I’ve been reading The Dressmaker of Khair Khana by Gayle Lemmon, a nonfiction book about a young Afghan woman who starts a dressmaking business under the Taliban. The story begins as the Taliban are rumored to be approaching Kabul; we meet Kamila as she’s getting her diploma — which is about to become a worthless [...]
Category Archives: Blog
(Long post warning: we’ll get to some Dr. Who eventually, but bear with me. This is the way I watch television.) There’s an old Hitchcock anecdote about the difference between suspense and surprise. If a bus suddenly blows up, that’s a surprise. If you see a man get on a bus with a box, and [...]
How Not To Write A Review
09-May-11Reviewing, once as delicate and artistic a form as the short story, has come upon degenerate times. I was sadly disillusioned the last time I was in New York, when I searched for reviews of a play whose wit I’d enjoyed, and found several reviewers who didn’t simply disagree with me – that would have [...]
New posts coming
01-Jun-09My plan is to combine this WordPress blog with the Tightropegirl blog on Live Journal, with the gradual aim of migrating here. Step one: see if I can post successfully here. Step Two: world domination.