Somerset Maugham wrote something to the effect that people read less fiction as they grow older, because the stories in fiction can only take certain predictable shapes, whereas real life (as represented in Maugham’s example by history or biography) is essentially without limit. I find that this is true in my case. I read less […]

I read with fascination this article from the Times, in which the author and his wife enjoyed a typical Edwardian diet of 5000 calories per day. Here’s the menu for the first day.DAY 1Breakfast: Porridge, sardines, curried eggs, grilled cutlets, coffee, hot chocolate, bread, butter, honey. Lunch: Sauté of kidneys on toast, mashed potatoes, macaroni […]

For the last ten days or so I’ve been indulging in that annual American rite of spring, the preparation of the income tax. It is my custom, while slowly going blind staring at faded receipts marked with cryptic notes that doubtless seemed perfectly understandable at the time, to avoid encroaching madness by renting and watching […]

Last night I caught two episodes of the Travel Channel’s latest, 1000 Places to Go Before You Die, based on the best-selling book of the same name. (A copy of which my 2005 Clarion students kindly gave me as a parting gift. Or maybe not so kindly. Maybe they were suggesting I go to Borneo […]