Fun facts about me:

• I hate fizzy drinks.
• I have never had a job I had to drive to.
• I haven’t had a major haircut since 1976.
• I’ve read War and Peace at least six times.
• My favorite thing to do in new places is climb to the top of the tallest thing I can find.
• My husband and I grew up 30 miles apart on the east coast, but met several decades later in Minnesota.
• I wanted to be reincarnated as an otter even before I read the short story by Saki that bears my name.

Favorite places:

• Mohonk Mountain House, near New Paltz, New York
• Gimmelwald, Switzerland
• The Russian Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia
• Powell’s Books in Portland, Oregon
• My house in Northfield, Minnesota

Favorite writers for grown-ups:

• Gregory Blake Smith (who happens to be my husband)
• Alexander Pushkin
• Zadie Smith
• David Mitchell
• Vladimir Nabokov
• Ian McEwan
• Leo Tolstoy

Mohonk Mountain House

My favorite book by my favorite writer

back to top