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THE BEAT MUSEUM & CITY LIGHTS BOOKSTORE

July 27, 2018 /

On the Road is one of my most tattered books. It is underlined and dog-eared; it is not in good shape.

I love the freedom and excitement written in this book: the open road, the jazz, the late nights, every day as an adventure. This is a lifestyle I never could have lived (in my more nervous reality), but I have loved living it through Kerouac and the other beat writers I have been fascinated by, especially Neal Cassady who inspired many other works of literature and drove the Merry Pranksters bus.

So while visiting San Francisco, I had to visit the Beat Museum. I actually didn’t know this museum existed until I saw it listed on a Kerouac bookmark I picked up at the American Writers Museum, another great literary stop.

A second legendary attraction in San Francisco that had been calling to me for many years is the City Lights Bookstore, which comes up time and time again in the stories of beat culture and more recently in my Writer’s Almanac emails.

We stayed in the cottages to the right of the lighthouse!

MY STAY AT POINT ARENA LIGHTHOUSE

July 23, 2018 /

How many people can say “I stayed at a lighthouse” ?? Well now I can!!

As the third in a series of posts on my epic family vacation, I want to tell you about an amazing and beautiful place we stayed while traveling California Highway 1: Point Arena Lighthouse in Mendocino County.

I discovered this opportunity – to stay on lighthouse property – when I was looking for a 2nd overnight stop between Ashland, Oregon and San Francisco after experiencing the majestic Redwoods.

‘RED SPARROW’ – THRILLING

July 21, 2018 /

I just finished Red Sparrow: A Novel (The Red Sparrow Trilogy) thanks to a recommendation from a friend, and wow was it a great read!!

This book, published in 2013, is currently a movie getting lackluster reviews. My advice would be skip the movie and read this book instead.

Dominika, a young and talented Russian intelligence officer is, against her own wishes, sent to “Sparrow School” to learn “sexpionage” and then assigned to operate against a CIA agent, Nate Nash, to find out the identity of Nash’s mole inside the Russian government. Nate and Dominika being working each other, and eventually one of them betrays their country to work for the other. What follows is truly delightful and terrifying and is apparently realistic because the author, Jason Matthews, is retired from the CIA.

‘THE LOST VINTAGE’ – WINE & WWII

July 16, 2018 /

This summer I have been pleasantly surprised by the books on my summer reading list, and I have been reading more than ever because these books are keeping my attention, one after another.

Today I’m recommending The Lost Vintage: A Novel.

I admit this book initially caught my attention because it’s about wine!!

Kate is trying to earn her Masters of Wine (M.W) which is awarded after an extremely strenuous and comprehensive exam; only around 300 people in the world hold a M.W. She will have to identify wine blindly naming the exact region it is from and its vintage. Ironically, she is doing well in identifying all varieties except for wine from the region of her family’s vineyard (Burgundy). It’s almost like she has something against Burgundy…

Alas, Kate will need to visit her family’s property in Burgundy to study this wine. And conveniently her first love runs the neighboring winery. This part of the story did not disappoint. But there was a whole other aspect of this story I was not even expecting:

The book that had me crying at the pool.

‘THE SUN DOES SHINE’ – A recommendation & giveaway

July 11, 2018 /

I interrupted my summer reading list to cry my way through (very quickly) The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row (Oprah’s Book Club Summer 2018 Selection).

I read and recommend all types of books and sometimes I very strongly recommend books…a recent example is CIRCE...however there are some rare times when I so strongly want to recommend a book that I decide to GIVE ONE AWAY.

So today I have decided to set up a contest to give away a copy of this book by Anthony Ray Hinton, who spent 30 years on Death Row as an innocent man. You may have seen it advertised as Oprah’s Summer selection. I glad it is her book club selection because I hope as many people as possible read this book.

(I will ship a book to the winner anywhere in the continental U.S. – see contest at the bottom of this post.)

THE REDWOODS

July 10, 2018 /

In the second in a series of posts about my epic summer vacation, I want to write about one of the most spectacular things I have seen in my life: The Redwoods.

