Last week was spring break for me, so I took the time off to visit my dad and my grandmother, who is ill with cancer, in Missouri. My grandma finished her last radiation treatment while we were there, so we are hoping that things look good and that she’ll start to get stronger and be... Continue Reading →
I read this book because James Spader gave it to Jimmy Fallon for his birthday on The Tonight Show a few weeks ago. It’s Up in the Old Hotel and Other Stories by Joseph Mitchell. It is a compilation of Mitchell’s books, which are composed of essays he wrote for The New Yorker in the... Continue Reading →
This book has been on my to-read list for years. Once I decided to buy it so I could annotate it, it sat on my nightstand for a few more years. I’ve finally gotten to The Essential Feminist Reader (2007) edited by Estelle B. Freedman, and I loved it! It is a compilation of feminist... Continue Reading →
Marilynne Robinson is so smart that I can barely understand her books. Her work forces me to slow down, savor each sentence, and really think about what I’ve just read. When I put forth this effort, I am richly rewarded by her prose. She’s like Joan Didion, another one of my favorite essayists, only Robinson... Continue Reading →
I recently watched the adorable movie Julie and Julia with the incomparable Meryl Streep and the impossibly cute Amy Adams. Yes, the movie is about blogging (and cooking), but that’s not my point. There is a scene in which Julia Child is writing to a friend, and she describes herself leaping out of bed every... Continue Reading →
The Bookshelf of Emily J. 