Magnificent Octopus

In the 18 years (almost exactly) since I was almost 18 years old, I've had 12 addresses. 1. University residence. The 9th floor, or mayb...

Chris Rodell on the palatial prison he has constructed around himself, at MobyLives : I never have an okay day. My professional elevator onl...

I'm feeling blocked. I have a lot to say, to share, to vent, to dump, but this mass of tangled extension cords isn't showing any via...

The other night we watched the 20/20 report on " Summer of the Vampire ," although I think that's a pretty bold claim to make...

Robert Collins lists his top 10 dystopias in The Guardian: "re-inventing the present is sometimes the only way to see how bad things a...

Reading More often than not over the last month, when Helena is tucked into bed she tells me, "Pas une histoire, Mama. Bonne nuit....

Opening line: The telephone rang, and she knew she was going to die. It ends for our heroine in a gunfight, a mad dash, and a craving for a ...

We're back. Tired, but mostly happy. Helena had 1 bout of motion sickness at about the 4-hour mark the way there, entailing an unschedul...

Back on or about August 23. Don't expect to hear from me before then, cuz where I'm going, I don't think they have the Internet....

I am so bored! Not at this very minute, actually, as I've just had the better (read: bigger) part of a bottle of wine (oh, maybe a whole...

Apparently, the laws of physics do permit time travel. There's a lot of paradoxes to grapple with, but a recent paper proposes a model...

That, when we were browsing in a nearby French chain bookstore, there should be a prominent display table featuring the latest releases in p...

Blake Morrison writes about the value of editors in The Guardian : There are, of course, many different kinds of editor — from fact-checkers...

Department of Isabella For some time now I have been indexing the books I read , mostly because it makes it easier for me to count, and I de...

Because I don't want ever to forget any of Helena's two-and-a-half-year-old charms. (Excuse my French. I'm trying to replicate h...

I've been wanting to read In the Country of Last Things , by Paul Auster, for a long time because: 1. I've liked (loved!) everything...

I miss bubblebaths. There was a time, in my pre-committed-relationship days, where I enjoyed a weekly date with myself. It wasn't someth...

Busy working. No, not really. Busy procrastinating. Busy mulling over Doris Lessing's The Golden Notebook , trying to decide what it is ...

Courtesy of the Guardian : Dumbledore appeared at the door. "I've come to take you to the Weasleys," he said kindly. "And...

Helena received this doll for Christmas: Certainly, the idea of him is funny — a perfect counterpoint to our Barbie culture — and he's ...