about reading, writing, books, and all things bookish.
2019
The Morgan Museum and Library at 36th and Madison, NYC. Nearly my favorite place in the world.
Wednesday, March 20, 2019
Good grief. I can’t imagine why I thought Shakespeare wrote Orlando when actually it was written by Virginia Woolf. That takes some sort of real bravery to admit that. But there it is. Admitted.
Good grief2.
Oh, but wait.
As it turns out, Orlando is the lead male character in As You Like It, which of course makes it all good2.
Then comes the question of British actors named Rupert.
Rupert Frazer-born 1947
Rupert Graves-born 1955
Rupert Everett-born 1959
Rupert Penry-Jones-born 1970
Rupert Friend-born 1981
Rupert Grint-born 1988
Now back to Warlight by Michael Ondaatje for my second reading. It’s an extraordinary book with insight into WWII, London, intelligence, growing up, hardships, adventures, Greyhounds, buses, trains, bombings, villages, and of course the light that is shed on all things war.
And in this book, even in all the chaos of uncertainty that war creates, Mr. Malakite grows a garden and builds a protective wall that keeps the strong eastern sea winds at bay. And finally, the Thames. The Thames is perhaps the main character in the book although I’m sure it wasn’t meant to be. Stitch, Wren, Agnes, The Moth, Darter, Olive Lawrence, Rose…they’re all there playing their parts…as best they can.
Sebastion Junger, when he talked about his book Tribe, said that after a war, it is missed. He means that war brings people together in extraordinary circumstances where everyone is asked to engage in tasks of necessity and bravery that seem impossible to endure. And after war, life returns to sameness. After war, the spikes of adrenaline are replaced by the predictability of pabulum. Seems like there should be better choices. In fact, there are.
For example. From Woody Allen’s Manhattan, here’s his list about what made life worthwhile in 1979:
Groucho Marx
Willie Mays
The Second Movement of the Jupiter Symphony
Louie Armstrong’s recording of Potato Head Blues
Swedish movies
Sentimental Education by Flaubert
Marlon Brando
Frank Sinatra
Apples and Pears by Cezanne
The crabs at Sam Wo’s
Woody didn’t mention George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue…perhaps because its worthwhileness is universally understood.
Till next time.
Three Ruperts.
Three more Ruperts.
Apples and pears by Cezanne.
Saturday, March 16, 2019
It’s such a great feeling when a TV show makes you laugh out loud. You look around sheepishly to see if anyone was watching and was glad no one was. Boston Legal does that for me nearly every episode. Then and Now.
What else? Today was a day to clean the office. But instead I got stuck on thinking about two of my all-time favorite things. Leonardo Da Vinci by Walter Isaacson and my pencil box from The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
And finally, after reading a bunch of books and watching the news and then subsequently thinking about attributes that make up the kind of person who is good to be around, I’ve decided on:
Kind
Generous
Honest
Easy-to-Please
But then that kind of person sounds sort of boring. So, I’ve added:
Fun
Today is subtitled: Pleasant Thoughts for a Saturday.
Till next time.
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Monday, March 11, 2019
For some reason, I thought it would be interesting to collect a bit of clarifying information about books I like by writers I like who are named Michael and who have been interviewed by Michael.
But now that I’ve gathered it all, I wonder…what was I thinking.
The requisite amount of work, a turn at the gym, a chocolate milkshake for dinner, and then a quick look for a like-new but perfectly affordable Prada handbag on ebay while listening to Kai Rysdall explain market economics to the listening public…before jumping back into Michael Chabon’s Telegraph Avenue, which is a pretty perfect book that documents both the obvious and hidden ways that large conglomerates are actually in charge of lives like those of Nat, Archy, Aviva, Gwen, Julius, and Titus. This book relates everything to everything and can connect jazz records to midwifery to Cassius Clay to Stephen Hawking to Sergio Leone an Italian master of the spaghetti western in ways that are totally brilliant.
