Joyfully Retired

I’m reading a screenplay titled The Big Sleep by William Faulkner. It was taken from a book by the same name by Raymond Chandler. It features the famous detective Phillip Marlowe, played by Humphrey Bogart. Screenplays are a new way of reading for me. Here’s a little clip: MARLOWE Look — you and I want [...]

The world is full of chocolate lovers and I have come to rely on three recipes to help those who invite them for dinner: flourless chocolate cake, steamed chocolate pudding and chocolate bread pudding, which when it bubbles over fills the house with what Mary McCarthy describes in The Groves of Academe as “a rich [...]

“Nothing, ma’am!” I said. And though she went on glaring at me, I was so shocked I couldn’t say anything further. “What do you mean, nothing? You’d better answer me, you stupid little girl, or I’ll pour ink in your ear tonight while you’re sleeping!” Those enticing sentences came from Memoirs of a Geisha by [...]

Wan Chai was the part of Hong Kong that never slept. The place where anything could happen and anything could be had for the right price. Anything. Those teaser sentences are from Nine Dragons by Michael Connelly. It’s a great mystery/thriller. For more teaser sentences, visit MizB at Should Be Reading. I’m with Detective Harry [...]

It’s Tuesday  . . .  Where are you? I’m in New England with a boy (approximately 12-13) whose father just doesn’t understand him. They don’t get along at all. Because of his grandfather’s will, he and his dad are forced to live in a Bed and Breakfast with a whole cast of quirky characters. Visit [...]