Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots (Simon & Schuster, 2012) is Deborah Feldman’s memoir of growing up in Brooklyn in the most insular of Chasidic sects, the Satmars. Fathered by the village idiot and abandoned by her mother, Feldman is raised by her grandparents, a bride at 17, a mother at 19, and… Continue Reading
Okay, there’s no real shortcut to writing, per se. Writing requires you sit down, collect your thoughts, organize them, and turn them into text. But as a writer, I sometimes wonder what button or link I inadvertently touched that made my computer do something wacky and unexpected. Then I realize my knowledge of a set… Continue Reading
Alexandra Fuller’s latest book, The Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness (Penguin Press HC 2011) continues to roam around in my imagination more than a month after I finished reading it. She is a memoirist who transports the reader to a time and place you could never otherwise know and experience it with compassion… Continue Reading
If you are a writer with a book project, book proposal or complete manuscript, you absolutely must have a website. Why? Publishers and readers demand it. The world must be able to find you on Google. Writers need a professional online presence, beyond the personal Facebook profile and e-mail account. If you are going to… Continue Reading
Passion for good, simple, healthy food is something farmers and hunters share with chefs, urban homesteaders and metropolitan diners in these new books about meat and so much more. It’s become cool to be carnivore. Farmer and evangelist for the grass-fed movement, Joel Salatin’s new book, Folks This Ain’t Normal: A Farmer’s Advice for Happier… Continue Reading
