“Donald Trump is an ugly, ugly man. He has a face which expresses, to perfection, his inner monster. He wears a bloated body which, like Jabba the Hutt’s (down to the near-naked trophy…

“So . . . Once upon a time, O Best Belovéd, these were the books that made me a reader and writer; the books that made me me, to a very large extent;…

“The 19-year-old, in her white dress, plights her troth, in a moment of blind hope and splendid passion, and will not want whispered in her ear that the man at her side will…

“Where we live, in north-central Florida, patience is not a virtue but an absolute necessity. The community here, especially at such emporia as Hallmark, is largely in its late 70s and 80s, and…

“I have asked, I have begged, all of you to read Elizabeth Kolbert’s book so that at least we will be on the same page. We are on the same planet and if…

“When I attempt to describe the culture in which I live to residents of countries where excellence is still pursued, citizens still engage with one another in rational, multifaceted discourse, literacy is increasing,…

“If my life is a horror flick—and I am now not entirely certain it is not—last fall marked the moment in the plot when a wise voice (off camera) should have intoned, “I…

“A tama, a heart-stone, a tiny and very old Greek donkey blanket (upon which all these redolent objects rest): these are the things I took away with me over 63 years, to amuse,…

“From the very beginning—my father, a lay analyst, went to Greece in 1961, to set up a graduate school of Social Work at Pierce College, and to write a book about college-age women…

“He had cheated death so long, so well, so cleverly, the many scars on his fine body notwithstanding, that perhaps he imagined our new love would only comprise some added protection, some additional…