No confefe, it was a conference, last weekend. Same as last year, I had two days to think about, talk about, and dream of writing. I wish I could have been more involved this year but RL is what it is. I missed the mornings on both days; I blame the fickle Japan Consumer for…
Book Review or How to Read Self Help By Lorrie Moore Forget how to describe the type of sentence for giving instructions. Remember only interrogative, declarative, and exclamatory. Look up imperative online. Discover that it is fourth grade level language arts. Feel embarrassed, but since its been over forty years, cut yourself some slack. Most…
Book Review Birds of America By Lorrie Moore My Dad passed away more than couple of years back. He’d been sick; his kidneys had failed and the transplant went poorly, so he was in dialysis three days a week. He had to sit still for three or four hours with a needle in his fistula.…
Book Review Dave Barry Does Japan By Dave Barry Dave Barry, for those of you who are not in the know, is a Pulitzer Prize winning author. While his more well-regarded books include I’ll Mature When I’m Dead and Homes And Other Black Holes, the most representative is Boogers Are My Beat. I was first…
Book Review The Lives of Tao by Wesley Chu Last month, I started listening to a podcast, Writing Excuses, which was recommended by a writing colleague at the Tokyo Writers Workshop, Karen McGee. An excellent writer of mystery, crime, and short fiction. She recommended a couple of episodes to help a fellow TWW-er. I piled…
Book Review – Claws of the Cat By Susan Spann About six months back, I joined the Japan Writers Conference, an annual event that attracts a lot of academics, intellectuals, and amazingly creative people. They also let anyone join, and it’s free, so that explains why they let me in. There, I had the pleasure…
Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging by Sebastian Junger Tribe is about how disconnected people people feel. How disconnected we are from society. The book suggests that people are happier– and saner– if we live in close knit groups. The examples that stand out are PTSD sufferers. Junger suggests that if veterans (in this case) felt…
