I’ll never understand goyim

Read “Memorial Days” by Geraldine Brooks this weekend. Was anyone else taken [way] aback by the death of the dog, which seemed a structural afterthought?

Feel lousy w/ sinus infection & cough. Could finish last part of Mme Bovary, reread some Maigrets, start either Sonia & Sunny or Flesh, or browse through the new Norman Lewis anthology. Thoughts?

‘Effingers’ Review: Days and Nights in Berlin So pleased to see piece by wonderful @ds228.bsky.social about new @nyrb-imprints.bsky.social publication of epic novel by Gabriele Tergit, author of Käsebier Tales Berlin, a #nyrbwomen24 selection.

Even if no one else appreciates the genuineness of my grin this morning. #hardle Hardle 1/9/2026 | 3/10 🟨🟨⬛🟨🟨 4️⃣0️⃣ 🟩🟩🟨🟨⬛ 2️⃣2️⃣ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 0️⃣5️⃣ Play #hardle on hardle.org

Our Ralph turned 15 this weekend. Seen here having the obligatory breakfast celebration of scrambled egg and croissant.

📢 Big news: our match is now TRIPLE! No one should be hungry or alone in NYC, especially our older neighbors. 💙 Last chance to make a tax-deductible gift by midnight! 🎁 Every donation is matched 3X! 👉 Donate today: https://donate.citymeals.org/page/91738/donate/1?ea.tracking.id=YESOC3X

Ralph and Leo don’t like wearing coats and they won’t go out in costume on Halloween. But they’ll take treats anytime.

www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio... Oh my.

in my capacity as a YLS alumnus I agree we have to throw in the towel on this

Read most recent edition of @slightlyfoxed.bsky.social over long weekend. As usual, my TBR (or TB located/purchased) list expanded. Any book budget overruns I blame on @nonsuchbook.bsky.social, who pointed me to Slightly Foxed several years ago. Who am I kidding? I have no book budget.

Annual village fireworks almost directly overhead last night. Created little cave in bathroom with musical distractions to ride out with dogs. This is how to check a that 14.5 yo dog’s hearing.

“Talk” for #NYRBwomen25 is like being stuck on Hampton Jitney in traffic, sitting in front of over-educated, under-occupied 29 yo’s. Or rather, on a LIRR local in 1965, stuck eastbound with creaky air-conditioning. I feel simultaneously old and young. @joiedevivre9.bsky.social

Extreme heat is dangerous for older adults, putting them at higher risk for serious health issues. Citymeals ensures our recipients have meals on hand when it’s too hot to cook or go out. Read more: www.citymeals.org/blog-post/su...

Wordle 1,497 X/6 ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟩⬜🟩🟩 ⬜🟩⬜🟩🟩 🟨🟩⬜🟩🟩 Don’t know about anyone else, but I’m considering a class action v. @nytimes.com for intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Seek (or just poke around) and ye shall find.

Great new issue. Have just ordered new Stein bio from @blackwells.bsky.social, along with the newJess Kidd, some Donal Ryan, Fortnight in Sept, and the autobiography of Alice B (which I vividly remember reading in my first apartment, 40+ years ago).

@joiedevivre9.bsky.social @onebrightbook.bsky.social @nancykayshapiro.bsky.social @nancybooklustpearl.bsky.social @backlisted.bsky.social Need recovery suggestions. Think Laurie Colwin, Maggie Smith, Day of Jackal, Maigret, Amy Bloom short stories, Hope and Glory, David Tennant and Catherine Tate.

Waiting for this marriage to actually end. How many red flags did she need?

What I’m doing in lieu of actually making the bed. As usual, Binet’s compulsive readability creeps up on she who was only going to do the equivalent of a couple of chapters.

On uptown B train. After guy with music on speaker left, violinist started playing—in space of 3 minutes—Hava Nagila, Lara’s Theme from Dr Zhivago, and the theme music from The Godfather. It’s quiet now.

Jane Gardam, author of Old Filth and The Hollow Land, dies aged 96

A coalition of Jewish groups warns that the Trump administration stripping international students of visas under the guise of fighting antisemitism actually makes Jews less safe and undermines the rule of law.

Reject the SAVE Act. The vote is today. Call! 5calls.org

Terrific piece in @theatlantic.com by @xochitl1977.bsky.social on generational financial security, the anxiety of not having such comfort, and the frequent cluelessness of those who do (or do now) about those who don’t.

Possibly best hand ever.

Today in NYC. Blocks after block after block.

Got an email at 8:56 am EDT that Pinckney on Hardwick and the Helen Garner diaries have been “despatched”!

Arrived today for the next installment of @nybooks.com seminar on Tragic Meaning w/ @danielmendelsohn.bsky.social.

Abashed that I’m not familiar with a lot of these authors, but am always up for a book sale. Suggestions welcome.

Is this from The Onion?

Watching Kidd for the umpteenth time with 5yo granddaughter. My drawing, not hers.

Wow. Yes.

An amazing read.

A good man.

“Schumer viewed the preservation of American institutions as a matter of Jewish preservation, because those institutions were equipped to protect religious minorities,” Franklin Foer writes.

The @danielmendelsohn.bsky.social Odyssey has arrived! Paper feels wonderful; good omen for the read.

Finished last night. A treat.

Five Best: Life Lessons Apparently, the WSJ was unable to identify any books by or about women relating to this topic.

The world may be falling apart, but I did just get Hardle on the second try. Hardle 2/5/2025 | 2/10 🟩🟨⬛⬛🟨 2️⃣1️⃣ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 0️⃣5️⃣ Play #hardle on hardle.org

Am up to about p. 200 in “Lies and Sorcery” and while I enjoyed Part 1, am not sure I can managed another 600 pages of Cousin Eduardo, even if/when he becomes a marginal character. #nyrbwomen25

A great story about remembering and then trying to find stories read in childhood and adolescence. (Mine was for something called “Momento Mori,” eventually tracked down in anthology of stories from Seventeen Magazine.)

Am so looking forward to this. Thought finally crossing “Iliad” off my list would be ‘good for me’ but didn’t realize it would be such a great (and fun) read.

Am way behind on #NYRBWomen24 & just realized I failed to take advantage of @nyrbclassics sale for #NYRBWomen25. But reading Alice James & thinking she’s even beginning to annoy Jean Strouse by 1885. Note original PB version, owned 39 yrs & never read.

This holiday season, Citymeals-on-Wheels will deliver 325,000 to older New Yorkers. www.citymeals.org As a longtime CMOW board member, I know how much these mean to many of our homebound neighbors. A generous donor will match gifts received by 12M tonight. bit.ly/3Zq6P1M