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Book Review - Rodham

Aug 31, 2020
2 min

Book Review - Rodham

Read this on galpod.com. I've read this book for an online book club that meets in September. It's a fiction novel about what would have happened if Hillary Clinton hadn't married Bill. It's a fascinating take on American Politics, which I enjoyed tremendously. The theme of the book is sexism, of course. There were some astute observations sprinkled throughout the book which I liked. For example, Curtis Sittenfeld writes about having a family in the context of a career for wo

Book Review - The Vanishing Half

Jul 27, 2020
3 min

Book Review - The Vanishing Half

Read this on galpod.com. TL;DR: read this book. Like, right now. I usually try to do a review without spoilers, but I think the great thing about this book is that it’s too rich for me to discuss the early parts alone. So if you haven’t read it, just go and read it. Because it’s probably the best thing I’ve read all year. Now, I’ll create some scrolling space for anyone who DOESN’T want spoilers. THERE ARE SPOILERS BELOW THE PICTURE. This book is ostensibly about a pair of tw

Growing Up with Words

Mar 6, 2020
3 min

Growing Up with Words

Read this on galpod.com. I just read a book in Hebrew called "Always on Time" (rough translation). It's not a fantastic book, it's rather tedious at times, although the author writes pain so delicately it breaks my heart. The story is about Netta, an Israeli who lives and loves a man in Japan in the 1990s. We get to read her point of view as well as that of her mother, and also letters from her grandfather (on her mother's side). This book got me thinking about families and t

Book Review - Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

Jan 13, 2020
2 min

Book Review - Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

Read this on galpod.com. TL;DR: it's a great book, but be warned, it deals with some difficult issues. I'd finished reading this book early December but have been dithering about the review. On the one hand, the writing is superb. Eleanor's voice is clear and vivid, and she is a funny and relatable character (think Sheldon with an inferiority complex). The observations she makes about modern society are astute and hilarious. There are many times where she comes across as the

End of December and Autumn Term Reflections

Dec 31, 2019
3 min

End of December and Autumn Term Reflections

Read this on galpod.com. I know, I know, I've done the year reflections just earlier this week. But it's also the end of the month and the term, so I'm going over the goals and setting goals for January and the Winter term. I refuse to call it Spring term because I'm not in denial about the seasons. Goals for December Finish editing LP and send to a manuscript assessment. Yes. Finish the academic paper. Yes. Blog twice a week. No. I only posted once on the week of 16/12. Run

End of November Reflections

Dec 2, 2019
2 min

End of November Reflections

Read this on galpod.com. The holidays' rush is definitely palpable now. What with Christmas concerts and parties and pantos and lights and ice skating, our family's schedule is pretty full. We try to get everything in before we head to Israel for the break, and it's been a mad dash so far. And December is looking similar. Goals for November Go over the LP manuscript again, read aloud. Not yet, but I'm close. Should be done by the end of the week. Finish a first draft of The M

On Reading Classics

Nov 11, 2019
2 min

On Reading Classics

Read this on galpod.com. I'm reading Moby Dick this term. I'm lucky enough to be able to participate in a study run by the London Lit Salon, which is awesome, by the way. It's a part of my unofficial quest to read everything, or at least, to read the classics, "must-reads" of English literature. I read terribly slowly, mostly because English is not my first language but also probably because I can't skip words or sections. I know a lot of people who skip sections of the book

End of October Reflections

Nov 1, 2019
2 min

End of October Reflections

Read this on galpod.com. It's been a busy month. We had half-term (a week with the kids at home), plus my son turned 10(!), so there was much celebration. And then, of course, Halloween, our favourite holiday, to cap everything up. As always, I haven't met all my goals. Here's the rundown. Goals for October Finish re-writing LP manuscript in the first person. YES! I did! I still need to go over everything and make it more literary, but it's all in the first person now. Pick f

On Violence and Literature

Oct 15, 2019
2 min

On Violence and Literature

Read this on galpod.com. In my creative writing course, we did an exercise. Last week, we created a character. This week, we had to figure out what is that character's worse secret and start writing a scene in which this secret is revealed. My character is Nate. He's 32, works as a software developer in Shoreditch, and lives in Hackney with his fiancé, Anna. And I wrote that his worst secret is that he fantasises about killing random people in the street. This didn't strike m

End of September Reflections

Oct 2, 2019
3 min

End of September Reflections

Read this on galpod.com. It's been an interesting month. I'll jump right in with going over the goals I set for myself for September, and I'll talk a little about how it's going in the end. September Goals Progress 1. Re-write the main scenes in LP: I've done the re-write of three more scenes. Initially, I wanted to do the main ones first, but then I decided to go by order. The thing about re-writing a story is that it's never done, so I think I need to be more precise about

