Sunday, July 12, 2009


Summer Reading Issue


Four authors who have made their names writing fiction try a new genre: Elizabeth Strout, Ursula Hegi, Ken Kalfus and Aimee Bender share true summer stories in memoirs written and read for The Washington Post Magazine's annual Summer Reading Issue.


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Summer Reading Issue
 

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A sampling of letters to the editor, online comments and other reader feedback about The Washington Post Magazine.
A business journalist moonlights as an author and book publisher
Peter Barnes knows business inside and out. For the past 17 years, the chief Washington correspondent for Fox Business Network has run a lucrative sideline: a children's book business that has helped him and his wife buy a vacation home on the Massachusetts island where it all started, Nantucket.
Sky-dive instructor, Sky Dive Orange, Falls Church
I was and still am terrified of heights. We used to go to Kings Dominion every summer, and everyone would ride the roller coasters except my mother and me. But people with height anxiety do well sky-diving: That's what I tell my students and myself. When you're up there, you have no reference point....
Can two teachers find anything else to talk about?
Can two teachers find anything else to talk about?
Tell us about a time when 'just one more' was way too much
For our recent vacation, my girlfriend and I went rock climbing in Nevada's breathtaking Red Rock Canyon. Early in the trip, we spent a long day practicing traditional climbing, which involves placing gear in cracks to hold a harnessed climber's fall. Hiking back to the car afterward, I spotted a...
Her Oxford pen pal wanted a different message
Elizabeth Strout writes a memoir for The Washington Post Magazine about a summer lesson learned from an amorous English pen pal.
The lessons from her mother ran deep
Ursula Hegi writes about her mother's death in a memoir for The Washington Post Magazine's Summer Reading Issue.
She could see their whole life together -- but she couldn't ignore the signs
Aimee Bender writes about her search for symbols in her effort to cope with the pain of a failed marriage in a memoir for The Washington Post Magazine's Summer Reading Issue.
A first trip abroad, three American women, and plenty of fog
Ken Kalfus writes about his first adventures abroad in a memoir for The Washington Post Magazine's Summer Reading Issue.
At C.F. Folks, it's impossible to resist the shtick with your lunch
**C.F. Folks 1225 19th St. NW 202-293-0162 www.cffolksrestaurant.com
"The Dining Out column used to be one of my favorite features in The Washington Post," writes Frank Branchini in a letter. "But it is a column I barely look at any more." His reason? "I can't remember the last time you gave even a passing nod to vegetarians."
In art therapy, we could let our crayons do the talking
Of all the sessions at Suburban Hospital's outpatient mental health services day program in Bethesda, art therapy was my favorite. Our therapist, Esther ...
Why Gene's Twitter Audience Has Grown
I have just solved one of the thorniest challenges facing many modern businesses, including my own: how to monetize the Web. Without this knowledge, newspapers are dying. The music industry is suffering. Even the fabulously popular online social networking site Twitter hasn't quite figured it out:...
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