Magnificent Octopus

Bedtime stories this week were plagued with difficult questions: Who's saying that? Where does it say that? Then is it the dog saying th...

A Spaniard is inferior to a Frenchman in one respect: your Spaniard thinks things over, but your Frenchman thinks them up. — from The Count ...

The date of the first draft of this post is August 21, 2004 — almost 3 years ago. I meant to share with you one of my "collections,...

Lunchtime: Lebanese food, which I love as much for the gallant service, the blessings liberally yet judiciously bestowed, as for the tang. I...

The other week, the following lines were quoted in Doctor Who (the episode entitled " The Lazarus Experiment "): Between the idea ...

Coming this weekend to a park near me: Molière's Scapin! the Schemer , presented by Repercussion Theatre. ( Trailer .)

1. Monday morning, on my way to work, I almost miss my metro stop. Because I was reading. While this could be construed as a good thing (los...

The look of delighted astonishment on Helena's face when, during last week's episode , the Doctor exclaimed, "Allons-y!" G...

"Tell me one last thing," said Harry, "Is this real? Or has this been happening inside my head?" [...] "Of course i...

1. My Harry Potter book arrived last Saturday afternoon (delivered by a large man who looked suspiciously like Hagrid), and I've barely ...

I had the sense to do a little research before I headed to New York for the day, to confirm the address of the office, to check what was to ...

Tomorrow: Isabella in Manhattan. Tomorrow evening: Daleks in Manhattan. Coincidence? I won't be able to watch Doctor Who as it airs, but...

asked Helena at bedtime. I ask her if she dreams a lot. Yes. Every night. It wakes her up. (Me, my dreams rarely, barely register with me.) ...

[I]f I'd studied a thing in school I assumed it was general knowledge. I hadn't yet discovered that I lived in a sort of transparent...

Have you ever, on a long, cold, melancholy winter night — alone with your thoughts and the wind whistling through the hallways, the rain pou...

name drawn out of the proverbial hat (plumed, of course), winner of Captain Alatriste , by Arturo Perez-Reverte, is Tim of Geistweg . (Tim:...

(and the winner gets a book!) (Originally posted the afternoon of July 4. This post will be sticky.) Recently I read Purity of Blood , the s...

Yesterday we set out to sample green ice cream. Pistachio wins out over chocolate mint, in both our opinions. Helena and I would eat it in a...

"So what's for dinner?" "Food," said his mother. "Followed by dessert." Milrose stared at her with admirat...

In The New York Review of Books : When Julio Cortázar, in Hopscotch , portrayed young Latin Americans in Paris, one implication was that Par...