Category: General Interest

Looking for a gift whose joy will outlast the holiday? Check out these books:

From On the Shore (Vine Leaves Press): “Let’s have sholem bayess, peace in the house.” An emotionally charged tale of an immigrant Jewish family in turmoil when their children rebel during WWI. Order on Amazon.

From A Brain. A Heart. The Nerve. (Alternative Book Press): “After being persecuted as degenerates in Germany, his peers went overboard flaunting their freedom in America.” A probing fictional biography of the actor who played the Munchkin Coroner in the 1939 Hollywood classic The Wizard of Oz. Order on Amazon.

From Tazia and Gemma (Vine Leaves Press): “I just wish I knew what it is about my father she’s protecting me from.” The heartfelt and suspenseful story of an unwed Italian immigrant who survives the 1911 Triangle Waist Co. fire and the daughter who seeks her father 50 years later. Order on Amazon.

Read more about each book in NOVELS.

If books are on your holiday list, whether for others or yourself, here are three to keep anyone company on a stay-at-home winter night:

From Tazia and Gemma (Vine Leaves Press): “She was a poor young woman, alone in this country, and wanted something to call her own.” The heartfelt and suspenseful story of an unwed Italian immigrant who survives the 1911 Triangle Waist Co. fire and the daughter who seeks her father 50 years later. Order on Amazon.

From On the Shore (Vine Leaves Press): “I was sorry I’d told Mama about my dream to be a scientist, and hoped she hadn’t spilled the beans to Papa.” An emotionally charged tale of an immigrant Jewish family in turmoil when their children rebel during WWI. Order on Amazon.

From A Brain. A Heart. The Nerve. (Alternative Book Press): “Normal-size women would automatically reject him; a short woman might take him because she couldn’t do better.” A probing fictional biography of the actor who played the Munchkin Coroner in the 1939 Hollywood classic The Wizard of Oz. Order on Amazon.

Read more about each book in NOVELS.

If your gift list for others or wish list for yourself includes the joy of books, take a look at these novels:

From A Brain. A Heart. The Nerve.: “Wanting something was a worthwhile challenge, wanting someone was too big a risk.” A probing fictional biography of the actor who played the Munchkin Coroner in the 1939 Hollywood classic The Wizard of Oz. Order on Amazon.

From On the Shore: “He made men angry enough to spite him by surviving.” An emotionally charged tale of an immigrant Jewish family in turmoil when their children rebel during WWI. Order on Amazon.

From Tazia and Gemma: “There’s something about a first love that you never let you go of, or that never lets go of you.” The heartfelt and suspenseful story of an unwed Italian immigrant who survives the 1911 Triangle Waist Co. fire and the daughter who seeks her father 50 years later. Order on Amazon.

Read more about each book in NOVELS.

If your holiday gift list includes books for family, friends, and/or yourself, consider these five-star novels:

From A Brain. A Heart. The Nerve.: “Just because midgets were short was no reason to treat them like children.” A probing fictional biography of the actor who played the Munchkin Coroner in the 1939 Hollywood classic The Wizard of Oz. Order on Amazon.

From On the Shore: “The rabbis taught that kindness superseded honesty.” An emotionally charged tale of an immigrant Jewish family in turmoil when their children rebel during WWI. Order on Amazon.

From Tazia and Gemma: “Understanding and forgiving don’t happen at the same time.” The heartfelt and suspenseful story of an unwed Italian immigrant who survives the 1911 Triangle Waist Co. fire and the daughter who seeks her father 50 years later. Order on Amazon.

Read more about each book in NOVELS.

If you’re looking for a holiday gift for someone or a great read for yourself, add these to your list:

From A Brain. A Heart. The Nerve.: “The coroner broadcast authority when he pronounced the Witch of the East ‘not merely dead, but really most sincerely dead.’” A probing fictional biography of the actor who played the Munchkin Coroner in the 1939 Hollywood classic The Wizard of Oz. Order on Amazon.

