read
My classes are all ending, and while I adore my students and love reading their work, I am so excited to dig into these two beauties. First, Your Duck is My Duck, by the funny and amazing, Deborah Eisenberg. I mean, Eisenberg uses flounce to describe a sunrise, as in, “The plane took off in frosty grime and floated down across water, from which the sun was rising in sheer pink and yellow flounces.” And that’s on page four. Imagine the gems and delight that awaits! The other book I can’t wait to read is Evening in Paradise, the new collection of stories by Lucia Berlin. I loved her collection, A Manual for Cleaning Women, (if you haven’t read it, turn immediately to the story, “Toda Luna, Todo Año”). Oh, yes, and then there is this one, which I think I’ll give a listen.
write
Because I recently wrote a story with a couple of rabbits in it, I felt tenderness for Judy, the rabbit in this Modern Love column. Of course I love a good read with my coffee and Modern Love often delivers…and/but am I the only person with a folder full of failed Modern Love essays? I did a little digging and found some places you might want to send your personal essay that didn’t make the cut in the Sunday Times.
Try Dame/First Person, full grown people, The Rumpus, and Bustle (where they are currently accepting pitches for first person essays about literature and identity pieces about your relationship to literature). As always, be certain to check out the site, familiarize yourself with tone and content to see if your work is appropriate. Let me know when and where your work appears! You’re welcome.
eat
If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, or regularly read the newsletter, you know my husband has recently had a total knee replacement. Okay, yay for technology, and, wow…it is a big surgery with a long recovery. Housebound as we’ve been, I’m nurse, chef and laundress. Here’s a quick list of some excellent dishes that I’ve delivered to the sick room: Meatloaf Parmesan, Ma-Po Tofu (to which I added a sh*t-ton of shiitakes), Buckwheat Chocolate Chip Cookies (I add dried cranberries and toasted walnuts with terrific results), Baked Cheesy Pasta w/Wild Mushrooms, (I added butternut squash, and, I’m thinking this would be a great dish for cubed leftover turkey), Roy Choi’s Braised Short Ribs (scan the readers’ notes, don’t add sugar, use an Asian pear instead) Brussel Sprouts w/Pomegranate and Walnuts (these definitely deserve a place at your Thanksgiving Table!) And so much soup. So. Much. Soup.
