Tom Swift Writer’s Notebook

I thought the Beast killed a bird. Turns out, the little thing was just scared stiff. Understandable.

They can tell me plastic is better than paper. But that doesn’t mean I must believe them. Next they’ll say that other noteworthy efforts to save the planet are in fact accelerating its demise. That sunscreen, not the sun, causes skin cancer. That People stimulates the noggin as much as A People’s History. Or that [...]

Thunder, which announced this storm an hour before it arrived, rolls on in the unlit afternoon. Rain runs over the roof and pat, pat, patters in front of my window. Dave Brubeck is in the air. The Beast, just back from a jaunt amongst the pecan trees and a chance meeting with his best buddy, [...]

I have read this poem several times and each time I do my reaction is no less acute. After this morning’s rereading I tried to figure out why. An obvious explanation — the father-son relationship — is not right, as mine is not this one. Merwin’s ability, as brilliant as is his ability, to make [...]

Headline in the Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star: Double Victory. “Swift’s book,” the review says, “is an apt memorial to this almost-forgotten baseball hero.”

I recently finished The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey, a national bestseller and a book that landed on a number of respected short lists — including the New York Times and the Washington Post Book World — for best book of the year (it was published in 2005). So author Candice Millard scarcely [...]

A Borders in St. Louis exploded and the debris landed in one of the area’s many glorified garage sales. I was tipped off over the weekend but when I stopped by on Monday afternoon I was still astonished: several large shelves of books — including current bestsellers, classics, and big-name author backlist — at 80 [...]

As newspapers sink, usually books coverage is the first chair off the deck. So this is hardly shocking news even if it’s still discouraging news. I wonder how long it will be before daily books news will be found one day a week in the New York Times and elsewhere only when the eighth Harry [...]

I was waiting on the Beast to do his thing this morning when I turned to the Onion for an exclusive report on a related topic.

The Savage Beast is usually the smallest pooch at the park and he is always the fastest. Last night we let him run with the big dogs — an option that would be puppy abuse if not for his wheels. I brought reading material along but I didn’t get through much of it. As soon [...]

I was whining about newspapers the other day and, obviously, I’m not the only one. For a long time I have been of the mind that at some point the people who run newspapers would realize that even in an ever-increasingly online world they still offer a unique and necessary product — a depth of [...]

Some authors — I know one intimately — don’t think especially well on their feet. Salman Rushie is not among them. I really enjoyed the Q&A at the end of this reading (during the final 17 minutes or so), as readers asked excellent questions and Rushdie provided witty and uncommonly insightful responses.

Last night I read a terrific analysis of a fine writer’s work. One especially well articulated point: “Too often, style is dismissed as merely a sauce on the nutritious bread of substance, when in fact it’s inevitably a form of substance itself. This goes double for the presidency, where brilliant policy requires brilliant public discourse.”

Bookish notes from a couple of days in New Orleans …

We were in town for all of an hour when we crossed paths with the release of Jackie Collins’ latest bundle of paper gold. In fact, the Savage Beast crashed the party. I would say more but I’m afraid that would leave too much of [...]

Somehow I understated the matter. Apparently, those of us with two legs aren’t the only ones on drugs. Though it isn’t the most artfully crafted article I’ve read, the piece provides useful observations about animal behavior that explain a few things about the Beast.

The ritual was almost nightly. After my stories were filed I would go to the all-night Jack in the Box and by the time I had finished dirty bombing my gut with Sourdough Jacks and extra fries the late-night editors would have put the newspaper to bed. I’d return to the then empty newsroom, flip [...]

An entirely random book recommendation: If you enjoy cultural criticism, consider taking American Studies. I found a copy without knowing what I was looking for while nosing around at my favorite pre-owned bookstore last week. The collection is five years old and the essays are older than that. I didn’t dig — or follow — [...]

“I know the store is open 24 hours a day,” I said while dropping off a prescription, “but how long is the pharmacy open?” Why, 24 hours a day. Of course! The more I think about it the more that makes sense. We’re all on drugs, it’s just that some drugs are legal and some [...]

I’ve mentioned before that if you’re into religious worship the temporary hometown has you covered. That is, of course, as long as you’re a God fearin’ Christian. Many of the countless houses of devotion are striking because of their arena-like size. Others I take note of for their ability to save me even as I [...]

The Savage Beast can transform the very nature of man. Or at least the very nature of one man. Used to be that any repeated sound that could evoke thoughts of “bird” and “torture,” a sound very much like the one produced by his newest toy, would make me come unhinged. But no longer! Now [...]

I took five flights — was supposed to be six, but one was cancelled — in the eight days leading to the holiday weekend and somewhere in one of a handful of cities I picked up an ornery bug. During the second-to-last flight’s descent my sinuses felt as though they were being squeezed with a [...]

The Cleveland Public Library had a terrific photograph on display for the event on Friday — a shot of Charles Bender sitting on a chair being overwhelmed by fishing poles, golf clubs, bats, rifles, and so on. The tools of Bender’s ever-active life included more than one kind of ball. He was an avid bowler [...]