I really don’t want this book to end as it feels like I’m looking in on the private lives of real people. On the other hand, I’d like all their trials and tribulations to be resolved so they can all call it a day and be happy.
Marketplace.org
Tim Apple. Really?
A new Prada? $1,800 sans crossbody strap? Looks like that’s a pretty big no.
Maybe tomorrow. You never know.
Till next time.
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Wednesday, March 6, 2019
Everywhere I look lately, I see a reference to Meditations by Marcus Aurelius who was emperor of Rome and lived AD 121-180, age 59
Socrates 469-399 BC, age 70
Plato 427-347 BC, age 80
Aristotle 384-321 BC, age 63
Alexander the Great 356-323 BC, age 33
I wish it were easier to make a little chart of the above data. It would be so nice to have a visual artifact that represents temporal relationships. But alas.
Till next time.
BC
AD
4
6
9
4
3
9
4
0
9
3
7
9
3
4
9
3
1
9
2
8
9
2
5
9
2
2
9
1
9
9
1
6
9
1
3
9
1
0
9
7
9
4
9
1
9
1
1
4
1
7
1
1
0
1
1
3
1
1
6
1
1
9
1
2
2
1
2
0
1
9
Socrates
…
…
.
Plato
..
…
…
Aristotle
.
…
…
Alexander
…
Marcus
.
…
..
Aha, not the perfect chart, but it's a start. Hmm.
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Tuesday, March 5, 2019
My admiration for Apple is just about endless.
Ten languages with which to quote Oscar Wilde seems pretty, pretty perfect.
I know. I know. Piddling around with electronics and Audacity is not exactly all that productive, cost effective, or even logical. But, truth be told? It was fun. And also as Algernon said to Jack (aka Ernest)...
The truth is rarely pure and never simple.
Arabic
German
Spanish
French
Italian
Japanese
Portuguese
Russian
Chinese
Till next time.
Saturday, March 2, 2019
The truth is rarely pure and never simple…in nine ten languages.
Till next time.
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The truth is
rarely pure
and never simple.
Friday, March 1, 2019
Other than the Ides of March coming up in about two weeks, there are three observations for today:
1. I’ve been such a fan of Chanel No. 5 parfum for so long that I’ve rarely tried anything else when I’ve been in a store looking for free spritzes.
But suddenly, there it was…Estee Lauder’s Beautiful Belle. And I’m hooked.
Not only is the Belle fragrance great, but it’s long lasting; and that is something that No. 5 is notoriously lacking. Here today and gone by noon. Completely. Such a shame.
Hello Belle. Farewell Chanel.
But.
Only in the free spritz category, of course.
Much too expensive to actually purchase. Either one.
2. How can life be considered complete without seeing Glenda Jackson as King Lear?
The short answer?
It can’t. Previews started last night.
Glenda was on Seth Meyers the other night and was fabulous. My best memory of her is as Hedda in Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler. But it’s her diction and pronunciation skills that are so compelling. Plus she’s smart. I’m hoping I can find an audio book that she’s produced. And I don’t even have to hope it’s a good book as I don’t think she’d do any other kind.
After watching Glenda’s interview and seeing the King Lear ad in the Times, I was in the mood for a classic tale of life and loss and found Annette Bening, Saoirse Ronan, and Elizabeth Moss in Anton Chekov’s The Seagull. A story of quiet desperation…as are most good stories.
3. And this brings me to the final episodes of The Americans. Relations between and within the old USSR, the supposedly defunct KGB, and current-day Russia are filled with hardship, disillusionment, distrust, more hardship, and loss of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Life for average Russian citizens is still difficult, particularly for those living in small towns and communities. But at the same time, Russia has given us a huge amount of art, music, and literature that can’t be topped. Chagall, Tchaikovsky, Tolstoy, Baryshnikov, Sakharov, Solzhenitsyn, and Elena, Alex, Misha, and Gloria, (four Russians I've met in the recent past). I love the idea of Russia. Its people. Its culture. Its ability to survive. I wish it could be easier for them.
One line from The Americans might be a good summary,
“Life in America is not better than life in Russia. It’s just easier.”
