Sandra Cisneros
"I didn't even know how to make what I wanted. I just knew that I could see it in my mind's eye for a flash of a second and then I was in the dark. So I was mainly in the dark, experimenting with this book."
Alan Furst on Blood of Victory
"The lesson as always—all the lessons are always the same—is follow your heart. It's very hard though…to do that so much."
Lauryn Hill, Unplugged
"Every single song is about me first," says a plainly clothed Lauryn Hill to her audience, as recorded on her new Unplugged, a live acoustic performance broadcast by MTV.
David Rieff
"Wars tend to exacerbate humanitarian crises, not improve them. That's the nature of war."
Norman Mailer has been dumped into the dust bin of literary history
I recall Norman Mailer—who has been dumped into the dust bin of literary history by any number of upstarts, young turks and hired guns looking to make a name for themselves—was asked about his summer reading list. He scoffed at the concept, saying that he read all year around. I was trying to imagine what …
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The Wild, Wild West Side
Located in the basement of 20 W. 20th Street since 1965, West Side advertises itself as the “friendliest range in town.” It’s also the only range in town.
Amy Bloom on Normal
"I tried to write it as I saw it and as I experienced it. The truth is I’d rather not be present in the writing. If I could have figured out a way to write this book so that I wasn’t present, that would have been my preference."
A sport (book reviewing) that I have rarely engaged in
Who can explain the neural (mis)firings that lead you to zig when you normally zag? In the case at hand, I found myself reading a few so-called book reviews, a practice I had long ago eschewed and a sport (book reviewing) that I have rarely engaged in. The stone in my shoe that prompted such …
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The Waiting Room: A Poem
I pull at my husband's arm
as if that tug will tether
a strand of my hair to a braid.
The newest members of the Millionaires club otherwise known as the United States Senate
I suppose if I were a God-fearing American I might be inclined to exclamations of "God save the Republic!" after noting that among other electoral horrors Elizabeth Dole, John Sununu and some guy named Coleman in Minnesota are the newest members of the Millionaires club otherwise known as the United States Senate. The fact that …
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