Letter from Lakefield: Discovering Margaret Laurence If, like me, you mourn our current era of conglomerate “book” stores, you’re probably always on the hunt for a good independent bookseller. Here in Lakefield, Ontario, I’ve found a jewel: a small, quirky shop called HappenStance Books & Yarns. Yes, that’s what they sell – books and knitting…
Letters From Rose
Review of Macbeth at the Folger
Worth Standing For: Macbeth at the Folger Theatre I realize that it’s probably unfair to give a rave review to a show that is completely sold out through its already–extended run. But the production of Macbeth currently running at the Folger Theatre is so exciting, innovative, and spectacularly good that it’s well worth a standing–room…
Annie Leibovitz: A Photographer’s Life
Thoughts on the Exhibition, Annie Leibovitz: A Photographer’s Life, 1990–2005, 10/13/2007 to 1/13/2008, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington DC It has been a week since I’ve seen it, but I still can’t get the Annie Leibovitz exhibit out of my head. This comes as a surprise to me, considering that I wasn’t that interested…
Review of Into the Wild; Matter of Taste
Getting it Right: Sean Penn’s film, Into the Wild It’s always tough to see a movie based on a book you love. Jon Krakauer’s “Into the Wild” was my first encounter with this writer, and I was knocked out by his careful reporting and graceful, honest prose, as well as by the story he told….
Intro to In the Mix: Poems by David Pike
The following is an introduction I wrote to a terrific collection of poems, “In the Mix,” by British writer David Pike. I met David on my U.K. book tour last year – he runs a lively reading series in Swindon that I was very happy to take part in, and puts out a poetry magazine…
It’s All in the Game: My Affair with Footballer’s Wives
It’s All in the Game: My Affair with Footballer’s Wives I’d like to be able to say that it was all about being a sports fan. I’d like to tell you that I decided to follow an entire season of the weekly BBC drama, Footballer’s Wives, in order to help me better appreciate the travails…