Disregard that McDonald's cup in the background.
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Thursday, February 28, 2019
I’ve always liked the quote from John Adams extolling the science of government and the importance of education. It was fairly easy to find his original quote thanks to the National Archives, which are housed at 700 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C.
And President Adams's actual digitized letter with this quote in his own handwriting is available through the Massachusetts Historical Society.
“I must study Politicks and War that my sons may have liberty to study Mathematicks and Philosophy—my sons ought to study Mathematicks and Philosophy, Geography, natural History, and Naval Architecture, navigation, Commerce and Agriculture, in order to give their Children a right to study Painting, Poetry, Musick, Architecture, Statuary, Tapestry, and Porcelaine.”
“Adieu.”
Laura Linney and Paul Giamatti were the epitome of perfect as they portrayed Abigail and John in the HBO seven-part series John Adams based on David McCullough's book.
And as good as they were, they just keep getting better in all their works.
And playing Washington? David Morse. Perfect.
And Jefferson? Stephen Dillane…even more perfect.
Bonsoir.
Jusqu'à la prochaine fois.
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Wednesday, February 27, 2019
According to letters to the editor of TNYTBR, a book reviewer by the name of William Logan wrote a negative and "heroically ill-informed" review of Leonard Cohen’s book, The Flame. That’s what one letter said. Another letter-writer wondered if Leonard had stolen William’s girl. It seems there is universal appreciation for Leonard Cohen and that William underestimated this appreciation. At any rate, William is probably rethinking his low opinion of the much loved and much missed Mr. Cohen and his posthumously-published book.
In 2006, Michael Silverblatt interviewed Leonard, and here is that hard to find link:
Modern economic policy is SO complicated that you have to simply decide whom to trust in order to even try to begin to understand what’s going on with today’s world economy.
And the two people I’ve chosen to trust are:
Kai Ryssdal
marketplace.org
and
Kathleen Day
Broken Bargain: Bankers, Bailouts, and the Struggle to Tame Wall Street
Till next time.
Kai is the new...
Walter, the most trusted man in America.
And as Abigail Adams said, "Don't forget the ladies."
Thursday, February 21, 2019
Loved it.
I’m wondering what the DSM says about binge watching Russian Doll. I’ll have to check that out. Not that I watched all eight episodes in one sitting…but pretty close. Anyhoo. It was fabulous.
Fabulous. Fabulous. Fabulous. The writing was the real star of the show.
Living and dying fifteen, sixteen, seventeen times is not an easy feat to portray on film. And yet the writers did it.
And perfect? Natasha Lyonne.
What will season 2 bring?
Will there be a season 2?
We’ll see. Fingers crossed.
And doubly perfect? Harry Nilsson.
Till next time.
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Tuesday, February 19, 2019
Shelf space. I need more shelf space to house a few books that I own or would like to own. Storing books on a kindle is just not the same as looking at them on a shelf where they are handy and strong.
Amor Towles
A Gentleman in Moscow
Michel Houellebecq
The Map and the Territory
Karl Ove Knausgaard
My Struggle
Frederik Backman
Man Called Ove
Alexander Masters
Stuart: A Life Lived Backwards
Mohsin Hamid
Exit West
Ian McEwan
The Children Act
George Saunders
Lincoln in the Bardo
And then there’s Elena Ferrante. I was thinking I wouldn’t finish her Neapolitan Quartet…but then I did. These four books had seemed too long with too many characters to adequately and respectfully keep track of everything. But then suddenly, I decided to power through because I knew it would be worth it.
And it was. Of course it was. Lena and Lila. The four books tell the stories of their lives from childhood through grandmother-hood from an Italian perspective in the middle of the last century. Throughout all four books, there are truths and futility as well as sadness and mistakes and dozens and hundreds of situations of “if only”.... From the beginning, reading My Brilliant Friend is like looking at water flow over your fingers. At the same time that it’s there, it’s also slipping away.
