Recent circumstances (the death of director John Hughes today at age 59) have swayed me to re-post the story about JAKE RYAN for The Washington Post in 2004, one of the stories I’ve received the most mail on, ever. UPDATE: You can now read it on washingtonpost.com, which has revived it and reposted it. See…

Well, if you’re anywhere near St. Louis, or plan to be, please go visit Nikki at Pudd’nHead Books in Webster Groves, Mo. She sent the nicest e-mail after she read the beginning of Tinsel and blogged about it, too. Let me just say that if you ever think an author would tire of hearing this…

My friend Charles read Tinsel a couple weeks ago, while on a trip to his place out in Alaska. (Charles gets around. I get nowhere these days — I’m so busy that I just had to cancel the briefest four-day visit to Albuquerque in a couple of weeks, which is a bummer. On that note,…

Dy’all ever watch Ruby? (Or as I call it: “Rube-Y”?) It’s a show on the Style network about a morbidly fat woman in Savannah, Ga., trying to get her weight down to the state of being just, say, merely fat. I like this show. It’s not so much about how to lose weight (though she…

That’s what my mother (and maybe yours) called the television set — the idiot box — and begged and then nagged me to turn it off already, go outside, go play. Her point was, there’s a whole world out there! I’d get out there, barefoot in the grass, have a look around, and then wonder,…

Somewhere out there is a beginning nursing class that would be so relieved to see this walk into the classroom for the introduction to finding-a-good-vein-for-a-blood-sample day. Have at it class! Also, pictures like this must drive heroin dealers WILD. (Photo by Flynet, via TMZ.)

This afternoon (Sunday), Michael and I drove up to Rockville, Md., to the home of my friend Linton Weeks and his wife, Jan Taylor Weeks. We had to park a block away. Dozens and dozens of people had come to their house. On Thursday night, Linton and Jan’s two sons, Stone and Holt Weeks, were…

Nice to know Robert Wilonsky at the Dallas Observer opens his mail!

I’ve been taking the movie cure lately — the only affordable answer to stress. Here are my capsule thoughts: (500) Days of Summer: Call off the Stuff White People Like movie deal because here it is, finished and done. Almost scientifically twee, happy-sad picture about a doomed relationship. I thought Joseph Gordon-Levitt — all grows…

Would your committee that picks the “Bookmarked” titles every month be interested in a book where the very first chapter is titled “Target”? A book that tenderly and curiously and humorously portrays the world of Target’s America? Also, I read here that you prefer unknown authors. Well, can do! (And he’s available for Black Friday…