It's a ritual in these parts: I buy bananas, they don't get eaten, I make banana bread with toasted coconut and macademian nuts. On Thursday morning, I had a spare hour and I stirred up two loaves of banana bread, while watching "Kolchak: The Night Stalker" on the SciF Channel.For the young'uns . . . the ABC Movie of the Week was once a very big deal, kind of the HBO Sunday night lineup of its day. And one of the ones I remember most vividly was "The Night Stalker," a vampire tale set in Las Vegas. Read more [...]

My first appearance in the media was my birth announcement, which appeared in (among others) the Sparta (Ga.) Ishmaelite. Could I make that up? If a proper lady's name appears in a newspaper only three times, I am most improper. My scrapbook includes a photo of me, hair wildly uncombed, with the principal of my nursery school; me posing as Sleeping Beauty in the Columbia Mall, part of some odd Halloween or April Fool's edition of the Columbia Flyer; and, of course, the "It's Academic" photo, which Read more [...]

Why does a sentient human being who reads lots and lots of book reviews plunk down $25 for a book that she's pretty sure she's not going to like?Because I had to find out what happened to Corinne and Russell Calloway. Duh. I'm very fond of BRIGHTNESS FALLS, Jay McInerney's attempt to -- in his paraphrased words, but I think I'm pretty close -- do the BONFIRE OF VANITIES but with heart. (Isn't that like making a gin martini, but with chocolate? Which is JUST WRONG, by the way. Frankly, I don't even Read more [...]

Is it possible, as an adult, to recapture the comforts of a sick day? When I had a fever or an upset stomach -- mere colds were not enough to excuse one from school -- I was put to bed in my room, the old black-and-white television playing at the other end. Pre-remote, it would usually stay on one channel all day, not that there was anything good to watch. No, between "Dialing for Dollars" and "Dark Shadows," it was mostly soap operas. (I got hooked on "One Life to Live" at an early age, largely Read more [...]

It's not going well. I'm behind in all my "assigned" reading. Does this mean I haven't been reading? Not at all. I read Bob Ward's "Four Kinds of Rain." I re-read TRUTH AND BEAUTY. I've started reading Liz Perle's book on women and money. I read Jane Bryant Quinn's book on money. (Do you detect a theme? Please do not worry. I am not struggling with an excess of money. Or a deficit. I am struggling with some really stupid pyschological stuff re: money, almost paralyzed by the need to make decisions Read more [...]

Harand Camp of the Theater Arts is now in its third home in Wisconsin, but when I attended, it was in Elkhart Lake, Wis. Cabins were named, in the most part, for musicals: South Pacific (older boys); Plain & Fancy; Camelot; Brigadoon; Carousel; LaMancha. Our athletic field was Green Pastures; the main building was Wonderful Town. We swam On the Waterfront. (Okay, not a musical.) As for theaters, we had two -- Carnegie Hall, inside Wonderful Town, and the Forrest Tucker Theater in the town of Read more [...]

The first time I held one of my published books in my hand, I kept putting it on the shelf and saying: "Look, it looks just like a real book!" That memory is very vivid, very clear. Yet I am less sure of what I felt when subsequent books arrived. I do remember the thrill of seeing the cover for The Sugar House, my first hardcover. And I remember the dismay I felt at seeing a prototype cover for one book, which my editor was kind enough to send back to the drawing board. But, in general, key book-related Read more [...]