Tuesday, May 31, 2016

'Bits' journal (March-April excerpt)

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As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm obsessed with what poet and FSU professor David Kirby calls the 'bits' journal. The lit...
Friday, May 27, 2016

My quick-hit guide to Florence

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The wonderful, exciting, taking-over-the-world writer Alexander Chee put out a call on Facebook for tips on Florence . I was happy to obli...
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Tuesday, May 24, 2016

What Donna Leon gets right about Italian men

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I've been urged to read one of Donna Leon 's detective series books. And maybe I will. But in the meantime, I've picked up a boo...
Thursday, May 19, 2016

Re-posting: A Girl's Gotta Eat (Tutto)

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I'm re-posting entries from May of 2015, when I went back to my beloved Italy. Is it wrong to say I didn't eat everything I want...
Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Re-posting -- Why We All Love Italy

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I'm re-posting entries from May of 2015, when I went back to my beloved Italy. It rarely fails. Tell someone I used to live in Ital...
Sunday, May 15, 2016

Re-posting -- The Nostalgia Package Tour (FIR.)

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I'm re-posting entries from May of 2015, when I went back to my beloved Italy. You can retrace the steps of Dante when you visit Flo...
Friday, May 13, 2016

Re-posting -- Returning to Italy a year ago

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I'm re-posting entries from May of 2015, when I went back to my beloved Italy after a hiatus of eight years. It’s noon on May 13, ...
Tuesday, May 10, 2016

The journal I keep in my car

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I glance at my car diary and am entranced by the snippets of thoughts I find there. The gushing emotion. If I’ve bothered to record a tho...
Wednesday, May 04, 2016

Bookshelf fetish

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Very excited that I could actually snap this picture and use it for a story I wrote for HLN (a division of CNN ). I just look at the pictu...
Saturday, April 30, 2016

Yay! My new Italian books arrived!

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Couldn't resist! Okay, so no, he's not up to reading Nadia Terranova's Gli Anni al Contrario , or really much of anything in I...
Friday, April 29, 2016

Dialogue in search of a story

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Overheard: “She has a psychological problem. She still pays her bills with checks. Who does that?" (Said by a man a t the Albany a...
Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Houses of Atlanta

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In Cabbagetown. I love taking photos of houses . And Atlanta offers a smorgasbord because the housing stock can sometimes change block t...
Monday, April 18, 2016

What I'm Reading (March-April)

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Third installment here of   what I am reading . Not just the official book list but all the books I peruse throughout the month. So that...
Thursday, April 14, 2016

Reading Bruce Chatwin

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It was bound to happen -- sooner or later, I would begin reading Bruce Chatwin 's travel books. I've long been interested by ...
Wednesday, April 13, 2016

When work + travel = life (for HLN)

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I like to write about travel whenever I can. And sometimes work and pleasure combine.  Here's a story  (click on 'story'...
Monday, April 11, 2016

"The Business of Living"

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Apparently that's the name of the Italian writer Cesare Pavese's published diaries. The Business of Living . Or in Italian: Il Me...
Sunday, April 10, 2016

"Elena Ferrante’s real identity? I don’t really care" - My piece for Asymptote Blog

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Click the link to read it: Elena Ferrante’s real identity? I don’t really care - Asymptote Blog : 'Right, because it’s the work tha...
Friday, March 25, 2016

What we're drinking (South. Italian reds, chiaro)

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Nero d'avola and Neprica (which is a blend of grapes mainly grown in Southern Italy, including Negroamaro and Primitivo). Cin-cin! ...
Sunday, March 20, 2016

Mommy

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Sometimes Leo says "Mommy" and it's not because he is telling me something or calling my name. He just says it, like you mig...
Tuesday, March 08, 2016

What I'm reading (February 2016)

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Okay, so I'm going to keep going, at least for now, with recording what I am actually reading. Not just the official book list but all t...