless you have a demented taste for the boring details of caring for a very old lover or...
Our stories this week represent two of the most acclaimed writers of the midwestern United States, Willa Cather (1873-1947) and Sherwood Anderson (1876-1941). Willa Cather is one of a kind, combining a strong artistic interest and sensibility with a deep love of the landscapes and people of the mid-western United...
I’ve read Stephen Crane’s more famous story, “The Open Boat,” as well as his novel The Red Badge of Courage, but I’ve never read this story before. I’ll be very interested to hear what other readers think. One thing that makes this tale challenging is the Civil War era military...
January 3, 2019: Short Story Discussion Group Reading Happy New Year!This week features Edith Wharton, who writes some of the saddest, most heart-wrenching and searingly honest stories in the English language. One of her more upbeat characters made this comment: There are lots of ways of being miserable, but there’s only...
Today we took a 40-minute train ride from Shanghai to Suzhou. The Shanghai train station and fleet of bullet trains all look shiny-new. Most people are still off work enjoying the week of national holiday, so the station was very crowded. Our trip went very smoothly in spite of the...
Will I be able to climb the 800 steps to the Great Wall? I wonder this as I slowly climb up the steps to Eugene’s Skinner Butte. Should I bring a hairdryer or more underwear? Probably the hairdryer. I can use it to help dry the underwear when I...
Eugene to Seattle: Delta 6855 Saturday, September 29, 11:17 am Seattle to Shanghai: Delta 589 Sunday, September 30, 7:15 pm Looks like we’ll be losing a day somewhere during our 13 hour flight! At least we’ll be arriving at “night,” so we’ll be able (theoretically) to get a good night’s...
Recent Comments