Archives April 2025

When times are tough, and times are definitely tough right now, about the only way to distract ourselves is to read. I think at the moment it seems as if I have read every single book ever published, but I know that isn’t exactly true.

In case you need one, here is a list of books that I have read recently and want to share:

• I just reread Tuck Everlasting, by Natalie Babbit. It is a classic children’s book, but manages to touch on so many current issues.
• Splinters, by Leslie Jamison. A tour de force memoir.
• The Ninth Life of Louis Drax, by Liz Jensen. I have never read a book like this.
• Entitlement, by Rumaan Alam. What it means to be rich, and what it means not to be. That’s all I can say without ruining it.
• The Tell, by Amy Griffith. Another great story, about secrets and what keeping them can do to you.
• Alternate Side, by Anna Quindlen. Any book by Quindlen is excellent.
• Sociopath, by Patric Gagne, PhD. Fascinating.
• Colored Television, by Danzy Senna. Side note: she is the wife of Percival Everett, who wrote the book James. This book is wonderful .
• Good Material, by Dolly Alderton. I want to read all of her books.
• I loved all of  the Spellman series by Lisa Lutz. So funny and entertaining. The opening paragraph to the first Spellman book is one of the best ever.

Here is a suggestion: if you love a book, look up that author on Instagram and follow that person. Send them a DM telling them how much you loved the book. It is such an uplift to a writer.

Review the books you read on Amazon. That really helps that author sell more books.

Oh, and another suggestion:

A woman sent her husband out to pick up a few groceries. But he came home with a duckling instead. Not this particular duckling, above, because as you can see from the little arrows in the photo, it’s another stock photo I copied.

I only read the headline, because I have no attention span any more, due to the fact that social media has reduced my ability to concentrate on any one article to exactly five seconds.

I envy this woman. I would be thrilled if my husband came home with a duck, or any baby animal (barring elephants or kangaroos). I imagine walking around our apartment with a little duckling following at my heels. So cute, so adorable.

I don’t let myself think about the fact that all farm animals poop whenever they feel the urge, no matter if it is on a bed or inside your bedroom slippers. Or how farm animals need space. Or how we would get kicked out of our apartment.

What would I name the duck? The trend these days is to name your pet something human, like “Alan.” So Alan the duck would quack, poo, and follow me around. I would want to train him to be a “lap duck,” because what good is a pet if you can’t set it on your lap and cuddle with it?

Do ducks smell, as in have a distinct farmyard odor? Even if they live on the fifth floor? If so, that might be a deal breaker. I know that chickens do stink, and you wouldn’t want to have one inside the home.

And the feathers. There would be feathers everywhere.

I wonder what that woman did. Did she have a big yard, where the duck could live? Did she call her husband words starting with “F?” Did she imagine sometime in the future roasting said duck?

I know that around Easter, fathers bringing home baby ducks and chickens has been a problem for decades. My bet is that at least 90% of those little fowls never make it to adulthood.

If I had a duck, Alan would have a little pen in the TV room, filled with shavings, a tiny washtub to swim in, and he would be so happy. Until my cat murdered him.