Cheesecake Factory, here we come (one perhaps in leather)

The big double date to The Cheesecake Factory comes tonight. Pretty quick plans for me dear wife Karen and I do join my wonderful daughter Elisabeth and her cool boyfriend George, considering that the Syracuse, N.Y. installment of the famous chain opened its doors just this Monday. All four of us have been looking forward…

In ‘Pirate Alley,’ Stephen Coonts builds tension on the seas

You may have seen my story here about taking the big boat from Baltimore to Bermuda and back. My dear wife Karen has made a cruise ship regular out of me. And yet I just finished reading “Pirate Alley,” the latest novel by Stephen Coonts. If the title isn’t self-explanatory enough for you, take a…

College basketball ACC season heats up for Syracuse with North Carolina game

The Syracuse University men’s basketball team’s first season in the Atlantic Coast Conference really starts a little past noon today. The Orange will tip off against the North Carolina Tar Heels in the Carrier Dome. It’s the kind of game folks around Syracuse have been anticipating since it was announced 2 1/2 years ago that…

In ‘Identical,’ Scott Turow explores how far twins will go for each other

Scott Turow paints a painful situation in his latest novel, “Identical.” Turow is an attorney as well as a writer, so it’s expected that in this 10th novel, he brings back some of the court room characters readers know. But this time, Sandy Stern is merely a background figure, a guy who defended Cass Giannis…

College basketball season is here, and Syracuse fans can go to the book

Basketball season has begun, and that’s a good thing here in Central New York. In fact, many fans are sure that it is Coach Jim Boeheim’s men’s basketball team that drives the Orange bus. Last night, my good friend MIke Waters and I had the chance to talk with a whole bunch of Orange fans.…

Dog and DeMille on a quiet Sunday morning

A gray Sunday morning in Syracuse, N.Y., but Ellie B still longs for a walk. Oh, she’s had her time romping in her fenced-in backyard, but she knows that out that front window awaits the big, real world to sniff. I have other ideas. It’s a great time to get in some pages of “The…

Niagara Falls is a wonderful place to revisit on a fifth wedding anniversary

The idea was perfect. Our present to each other for our fifth wedding anniversary should be a return trip to the ground where we’d made it official, my dear wife Karen declared many months ago. I nodded with plenty of enthusiasm. She made reservations at the same hotel where we stayed on our wedding night.…

Anne Tyler’s odd and interesting characters in ‘The Beginner’s Goodbye’ again help put life into perspective

Every time I pick up an Anne Tyler novel, I feel my age. And am quite happy about my place in time. Tyler was just 22 when her first novel was published. “If Morning Ever Comes” came out in 1964, when I was still getting into Dennis the Menace comic books. So it took awhile…