This old man — he played one, he played knick-knack on my thumb. This old man, my old man, my man, is a long haul trucker. Here last week, gone this week. Back the week after. Knick-knack, paddy-whack give a dog a bone. I’m singing to the big old hound lying on the kitchen lino. Useless thing. …
Author Archives: lara
2a.m. at the Cat’s Pajamas — Marie-Helene Bertino
Follow a handful of characters through a single day in Philadelphia. 9 year-old Madeline aspiring jazz singer and newly motherless and in more than a bit of trouble.
Oranges — John McPhee
One of the original “things” essays. It didn’t age all that well. I was hoping from something much more accomplished and much less out of date.
Sing, Unburied, Sing — Jesmyn Ward
The title only comes clear in the last few paragraphs of the book. The journey to the singing of the unburied is painful and tender all at once. A story of three generations of bayou people living in an enchanted, haunted world.
The Alice Network — Kate Quinn
At the end of the second world war, Charlie — a young aimless woman, arrives in Europe with her mother and the need to sort out a Little Problem.