Book review: Flawed

I picked up this novel, by Irish author Cecilia Ahern, by chance. I liked the premise, and I was struggling through a novel that infuriated me more than it interested me, so I decided to take a break from it with another, much different novel. It’s good I didn’t notice that the novel was the…

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The Polish Cemetery at Montecassino

Today is a holiday in Italy – Liberation Day. It seems fitting to remember today all those who sacrificed their lives during fierce fighting on the Italian peninsula during World War II. I recently posted about my visit to the 6th century abbey at Montecassino that was destroyed during the war and rebuilt from the rubble.…

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Beach reading season 2017 officially begins (for me…)

It’s that wonderful ‘event’ that rolls around each year – the official start of beach reading season! For me, it often happens around the Easter holidays, when the weather in Rome starts turning almost summer-like. I often take my kids to one of our favorite beach spots near Rome – the wonderful town of Sperlonga.…

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Writers: Finish your work!

Enjoyed a column in the latest issue of The Writer, in which television screenwriter and playwright Norman Barasch offered authors some valuable advice: “The most important thing about writing is to make sure – once you’ve started a project – don’t stop in the middle if you can help it. Just get to the end,…

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Early morning jogging … in Oslo

I’ve written a few times how much I enjoy jogging mornings when I’m travelling. I’ve already written about early morning  jogging in New York, Durres, Albania, Agadir, Morocco, Vitorchiano, Italy and the Bahamas. I had the nice chance to enjoy it again on a recent visit – to Oslo, Norway. I was (extremely) lucky with…

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