Hill of Beans, the newest novel by Les Epstein, for 36 years head of the Boston University Creative Writing Program and author of 11 books, including King of the Jews, San Remo Drive, and Pandaemonium, is another of this writer’s novels about life in Hollywood, this time about the impact of World War II and …
Continue reading Summer reading, pt. 3 – a book much more than “a hill of beans”
Persist by Massachusetts Senator and failed Democratic Presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren is the kind of memoir that breathes life into a policy tract. Warren’s campaign mantra was that for each of society’s problems, she had a plan. She still does, and this memoir of her political career is laced with synopses of her most significant …
Instructions for a Heatwave is another intriguing narrative about a dysfunctional family by Northern Irish novelist Maggie O’Farrell. Set in a 1976 heatwave in the U.K., the novel focuses on the family of Gretta Riordan, an Irish grandmother, conservative socially and religiously, a woman with clear-cut ideas about right and wrong that she has worked …
Continue reading Summertime reading, pt. 1 of 3: fiction choices
Just as I was reveling in the loosening of Covid rules and celebrating the new normalcy - going around with a smile on my face and a spring in my step, getting together with fully vaccinated friends, happily hugging them and relatives at our first reunions in more than 15 months, not taking any of …
Continue reading What’s the new normal, mine and the country’s?
Paul Levy was the much-admired executive director of the Mass Water Resources Authority, who, from 1988-1992, led the stunningly successful cleanup of Boston Harbor. He had previously chaired the Mass. Department of Public Utilities (1983-1987) and followed that with several years as an adjunct professor at M.I.T. After a series of noteworthy accomplishments in the …
Continue reading Paul Levy is running for Newton School Committee. Why?
statepress.com After the failure of last week's Senate vote on creating an independent commission to review the events of January 6th, attention has increased on the need to do something to end or modify the filibuster. Sadly, Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, the Democrats' crucial 50th vote in the Senate, still isn't yet …
Continue reading Can’t end the filibuster? Then modify it, now!
Marjorie Arons-Barron 