“. . . now I understand that it was not so ordinary after all.”

April 17, 2015

kosser2With his wonderful metaphors and his trademark compassion, Ted Kooser is a poet with many gifts. The gift that I appreciate most is his ability to look at ordinary things — rain, clouds, trees — and see what no one else sees. “Spatters of raindrops cold … Read More

“The sort of strenuous reading and writing program I advocate — four to six hours a day, every day — will not seem strenuous if you really enjoy doing these things…”

April 9, 2015

kingNot since Charles Dickens has a writer had so many readers “by the throat,” observed a British review of this classic by Stephen King. Having sold more than 350 million books, King could be considered an expert at many things, perhaps chiefly at developing and maintaining a … Read More

With a ‘twofold identify,’ immigrants could embrace their new country, while simultaneously believing that ‘the old world’ was not to be discarded but would remain an inspiration and source of pride in the new.”

April 2, 2015

gulliksenIs it possible to identify with two countries? My family has a fondness for Norway that is hard to explain. Our Norwegian heritage comes up in conversations all the time, which is why it might be surprising to learn that my family immigrated three generations ago. … Read More

“What is the rudest question you can ask a woman?”

March 30, 2015

FwyTina Fey — arguably one of the funniest, most influential comedians today — says that the rudest question you can ask a woman isn’t about weight or age. It’s a question that men are rarely asked, namely, “How do you juggle it all?” She says that people … Read More

“What do these extraordinary lines summon in you?”

March 19, 2015

housdenThe premise of Ten Poems to Change Your Life by Roger Housden is this: great poems can be dangerous. They can make you question your assumptions, change your direction, and find the courage to start over. I believe that reading can lead to reflection that inspires transformation. … Read More

“I began to think about what it means to be a facilitator of learning rather than a teacher.”

March 12, 2015

KnowlesWhat is the difference between “educating people” and “helping people learn”? This classic book by Malcolm Knowles — the central figure in US adult education during the last century — explores the different sets of assumptions behind these two approaches. Educators who lecture, for example, assume that … Read More

“You were right to tell me that in life, it is not the future which counts, but the past.”

March 5, 2015

ModianoWhat kind of person believes that the past is more important than the future? Wouldn’t the least likely be someone with amnesia? The central character in this novel by Nobel Prize-winner Patrick Modiano is a Parisian who has no memory of his life before the second world … Read More

“They had built the entire foundation of their country on isolationism and wanting to kill Americans and South Koreans, yet they needed to learn English and feed their children with foreign money.”

February 26, 2015

When Suki Kim’s wrote about the six months she was as a teacher in North Korea, she was haunted by the idea that her book might lead to the punishment or even the death of her former students, who could be punished for knowing too much about … Read More

“We stand in the rain in a long line waiting at Ford Highland Park. For work.”

February 19, 2015

LevineWhat is work? This is the question that poet Philip Levine, who died last Saturday, asked many times. He started working in a Detroit factory at age 14. He believed that his work as a poet was “to name and recover,” and to stand up for … Read More

“They’d be sat there eating on the stairs and as they got older, they’d go higher up the stairs.”

February 12, 2015

wilsonThis oral history collection by the York Archaeological Trust gives us a startling glimpse of life in a poor part of a city in northern England during the first third of the twentieth century. Our quotation above describes what it was like to have meals in homes … Read More

“Memory resides in specific details, not in abstract notions like ‘beautiful’ or ‘angry.'”

February 6, 2015

BarringtonWho better to write a book about writing memoirs than Judith Barrington? She can speak from experience as an author and teacher. In this book, which is widely used in college courses and has sold more than 100,000 copies, she speaks to those who “aspire to … Read More

“It was as if wind was blowing through the exact center of my life . . .”

January 29, 2015

ShearinFaith Shearin is a master of metaphors. Here are some of my favorites from the poems in Moving the Piano: “We let the deer come to us like secrets, their legs made of silence.” (93) “…the water, which has grown colder, like a man’s hand at … Read More

“That was my mistake.”

January 22, 2015

PatchettSome memoirs resemble novels — they build a story with a beginning, a middle, and an ending. The challenge for the writer is to make it interesting for readers who already know the ending. In the case of Truth & Beauty by Ann Patchett, the reader knows … Read More

“Yesterday, I lay awake in the palm of the night.”

January 15, 2015

collins 2 croppedThis is the first line of a poem by Billy Collins, who believes the “signature” of  a poem is its tone. In an interview with George Plimpton for the Paris Review, Collins said, “The basis of trust for a reader used to be meter and end-rhyme. … Read More

“It was a very clear night, or morning, very still, and then there was such energy in the things transpiring among those trees, like a storm, like travail.”

January 11, 2015

RobinsonThis beautiful novel could be a “how to” manual for aspiring writers.  It shows how to have a virtuous central character who is interesting — a rare feat in contemporary literature.  It shows how to structure a novel without using standard architectural tools, such as chapters.  It … Read More