New Year, New Concrete Goals

Sep 9, 2019
3 min

New Year, New Concrete Goals

Read this on galpod.com. For me, the school year is much more significant than the calendar year. It has to do with a lot of things, including having kids and being out-of-commission writing-wise throughout school holidays, but also the fact we don't celebrate Christmas and New Year isn't such a big deal for us, and possibly being in school for such a long time (12 years regular school + 10 in university). So, I've decided to spend some time thinking about the projects I'm ta

End of June Reflections

Jul 1, 2019
2 min

End of June Reflections

Read this on galpod.com. I read quite a few books in Hebrew over the last month. I started both because my mom was here and brought me some new shiny books and because I was behind on my reading challenge. I can write a PhD in English and live my life in English, but I still read about three times faster in Hebrew. Funny how our brains work. So, for the sake of having a list, this month in fiction I've finished up The Hate You Give (5 starts, go read it). I also read in Hebre

Book Review - The Silence of the Girls

Jun 17, 2019
2 min

Book Review - The Silence of the Girls

Read this on galpod.com. Another book from our reading group, this one I managed to finish on time for last week's meeting. It's a retelling of Homer's Iliad from the point of view of Briseis, a Trojan princess who is taken captive by the Greek and given to Achilles. The book is written in modern language, which I like. English is difficult enough as it is, and reading old language is fine, but I need to know what I'm getting into. So I was glad to see this book didn't requir

End of May Reflections

May 31, 2019
2 min

End of May Reflections

Read this on galpod.com. This week we're on a half-term break, five weeks after the term started. On the one hand, it's been a fairly relaxed break, and it's the first school break this year we've stayed home. On the other hand, it makes for a busy May. Also, the fact that my partner was on three business trips this month puts a cog in the wheels of the family routine. I haven't been writing too much, and it's starting to bother me. It's a little bit like a water build-up. It

Book Review - The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock

May 8, 2019
2 min

Book Review - The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock

Read this on galpod.com. I enjoyed this book very much. I read it for my library reading group, and the discussion was great fun. It tells the story of two people in London in the late 18th century (1785-6, for those of you who, like me, find the century count confusing). The two people are Mr Jonah Hancock, a merchant, middle-class white man who stumbles upon a mermaid, and Angelica Neal, a high-class prostitute whose benefactor passed away and she must now re-establish hers

End of April Reflections

May 2, 2019
2 min

End of April Reflections

Read this on galpod.com. I don't know why I keep thinking I'll get work done when we're away. I always think, sure, the kids are home, but I'm sure I can get in a good two hours of uninterrupted writing every day. They're big kids. Or, sure, we're at my mom's house, and all my siblings and their families will be there, but I'm sure I'll get some quiet time. You would think that by the time you're 40 you'd've stopped being delusional. Or at least get a better grip of reality.

Book Review - Rebecca -SPOILERS Below the Line

Apr 25, 2019
3 min

Book Review - Rebecca -SPOILERS Below the Line

Read this on galpod.com. If you haven't read Rebecca, all I'm going to say is, it's the mother of domestic noir, and you should go read it. When I finished reading it, I wanted to go back to the beginning and start again, so spoilers are critical here. Take that into consideration before you continue reading. The narrator marries an older man, Maxim de Winter, who whisks her away from her vulgar lady employer with hints of English upper-class elegance. But when she arrives at

Homecoming

Apr 9, 2019
2 min

Homecoming

Read this on galpod.com. Coming home has always been an ambivalent experience for me. It's my home, obviously. I know the house inside out, but I haven't lived here in over 20 years, so things have changed. So it's familiar and strange at the same time. When I would come home before, I used to feel like everything was smaller than I remembered. I no longer feel that way. I think it's because I've been visiting more often in the last couple of years. It feels surreal, being he

End of March Reflections

Apr 4, 2019
2 min

End of March Reflections

Read this on galpod.com. Well, it's been a hectic month in my standards. I've had a few random stuff happening such as volunteering workshops (both helping out and training), and my girlfriends taking me to a spa as a belated birthday treat (it was lovely). Also, there's this project that came into my life in January which I know I promised I'd write about, but I'm not entirely ready for that yet. Looking back at my March goals they have not been very ambitious, and I'm not s

Book Review - Atomic Habits

Jan 14, 2019
2 min

Book Review - Atomic Habits

Read this on galpod.com. I started reading James Clear's Atomic Habits before the Christmas break and finished it last week. It's possible that my feeling that this is a collection of blog posts held together by anecdotes stems from my intermittent (at best) reading of it. And I've read it during particularly difficult weeks, so I may have been less kind because of it. That doesn't negate the fact that you'd do well to just go onto James Clear's website instead of buying the