WriteRunRead Blog

Midnight in Paris was delightfully different and, to me, believable!  If you have seen the movie, you will understand that Owen Wilson's character, Gil, travels back in time, while "vacationing" in Paris with his fiance and future in-laws.  There are some clever moments and of course views of the beautiful, historic sites, but the real draw for me was the concept of time travel. We learn early on that Gil, a Hollywood screenplay writer, feels like a "sell-out."  He seems to regret living in today's society, rather than in the roaring 1920s, especially while walking through the streets of Paris, considering the writers and artists that flocked and flourished there, at that time.  His fiance is eagerly awaiting their future together in the hills of Malibu.  She is drastically portrayed as plastic and shallow. Gil is drawn so much to that time period and to those artists and poets who have contributed to our culture that, at midnight, while walking along a ...

One of my sisters said I should “blog” more often.  I take that as a compliment, even if she is related to me.  So I decided to write about the Honeysuckle. Yes.  The Honeysuckle.  They are in bloom right now and if you pay close enough attention, soon enough, your nose will lead you to one.  When I was a kid, the summers were full of quiet time.  We didn’t go away to camp and barely went to day camp.   We played outside with whoever was home too.  We visited the town pool, with its icy, unheated water and biked home afterward. Right around this time, when the line between spring and summer starts to blur, I remember feeling like such a lucky girl.  My best friend, and across-the-street neighbor, had tons of Honeysuckle bushes lined up along her tall, wooden fence.  We spent hours picking the flowers and tasting the nectar found within the yellow and white stems.  It was dreamy. Just the other day I was playing golf with my mo...

My review of "A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD" by Jennifer Egan “What is a “Goon Squad”? “I don’t know yet, maybe the book is about a bunch of weird people, with goon-like qualities.” “Nah, can’t be just that.  There must be some other reason for a unique title as that.” A little less than halfway through the book, an aging, has-been rocker seeking a comeback of sorts is urging his publicist to document and publicize his life.  He wants to expose every last humiliation, as he remarks, “Time’s a goon, right?  Isn’t that the expression?”  So it’s TIME, is it?  Time is a goon -- and not just one goon, but a squad of them.  I never heard that expression.  I wonder -- did Ms. Egan make it up?   I wouldn’t be surprised if she did.  Egan’s book is innovative: the chapters, dance back and forth through decades, characters, settings and plots, circling the reader, challenging us to keep track of events, people, situations.   She makes us thin...