PLOTZ (pläts): to be overcome by emotion; to collapse or faint, as from surprise, excitement, or exhaustion. From Yiddish platsn, literally to burst or explode.
I love books. I love the way they smell, the way they feel in my hands, and the way they expand my mind and teach me new things and transport me to other worlds. I frequently find myself plotzing over them.
And many of these books have plots.
How do you choose what to write about? Some of the books are recommended or given to me; some are books that I’ve been meaning to read for a while. Sometimes I find them beside the road. The books aren’t necessarily new, though I do read current issues of literary magazines and write about those. And sometimes I just write about book-related news or things that have been on my mind.
What’s in the picture at the top of the page? It’s the side of the Basilique du Sacré-Coeur in Montmartre, Paris. The gargoyle is a shout-out to a campus newspaper where I used to work.
Who are you? See here.
I was drawn to your website by your review of Jedediah Berry’s “Manual of Detection”. I read it because it reminded me of Michael Chabon’s (more enjoyable) “The Yiddish Policeman’s Union”. Since you are blessed with gustatory synethsthesia, might I be so presumptuous to recommend “Shades of Grey” by Jasper Fforde, whose morology I discovered after reading Gary Shteyngart’s “Absurdistan”. Mazeltov.