Liars and Saints

Recently, I was asked to participate in a gay-men's recipe exchange. And this terrified me. I imagined hyper-competent gay men all over America, dicing and slicing and also preparing some kind of compote and maybe a jus. This is not how I cook. If I were honest, I would tell you this about food preparation. (1) Make sure the recipe has fewer than five ingredients. With the measurements, just sort of let your eyes slide over the numbers...and hope some kind of osmosis process is happening.....because you will not be referring back to the measurements. (2) People say that small children really like textures that bring back memories of baby food: yogurts, creamy sauces, butter and noodles. These foods don't require a great deal of work: You can wolf the stuff down, you don't really have to chew, and then you can go back to staring at your phone. I have not outgrown this phase. I like to eat quickly, without effort, and I find that eating quickly means that you ca...

Some items to note about THE TRIAL OF LIZZIE BORDEN... -it is true crime by a woman about a woman. And maybe that is rarer than it should be. -it points toward a well reasoned conclusion...that the young lady is guilty. -it is under 300 pages ...and surely this would be different if the author were a pompous man. -it makes observations about prejudice with regard to class and gender. It points out that the title character might have really struggled in court if she had not been a wealthy white woman. -it represents several decades of authorial obsession. The writer began her research when she was an undergraduate. -it has a chance to examine folklore. The heroine walked free and yet she was semi convicted via nursery rhyme. Why was there apparent certainty outside the courtroom? -I am so excited about this book. Just wanted to put it on your radar! P.S. the Times gave this book a weekday review and called it enthralling. A rare achievement....