And then finally, two interviews, not to be forgotten, on BookTV this weekend featured two books that are written by two energetic, articulate, and scholarly women who bring messages of warnings but also solutions. Mesmerizing stuff.
Fiber: The Coming Tech Revolution—and Why America Might Miss It
Susan Crawford
The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power
Shoshana Zuboff
Seems like a lot. Yes. New shelves. That's what's needed.
And then.
Fifty years. Sesame Street. Evidently, I am the only woman in America who does not care for this show.
Don’t @ me. Or so advises Kai Ryssdal.
Till next time.
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Friday, February 15, 2019
You’re driving down the street. Your car notices a used bookstore on the right. The steering wheel abruptly turns into the parking lot while expertly maneuvering the car into a space right in front of the store.
You think, “Why not?”
You go in.
Inside are hundreds and thousands and possibly hundreds of thousands of used books. You find five that you’ve loved ever since you first read them, and even though you already own them, you buy them again.
You go home, take their picture, and explain the situation to the rest of your books who completely understand and accept this newest state of affairs without reservation.
And while the old books don’t exactly voluntarily make space on the shelves for the new books, neither do they balk at being scooted a little more to the left.
And the day is done.
Till next time.
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Wednesday, February 13, 2019
It’s so great when I get in the mood to dust the bookshelves because I always seem to find a favorite book that I haven't read in awhile.
And today?
I found Lots of Spots by Lois Ehlert. This book with its wonderful art and witty poems is such a spirit lifter. PLUS, I met her one day at MOMA. She was DElightful. I'll never forget it. A brief but lovely encounter.
All her books are the kinds of books the best writers want to write.
A good day for dusting. A good day for books.
Till next time.
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Tuesday, February 12, 2019
One of the nicest vignettes in cinematic memory.
A garden picnic with champagne, olives, prosciutto, brie, and bread.
Joe’s Palace
Michael Gambon, Danny Lee Wynter, and Rebecca Hall.
Yes, please.
Till next time.
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Monday, February 11, 2019
Even though the book is beloved, lauded, and much acclaimed, it’s got a cast of thousands, and it’s difficult to keep up with everything that’s happening. Plus, the main idea is that when girls and women are denied an education, everything suffers. Page after page. Decade after decade.
Therefore. I’ve made a decision.
Instead of trying to force myself to continue reading Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan Quartet, I’m going to read instead Delia Owens’s Where the Crawdads Sing. But. There's a problem. I’m on hold. I am reader number 495 out of 52 available library ebooks.
Looks like I’ve chosen well. But it’s gonna be awhile. Hmmm. I wonder if awhile is one word or two.
Never. The. Less. What shall I do in the meantime?
One picture’s worth a thousand words.
Till next time.
How in the world does this happen?
Tuesday, February 5, 2019
A New Yorker by nature.
A reader by choice.
A Democrat by birth.
Ta da.
Till next time.
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Sunday, February 3, 2019
Finished A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving. This was published in 1989. I’m late. I know. Owen Meany and Johnny Wheelwright grow up together, watch the world evolve, perform in Christmas pageants, avoid the Vietnam War, emigrate to Canada, live, die, and think about it all. Every page of this book has a phrase or an event or a circumstance that is new and unique and without precedent in the world of books. John Irving and Michael Silverblatt talk many times throughout the years on KCRW. There’s nothing better.
Also finished Bridge of Clay by Markus Zusak. It was a hard read. Artistic, poetic, post-modernist, difficult to follow. Five boys, many adults. All mostly just shy of reliable and competent. What the book does do over and over and over is demonstrate the follies of human choices.
Today was a three-hour live interview on BookTV with Dave Zirin who is an author and sports-writing aficionado. For three hours he talked sports, data, history, Title IX, NFL, NCAA, Nike, patriotism, money, profits, and how professional sports can be fixed for the benefit of the players, fans, and franchises. Prior to 1952, everyone listened to sports on the radio…mainly boxing and baseball, which was considered the American sport. By 1959, 90% of all households had a TV. Football emerged and was best served on TV and not the radio. Hence. The NFL conquered the nation’s attention while boxing and baseball have taken a back seat. Dave didn’t miss one beat. In a three-hour interview of questions, comments, readings, thoughts, and thinking, he gave a flawless, energetic, happy interview.
