Chomp! The Dinner

Satirist, actor, and novelist, Herman Koch has set off shockwaves among international readers who view the characters and core dilemma of The Dinner through different cultural lenses. To get his take on this, refer to this Stuff.co.nz interview with the author.

Koch, who has a teenage son of his own, was born in the Netherlands in 1953 and has made a career of satire, comedy and writing. The Dinner is his first international success, having been translated into more than 20 languages. An English film adaptation of The Dinner starring Marissa Tomei and Richard Gere is currently in the works, and Koch has subsequently published another book in a similar vein, Summer House with Swimming Pool.

We're In Love With Red-Tails In Love

Unlike a New York City resident's experience, it's commonplace for us to see hawks in flight above our homes and farmlands. We can also visit a wonderful local resource,

The Raptor Trust in Millington, NJ, to see hawks and other raptors up close. The Trust is a wildlife refuge and infirmary for raptors and other injured birds, and it plays a prominent role in our book, Red-Tails in Love, as does its founder, the late Len Soucy. In addition to sheltering several red-tailed hawks, The Raptor Trust houses other raptors mentioned in the book, including three tiny saw-whet owls. There are a number of other owl varieties in residence as well as two bald eagles (seen in the last photo) and two huge common ravens with an impressive repertoire of bird calls. For more information about The Raptor Trust, refer to http://theraptortrust.org.