And when I get there, I’m going to marry this girl. I’m pretty excited about that.

My friend Bradley’s heart stopped while he was playing basketball a few weeks ago. I’ve wanted to say something about it, but I haven’t known what.

The last time I saw him was over six months ago, outside a coffee shop in Charleston. As usual, he and his wife were nothing but encouraging. He was that way with everybody- the outpouring of love that has come in the last two weeks from Copenhagen, Mumbai, Stavanger, Bristol, Charleston, and a handful of other cities around the world are the evidence. I think about him a lot now when I’m driving to and from work.

Late last year I went to The Elliot Bay Book Company to listen to Nicole Krauss read from her new novel, Great House.
The story is told in four voices, and she read from the voice of a Jewish widower delivering a beautiful and yet harsh internal dialogue to his estranged son.

Krauss’s previous novel, The History of Love, had a few of my favorite characters in contemporary fiction, and it seemed that Great House – the story of a monstrous desk and the owners whose lives have circled around it – would have a few more.

Here’s the truth:

A birthday tradition: revisiting the books I read this year.

Eating Animals // Jonathan Safran Foer
It might not have turned me into a vegetarian, but I wish it did. My favorite contemporary novelist’s memoir about the food choices we make and the impact they have on our local and global community definitely made me more conscientious about what I eat now.

The track lights reflected off the sheets of copper covering the wall behind the percolators and when I turned around a group of customers walked in, the line creeping toward the door. Good. Finally. Tips. I’ve worked at this cafe for six months, and I swear I’m like the stripper with the best boob job when it comes to getting the biggest tips possible from every type of customer.