The Questioning Librarian

Some days you sit down to write, and nothing comes. I think that this must happen to every writer at some point or other, even prolific ones like R.A. Salvatore and Ray Bradbury. They too must have looked at a blank page and sighed at the lack of words on it, going to the well of inspiration only to find that it is dry. I wonder how they wiled away the time, what they did to distract themselves from the fact that the muse is being stingy with her gifts of an exciting plot and the right words to bring it to life? Did Bradbury play with his toys (he famously enjoyed getting toys as gifts throughout his life)? Did Hemingway have another drink? Did Tolkien work at translating some Old English text? I wonder what Debbie Macomber or Nora Roberts do when they have writer's block. They may write several books a year, but it must happen to them too, every once in a while. Just like every writer has to deal with writer's block, surely every writer has their own way of coping with it a...

There are some books that are downright painful to peruse, books you feel like you should just stop reading at one point, because to keep going on is a bit too much. But, like watching the proverbial train wreck, no matter what you might wish, you simply cannot look away. While the subtitle of the book is "Two Parties and a Funeral--plus plenty of valet parking!-in America's Gilded Capital," it might well be subtitled "It's Even Worse Than You Thought." Leibovich's take-down of Washington D.C.'s political culture would be hard-pressed to be more dispiriting if it tried to be. In spite of Leibovich's humor, even a cynic like myself was even more jaded after reading this book. Truly, no one who garners a mention in the work comes off looking good, from Harry Reid and Barack Obama to Tim Russert and David Gregory.  "This Town," as it is sometimes referred to with a mixture of admiration and disgust, has always been a haven for the...

I admit that I had every intention of skipping this particular book; just reading about it put up a variety of red flags for me, and with so many other books to read I would have been happy to give it a pass. However, I received this as a gift for Christmas, and felt an obligation to read it. I was correct in my misgivings about the book. In fact, George Washington's Secret Six  was even more dreadful than I had anticipated. First, a word about the authors. Neither of the two men who co-wrote the book have any background in history. Brian Kilmeade is a well-known television personality, appearing on the Fox & Friends show on Fox News. Both he and Don Yaeger have a background in sports writing, which is not to say one has to be an historian to write an excellent book on a historical topic. Many non-historians have written great books about historical topics, but Kilmeade and Yaeger are not likely to be counted among them. In their amateurish hands, a story that should b...