Category: -Claire Murray

Being Mortal*

Have you read Being Mortal by Atul Gawande yet? It’s a very interesting book on several levels. Being a writer, I learned from seeing him make his points through telling stories. He told stories about his patients, himself, and his family. It gave the book an intimate feel, like this could be happening to me …

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The Book of Kells

  Have you ever seen the Book of Kells? I did, last month when I was in Ireland. The original book, actually 340 folios, written around 800 CE, is at Trinity College in Dublin. It has its own very impressive exhibit, located on the first floor in a specially climate controlled, dimly lit room.   …

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Why Is Conversation Important?

Everywhere I go today, I see people on their cell phones. If they’re not talking, they’re texting, checking Facebook or one of their other apps. I’ve seen couples in trendy restaurants doing this between courses. It’s like everyone is with someone else, just not with the person they’re sitting with. I’ve started to wonder, is …

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Chautauqua?

What do you think of when you hear the name Chautauqua, Chautauqua, New York? The first thing I thought of was an Indian Tribe. Was I wrong! Wikipedia says, Chautauqua was an adult education movement in the United States, highly popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. …The Chautauqua brought entertainment and culture …

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Istanbul Passage: A Novel by Joseph Kanon

Outside it’s rainy and chilly and it seems like spring might not make it this year. There’s not much I can do about the weather. What I can do is stop wasting time and start focusing on what I’m going to write about for this month’s blog. I just finished reading Istanbul Passage: A Novel …

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