I am excited by... the new novel by Samantha Hunt. She's a writer I really admire a lot.

Maybe when I'm sixty-five I'll talk about my literary life.

I'm trying to read more dead people because I keep having to read stuff for juries and so forth.

Updike worked this way, and I just kinda borrowed it from him. So the memoir will be relief from novel writing for a moment.

The Ice Storm, because of the movie, has had, or is to have, a vigorous life in other cultures.

I have admired Melissa Pritchard's writing for several years now for its wisdom, its humble elegance, and its earthy comedy.

The Great Recession is not imaginary, and the effects loom large. There was an article in the NYT about the galloping death rate among white men in middle age. Higher than among any other demographic, etc. Mostly death by drugs, alcohol, or suicide. Many of them rural. My feeling is that it's many people who haven't been able to get back into the work force. Reg Morse is an example of the problem.