A historical period of unprecedented upheavals that changed the political face of the world. An Imperial family that fell from grace and suffered an unimaginable fate. Ambergris! Fire! Opal! All subjects I wanted to write about and did in The Last Romanov.

I'm fascinated by opal...

During the early stages of research for my forthcoming novel, The Last Romanov, I came across more than a few fascinating natural wonders, but none as mesmerizing as ambergris and its origin. Ambergris is a fatty substance sperm whales expel when they suffer indigestion, caused by hard-beaked squids that can...

Let me begin by saying that when I finished reading the engrossing Jerusalem Maiden by Talia Carner (Harper Collins, $14.99), two thoughts flashed through my mind. First, that the inevitable ending was quite satisfying! And, second, that a number of the ancient cultural...

There's something manipulative about guilt. I'm not certain what it is, but I've seen others resort to it in an attempt to force me into doing things I don't want to do. And sometimes, well, maybe more often than sometimes, I may resort to guilt to force myself into doing...

I just returned from a delightful weekend in San Diego, where I attended the Historical Novel Society Conference. It felt good to be among a community of writers, each of us unabashedly parading our wares, our books in this case, flipping out our business cards, postcards, and laminated bookmarks embossed...

A powerful novel of love and loss and the reverberating effects of historical atrocities on our children, Great House by Nicole Krauss (Norton, $24.95) is a testimony to the relentless grip of memory on our present, a series of interconnected stories rendered with poise and striking clarity.

As she proved...

A good friend of mine asked me to read an article published on November 10, 2010 in Bazaar titled: The Peach Smoothie, The hottest new spa service takes the quest for perfect skin to a new place. Alex Kuczynski bravely investigates: http://www.harpersbazaar.com/beauty/health-wellness-articles/vagina-facial-spa-treatment.

I had not read the article,...

What an event it was last night at the Beverly Hills Hotel! It was an elegant affair, no more than forty guests, all decked up in our blingest of blings and chicest of chic cocktail attire. The added lighting in the Polo Lounge Private Room was superb, a pink blush...

"Sourland" (Ecco: $25.99) is an apt title for the latest collection of short stories from Joyce Carol Oates, which includes tales of violence, murder, abuse, rape, beating, guilt, grief and a series of relationships -- some ordinary, others bizarre -- that invariably go sour. The loss of a spouse and...

I flew to Denver on September second to attend the opening reception of Laura Merage's exhibition: "Look at Yourself Thirty Years of Photographs" at the Mizel Art & Culture Center at the JCC. Disclosure: the artist is my sister. So for the sake of fairness, I promptly took off my...

I attended services at Sinai Temple last Saturday, as always, looking forward to Rabbi David Wolpe's sermon and making a silent pact with myself to apply any lesson from his sermon to help me reach some peaceful resolution regarding any difficulty de jour I might be facing, which seemed quite...

My father, Sion Levy, was ninety-years-old when he was born again on Thursday, July 8 at 5:30 PM. No, my father was not a born again Christian, but an avid Jew and a Zionist, who did not believe in death, but in a cycle...

For many years now, I continue to look forward every month to my copy of the "National Geographic," turning the pages with the eagerness of an explorer about to set foot onto a virgin continent. What might I discover in this issue, in the detailed articles, gorgeous photographs, and in-depth...

For some strange, elusive reason, the day after your wedding, the world wants to know if you plan to have kids, know if you are pregnant, and if you are, how far along you are, when the due date is and, above all, whether you'll be having a boy or...

The other night, I happened to attend the Chinese New Year event at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills. The food was sumptuous, the décor inviting, the service impeccable, and I rubbed shoulders with celebrities and dignitaries. But the highlight of the evening was having the good fortune to...

On Tuesday, the esteemed author, attorney, and reviewer, Jonathan Kirsch, invited me to join the New York Times reporter Motoko Rich and tech journalist Peter Kafka in a broadcast Jonathan hosted on "The Politics of Culture" at KCRW. http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/pc/pc100209ibooks_ebooks_and_th

A lively discussion ensued about the eBook revolution...

I was reading Arianna Huffington's piece on insomnia yesterday, when the thought occurred to me that our ancestors were smart to suggest that we better broadcast our problems from every one of our rooftops, to seek solutions from all four corners of the world. These days, our rooftops are our...

We found out it's dangerous to have a yearly mammogram, dangerous to fry with monounsaturated oils, since they go rancid or oxidize in high temperature, but not dangerous to fry with saturated fats such as butter. Yes, you read right! We learned that Tamiflu is necessary to harness the Swine...

I whole-heartedly empathize with Ulysses, intimately identify with the enormity of his pain as he struggled to turn a deaf ear to the tempting songs of the sirens. This, believe it or not, is my daily struggle. Mid-mornings, after occupying my usual chair, tucked in a corner of...

Recently, a government panel recommended that women forgo regular mammograms in their 40s. That day, I found my hairdresser wielding a pair of scissors like a Samurai ready to decapitate any doctor in sight. As it happened, three of her friends, ages 35 and under, were diagnosed with breast cancer....