Life Done Right™

© Christopher Peterson
The fun of New York City is walking an unfamiliar neighborhood and discovering oddities you never knew existed. I read about a graphic artist named Adrian Tomine signing his new book Shortcomings at Giant Robot New York so I caught the subway to the East Village to meet him. The place was packed. [...]

© Christopher Peterson
Writer Daniel Alarcon wrote an interesting article for Salon back in 2005. He was invited to a fundraiser dinner, the kind that dominate the social scene in most major cities across the country. In order to get donors to throw a few greenbacks their way, institutions are placed in the position of organizing [...]

“The secret I want to talk about is the geography of my first bedroom.”
So begins “Other People’s Houses” by Lore Siegal who will receive The 8th Annual Clifton Fadiman Medal for Excellence in Fiction at The Mercantile Library Center for Fiction’s 2007 Annual Benefit and Awards Dinner on October 29, 2007. It’s raining here…sit [...]

Author J.K. Rowling announced at a reading of Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows at Carnegie Hall in New York that Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts School, is gay. Albus was born in 1881, so maybe that constitutes a Guinness book record for longest fictional headmaster who remained in the closet before being [...]

Looking for a stocking stuffer for that hard to please man this Christmas? Might we suggest Roger Handy’s (what a convenient name!) collection of found photographs of rear ends. Boating never looked so seductive from the rear end of a woman wearing a life preserver adjacent to an outboard motor. It almost makes us want [...]

The one thing researchers seem incapable of figuring out is what makes the human mind happy. Is it money? Expensive objects? A house on the beach. Is it material versus spiritual? The answer, my friends, is not the leaves falling off the money tree in your background. It all boils down to one thing: social [...]

Doris Lessing was born in Persia (now Iran) on October 22, 1919. The other day she won the Nobel Prize for Literature. A camera news crew caught up with her as she exited a taxi and asked her how she felt about winning the silly prize. Her reaction is a lesson in humility and a [...]

There’s nothing like coming across an article that offers up a point of view that otherwise never would have considered. Maureen Kahlert from Australia questioned whether Baby Boomers are likely to have an impact on public library systems. She reached some provocative conclusions, including:

Currently libraries offer a range of services for both active and [...]

I was just reading a book on how to teach fluency in reading. When you’re a tyke in grade school, the thought of comprehending HOW you to read is about as relevant as asking a dragon how he makes all that fire coming out of his mouth. As an adult, though, the question becomes far [...]

Remember that whole dust-up involving James Frey’s book A Million Little Pieces? You know, how Frey, as an author, passed off some experiences as real when in fact it may have been a teensy bit fictional. Since Oprah pushed his book on her show, she felt morally obligated to respond to her viewers when they [...]

For those of you ladies who have had enough of the trailer park life, we suggest you pick up a copy of Charlotte Hays’ upcoming book, The Fortune Hunters. It’s a sexy tale about how to bag the money bags of your dreams. You know, the kind of guy who thinks nothing of flying you [...]

Philip Anschutz, who produced The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, just bought the film rights to the children’s book The White Giraffe by Lauren St. John. It’s a story about “a young British orphan is sent to live with her grandfather on a South African wild preserve. Her life is [...]

Salvatore Ferragamo is celebrating his 80th birthday, so he (or his company) commissioned writer Annamaria Sbisà to pen a children’s story, with illustrations by Michele Petoletti. The illustrations look amazing. See how selling and emotionally connecting with your customer goes hand in hand these days…
Story synopsis:
“Adrift in a hot air balloon, Leonardo Leopard and [...]

The myths about the unlucky number thirteen abound. A person’s phobia about the number actually has its own disorder name, triskaidekaphobia. Tall buildings sometimes avoid designating a 13th floor. What’s it all mean? The human mind knows how to scare the hell out of itself.
When it comes to an author, though, the number thirteen represents [...]

I wonder if Fidel Castro read Philip Rose’s book, The 120 Club, because it’s all about imagining a future where people convince themselves they can live that long.
The 120 Club - Living The Good Life For 120 Years: Health And Vitality In An Age Of Transformation
by Philip Rose
The 120 Years Club News

Losing your virginity is a rite of passage that either goes down as one of the most memorable events in your short history on the planet or rises with a vengeance to become a despicable act of capitulation under duress in retrospect. For a young woman, the choice of whom is sometimes less important than [...]

Hey, does your granny ride a Harley Davidson or sit in coffee shops engaging in existential conversations about how growing older stinks and there isn’t much to be done about it? The whole notion of grannies is up for grabs in this book. Forget the stereotype and get ready to embrace the ones who love [...]

Given the fact that most marriages end in divorce, the simple act of seeing your grandkids gets complicated fast. Depending on how volatile the break-up, grandkids could suddenly be whisked away to other parts of the country or even to destinations abroad.
Banjo Granny knows your pain. That someone actually found a publisher for this book [...]

Science fiction books almost read like bodice rippers, except the sexy part of them deals with ideas that just might change the future. Those who read these books have probably never picked up anything by Sartre or ever heard the word existentialism. On the other hand, Merchants of Immortality sure sounds like a science fiction [...]

Here’s the cover of J.K. Rowling’s final installment of Harry Potter. The book arrives in stores on July 21st. The movies have been awful for the most part, especially the first two. Almost everything in them seems borrowed, stolen or worse, just plain hackneyed. Good for her she’s made some money, though. It’s a lot [...]