From On the Shore: “If you thought drowning was a Navy man’s biggest fear, you’re dead wrong. Fire’s your worst enemy.” An emotionally charged tale of an immigrant Jewish family in turmoil when their children rebel during WWI. Order on Amazon.

From Tazia and Gemma: “Thieves don’t just steal money or possessions. They steal hearts.” The heartfelt and suspenseful story of an unwed Italian immigrant who survives the 1911 Triangle Waist Co. fire and the daughter who seeks her father 50 years later. Order on Amazon.

Read more about each book in NOVELS.

If you’re looking for a book for someone on your gift list, including yourself, look here:

From On the Shore: “Gratitude to this country drove Shmuel’s decision. Also, a desperate need to escape his father.” An emotionally charged tale of an immigrant Jewish family in turmoil when their children rebel during WWI. Order on Amazon.

From Tazia and Gemma: “Let people think what they want, but don’t put the idea in their heads.” The heartfelt and suspenseful story of an unwed Italian immigrant who survives the 1911 Triangle Waist Co. fire and the daughter who seeks her father 50 years later. Order on Amazon.

From A Brain. A Heart. The Nerve.: “Judy Garland told Variety that the ‘little people’ got smashed every night.” A probing fictional biography of the actor who played the Munchkin Coroner in the movie classic The Wizard of Oz. Order on Amazon.

Read more in NOVELS.

If you’re looking for a book for someone on your gift list, including yourself, here are three engaging novels:

From On the Shore: “There would be no way to notify his parents if he were hurt, captured, or killed. So be it.” An emotionally charged tale of an immigrant Jewish family in turmoil when their children rebel during WWI. Order on Amazon.

From Tazia and Gemma: “It’s worse to lie by what you say than what you don’t say.” The heartfelt and suspenseful story of an unwed Italian immigrant who survives the 1911 Triangle Waist Co. fire and the daughter who seeks her father 50 years later. Order on Amazon.

From A Brain. A Heart. The Nerve.:“Meinhardt Raabe didn’t want to be one of 122 nameless Munchkins. He was after a one-of-a-kind role.” A probing fictional biography of the actor who played the Munchkin Coroner in the movie classic The Wizard of Oz. Order on Amazon.

Read more in NOVELS.

I’m doffing my writer’s hat and donning my fiber artist’s cap (hence my social media handle ase.wovenwords) to announce that this is SPINNING AND WEAVING WEEK. Celebrated the first week every October, the event showcases the beautiful and utilitarian creations made on looms, wheels, and spindles. Cloth-making skills have been practiced for thousands of years using plant and animal fibers. Woven baskets date as far back as 27,000 BCE. Take time this week to appreciate the many types of cloth that adorn and protect our bodies, homes, places of work and entertainment, and havens of comfort and renewal. “I regard spinning and weaving as a necessary part of any national system of education.” – Mahatma Gandhi

As an idolizer of E.L. Doctorow, a fellow graduate of the Bronx High School of Science (albeit 15 years later), and a writer who, like Doctorow, aims to blend fact and fiction until they are indistinguishable, I was delighted and encouraged to read the commencement address he gave to our alma mater’s class of 2011. Among his words, still resonant nearly a decade later: “The human quest for knowledge, for knowing everything there is to know, will always face that expanding circumference of darkness. That is what makes learning such an adventure. You will find that in the world great progress is made in some ways, like curing disease, like inventing robotic devices, going into space, while in other ways, as in our wars, our brutalization of others, our pollution of the natural world, we are faltering. It is possible that our great technical achievements notwithstanding, our moral natures are not keeping up, that we have the brains but not always the hearts to do the right thing. But there is always hope, and there is always the next generation coming along to make things better. We older folks are waiting for you. … If I were a clergyman, I’d cast a blessing. But I’m a writer, so I say: Be brave. Be kind. Take good care of yourself. And carry it on.” Read Doctorow’s entire speech A Master Storyteller’s Advice for Graduates: Be Brave. Be Kind. reprinted in The New York Times. See more quotes from some of my favorite authors in REFLECTIONS.