Fiction and What Woment Wear

Some readers of my novella "Manhattan Morning" have wondered why my protagonist, Dan, spends so much of his time thinking about attire -- mostly female but not entirely -- as he walks around midtown.

His excuse in the book, if he needs one, is that his former wife worked in the fashion industry and that as a result, clothes were a constant topic of consideration and conversation. He has been conditioned to be observant.

"The Sympathizer:" A Perspective on the Vietnam War

Much has already been written about "The Sympathizer," a Pulitzer-prize winning novel by Viet Thanh Nguyen that takes a different slant on the Vietnam war.

It wasn't on my reading list, but it was given to me and I was going on a trip that promised long waits in airport lounges and long hours on airplanes so I thought, why not?