Previous vacation post: Oregon Shakespeare Festival

But I’m going to steal words from John Steinbeck who makes me feel better for not being able to fully describe or photograph my experience:

“The redwoods, once seen, leave a mark or create a vision that stays with you always. No one has ever successfully painted or photographed a redwood tree. The feeling they produce is not transferable. From them comes silence and awe. It’s not only their unbelievable stature, nor the color which seems to shift and vary under your eyes, no, they are not like any trees we know, they are ambassadors from another time.”

Traveling from Oregon to San Francisco, we stopped in two separate Redwood areas and had two separate experiences – which for the reasons quoted above I can’t successfully tell you about or show you ha!! – so I will give you some details on our itinerary so you can plan to see them for yourself:

The OSF outdoor theatre seats 1,200 people. Photo by Kim Budd and provided by OSF.

MY TRIP TO THE OREGON SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL

July 6, 2018 /

I recently attended the world-class Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) in Ashland and thoroughly enjoyed this idyllic town with its Shakespeare-themed attractions. This was the first stop on my epic West Coast vacation.

The Festival is in its 83rd season; each year it presents 3-4 Shakespeare plays and additional adaptions and premieres. Plays run every day during a long season of February through October (except Mondays) in three different theaters. More than 400,000 people attend this event annually.

We decided to see Love Labor’s Lost in the Allen Elizabethan Theatre (an outdoor theatre) and learned that 1) one needs to dress for all types of weather and 2) the show will go on! In our case, it was storming in the hours before and still raining up to the 8pm showtime which made for a dramatic wait (while wondering will the show go on??). You can take wine and beer into your seats and even pre-order your drink for intermission. We also noticed this attracts a very serious audience, and no one moves an inch until intermission. And I was later told the outdoor theatre is the most “relaxed” of the three theaters!! These people are serious about their Shakespeare, and the production here is worthy of this level of respect.

‘THE SUBWAY GIRLS’ – A PERFECT SUMMER READ

July 5, 2018 /

Continuing through my summer reading list, I truly enjoyed The Subway Girls: A Novel.

This charming book is partly historical fiction about two ambitious women in New York City. It is a perfect summer (or anytime) read.

The 1949 character is Charlotte who longs to work in advertising but is constrained by society’s and her family’s expectations for a women’s place in society. When the glamourous opportunity of the Miss Subways beauty contest (a real historical advertising campaign) presents itself, she has tough decisions to make.

The present day character is Olivia who has achieved success in advertising but still faces some misogyny and discrimination in the workforce. While pitching a new strategy to the NYC subway account, she uncovers the Miss Subways campaign and finds that she has a personal connection to a former Miss Subways.
Continue reading

‘Another Side of Paradise’ is a great vacation read

June 30, 2018 /

I am thrilled to recommend yet another book from my summer reading list:

Another Side of Paradise: A Novel by Sally Koslow.

This book is a fictionalized version of a romance between F. Scott Fitzgerald and Hollywood gossip columnist, Sheliah Graham. I read this book because I was intrigued by F. Scott, but I ended up liking the book so much because of the interesting female character.

JOHN MCCAIN’S NEW BOOK

June 13, 2018 /

I just finished John McCain’s newest memoir The Restless Wave: Good Times, Just Causes, Great Fights, and Other Appreciations as part of my summer reading list.

During the past year Senator McCain has intrigued me. He is one of the very few republicans to call out the President. As a dying man with terminal brain cancer, McCain wants to “talk to his fellow Americans a little more” in this book. I wanted to pay respect to him by reading it.

I believe that regardless of political affiliations, someone who has served his country, as a soldier, a POW, and in Congress for decades, and even running for President of this country has valuable insight. And I was not disappointed. Although the book is HEAVY on military details I found much to like. Here are my most memorable moments:

Leslie's Bookcase

Page 16 of 29

THE BEAT MUSEUM & CITY LIGHTS BOOKSTORE

MY STAY AT POINT ARENA LIGHTHOUSE

‘RED SPARROW’ – THRILLING

‘THE LOST VINTAGE’ – WINE & WWII

‘THE SUN DOES SHINE’ – A recommendation & giveaway

THE REDWOODS

MY TRIP TO THE OREGON SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL

‘THE SUBWAY GIRLS’ – A PERFECT SUMMER READ

‘Another Side of Paradise’ is a great vacation read

JOHN MCCAIN’S NEW BOOK

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