Peter Slen, the quintessential interviewer…a hero.
Till next time.
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Wednesday, January 30, 2019
Sadly, it’s so much more relaxing to write about books when the Dow rises 434 points.
The Testament of Mary
by Colm Toibin
A fictionalized account of Mary’s version of life after death in this instance read with perfect believability by Meryl Streep. But the star of course is Colm and his perfect conjectures about the reality of it all.
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
by Betty Smith
This book absolutely captures Plath’s assertion about the grinding indifferent millstone of circumstance. Add poverty and the preferential treatment of boys over girls with regard to education, and life becomes exponentially harder than it has to be. Francie gets a good education in Brooklyn but ONLY because her father fabricates the paperwork so that she can get into a better school than the low-level one in her neighborhood. And that was Johnny’s main gift to his only daughter. And this single act of quiet civil disobedience made the difference.
Brooklyn
by Colm Toibin
Irish immigration to America brought people accustomed to disappointment. Yes, disappointment, but also with beliefs that things could get better. Eilis Lacey arrives by boat, finds quite a bit of luck, and adapts almost too easily to 1950s America. But it all rings true. And it rings true because of Colm. He doesn't miss a thing.
Wait Till You See Me Dance
by Deb Olin Unferth
This short story collection is up next.
NPR. NYT. Publishers Weekly. Good Reads.
They say it’s a go.
Which means it is.
But first, I’m finishing Bridge of Clay by Markus Zusak who writes about Matthew, Henry, Rory, Tommy, and of course Clay. But it's the connection to Homer and his Illiad and Odyssey that makes this so exciting. Reading Bridge feels a little like reading 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez who takes you through a river of events that you can barely see but somehow completely understand. But back to Markus. Markus's The Book Thief is my all time favorite book. It's the perfect book with Liesel Meminger as the star along with Hans and Rosa.
This is a lot. Even so. It's the perfect amount.
Then.
On to the pedestrian.
What to have for dinner.
Maybe just a simple root beer float.
Yes. I think so.
Till next time.
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Sunday, January 20, 2019
After a cup of tea, a bit of egg, and a quick gaze almost out the window, here’s a thought for the day:
Till next time.
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Wednesday, January 9, 2019
1/9/19
Ian Rankin in the Book Review commented about mystery books containing the complete package. But I think his list applies to all good books.
A strong sense of place.
Complex main characters.
Moral and societal issues.
Roller coaster plotting.
But even good fiction can’t really hold up to the real-life stories of people like Madeleine Kamman and Gertrude Jeannette who were two of several folks featured in the NYTimes Magazine from December 30, 2018.
These extraordinary women were deservedly chosen, and their stories were very well written. This particular Magazine is one worth saving (even though at some point, you have to stop saving and clipping).
Never. The. Less. This issue is one for the keeper file.
And then it’s on to mundanity (if that’s a word, and it appears that MS Word does not believe it is, but I digress). It’s energizing when it appears that the day gave you a gift by making your shoes fit better once you’ve put on a thinner pair of socks. But when by the end of the day, thick or thin, the shoes still don’t fit properly, you’re left with the disappointing mundanity of shoes and socks.
Luckily.
To make up for this insult and injury,
There’s still Brooklyn with Colm Toibin.
And it all turns good once again.
Till next time.
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Monday, January 7, 2019
At the end of the day, you think nothing much has occurred, but then you look around and find out just the opposite.
A letter in the Book Review explained Nietzsche’s anti anti-Semitic views as referenced in Human, All Too Human, Nietzsche's book which explores enlightened reason and science.
An author (Ian Rankin) cleverly explained The Prime of Miss Jean Brody as being an absolute Tardis of a book. (A Dr. Who reference to being bigger on the inside than the outside.)
Gail Collins reviewed Patricia Miller’s book, Bringing Down the Colonel, which led me to wonder about a whole lot of stuff.
Nat King Cole is singing in the background.
And I’m finishing John Grisham’s The Innocent Man on Netflix later on.
It would be hard to find a Monday where more has occurred.
And finally, it would be really, really handy if Hey Siri could accurately spell Nietzsche so that I wouldn't have to physically Google it. Cause Nece ain't he.
Till next time.
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Sunday, January 6, 2019
David Corn was live on BookTV today for three hours and did a wonderful job explaining his process for fact-checking and for his writing process for both his non-fiction and fiction books. It was a really great interview. Peter Slen, as always, was a superb interviewer. He seems to get better and better with each interview.
And I’ve done it again.
I’m in the middle of two books. I hate when that happens.
Reading on my kindle, A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving.
Listening on my iPhone, The Testament of Mary by Colm Toibin and read by Meryl Streep.
Fortunately, they’re from two different centuries so I should have no trouble keeping the characters straight. It’s gonna be a delightful week.
One downer note: On BookTV, John Carlin (a brilliant young man) talked about his new book on cyber warfare by Russia and China and other nefarious creatures. VERY scary stuff. Best not to look.
Useful idleness. Is that what reading is?
No. But I DO like that phrase.
Till next time.
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Friday, January 4, 2019
Ineffably and invariably, the best moments of the day usually involve a slice of sunlight making its way through the window onto the table where it lights up a bowl of blackberries or a boiled egg or a cheese sandwich or maybe just a fragment of underdone potato, and then it’s gone, that sunny moment, until the next time the earth rolls around.
Sunlight.
Which brings me to dust.
And dusting.
I’m always surprised when I walk by a bookcase and notice a month’s worth of dust when it’s only been a week since I’ve dusted. And dusting brings me to Karen Hesse’s Out of the Dust, which I read with my dad oh so many years ago and will reread soon.
But first, I’ll be needing to finish me latest book which is A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving. I was so excited to find this book after it was recommended by a literary-type as one of the all-time greats. But now I see that there’s also a teacher’s guide for high school students. What does it mean to really like a book read by high school students?
It means it’s an extra good book.
A last fleeting thought beyond sunlight, dust, blackberries, potatoes, high schoolers, and nostaligia. Vivian Leigh as Blanche DuBois said in A Streetcar Named Desire that life was for art, music, literature, and tenderness.
Oddly enough she mentioned neither a border wall nor a government shutdown.
Till next time.
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Wednesday, January 2, 2019
A cozy fire and finishing a book. A good way to start the year.
The book? A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. And yes, its copyright is 1943, which makes me way behind and which is not a good place to be at the start of a new year. But there it is.
And Francie is wonderful. She’s smart, independent, hard working, poor, continually hungry, cautious, in the shadows, but still manages to survive.
From a sociological perspective, it’s great to think that talent and hard work allow people to rise above their initial meager beginnings. But in fact, if Naomi Klein is correct (and she is), the economy for most people is not in their favor. For those who begin life in meager beginnings, saving a few pennies a week is not going to do it. Still…the book is grand, hopeful, and replete with cultural references and explanations for how and why society is where it is today.
It’s nice to be able to root for a hero even if she’s only in a book. I’m now thinking of reading Colm Toibin’s Brooklyn, which I’ve already read but which seems like the right time to read again.
There’s just something about Brooklyn.
Till next time.
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Tuesday, January 1, 2019 A Brand New Year with a few favorite things:
Actor Tom Hardy
Actress Tyne Daly
Writer Arundhati Roy
Playwright Alan Bennett
Broadway Play The Producers
Vitamin C
Bowl Mason Cash
Book Building Stories
Audio Book The Uncommon Reader
Song Let’s Go Fly A Kite
Bridge Brooklyn
Vacation Photo AMNH
Punctuation Oxford Comma
Fragrance Obsession
Titles My Struggle Can You Ever Forgive Me? The Meaning of Everything
