About Sarah

Sarah Littman, writer, mother, and unpaid chauffeur, is a living example of the cliche, "Life Begins at 40." After spending much of her adult life doing things she didn't really plan to, including such diverse occupations as financial analyst and farmer's wife, she has at long last found her true calling as a writer. She indulges her adult voice as a columnist for the Greenwich Time, a Tribune newspaper, and her first novel for middle-

Photo by Kristina Berlin. Copyright 2005 Greenwich Post Hersam Acorn
Newspapers LLC. Used with permission. All rights reserved.

grade readers, Confessions of a Closet Catholic, published by Dutton Children's Books, is now in stores.

Sarah lives in Greenwich, CT with her two children and her dog, Sandy, who was adopted from Adopt-A-Dog. When she's not writing, she loves being with her kids, reading, playing tennis, being on or in the water, traveling, watching movies and live music in small clubs.

BOOKS I've enjoyed recently:

Our Holocaust - Amir Gutfreund (translated by Jessica Cohen) Haunting, expansive first novel written by the child of Holocaust survivors. The MC is searching for the answers to his extended family's Holocaust history (as a child of survivors they've picked up numerous "uncles", "aunts" and "grandparents" by the "Law of Compression" since most of the blood relatives perished in the Shoah. The quest dominates his youth when the secrets are withheld because he's not "Old Enough", but when he is and learns the randomness of his relatives' survival and how given the history their strange behaviors start to make sense, he becomes obsessed with the Shoah, how the majority of the perpetrators escaped punishment and how, although their were some genuine psychopaths involved, much of the evil was carried out by average, everyday people. He starts looking at everyone around him wondering which role they would play if the circumstances were right. Although it is a heavy subject, there is humor in the book. I want to read his next book which won an award in Israel and is coming out in English from the same publisher.

The History of Love - Nicole Krauss Beautifully written book about a man who hid in the forests of Poland to escape the Nazis and now thinks he is invisible, so when he leaves his apartment he deliberately draws attention to himself by spilling coffee in Starbucks so that people will "see" him. He's tormented by the loss of the girl he loved before the war who escaped to the US and married someone else when she thought he was dead.

MOVIES I've seen recently:

Pride and Prejudice - Matthew MacFayden is good looking, I'll admit. But he's no match for "thinking woman's crumpet" Colin Firth in the britches department. And Kiera Knightly just doesn't have the heaving bosom to be a Jane Austen heroine. Nonetheless, it's a good chick's night out flick. Do your man a favor and leave him at home. And do yourself a favor and get the Colin Firth/Jennifer Ehle version of P & P. The wet britches scene alone is worth the price. Seriously. And I should know as I've watched it. Often.

Good Night and Good Luck - Brilliant and timely. Where is Edward R. Murrow today? Yeah, yeah, I know where he is - dead. But where are the brave journalists with moral integrity? Even Bob Woodward is keeping secrets for Bush et all these days. This film should be shown in every high school history class.

Crash - I'd missed this in the movie theater but just watched it on DVD, and all I can say is WOW. Brilliantly acted and I admire the screenwriters, whoever they were, for a complex plot showing how the lives of complete strangers nonetheless interact.

MUSIC I'm grooving to on my IPOD

Matisyahu - Youth My Chabad Rebbetzin thinks that the secular popularity of a singer whose lyrics are based on Torah and mizvot is a sign of the coming of the Messiah. I have to admit that hearing "King without a Crown" blasting over the PA at my daughter's recent school skating party made me wonder if she's got a point. Ok, maybe I was the only person there who'd really listened to the lyrics, but still...my fave tracks: Time of your Song, What I'm fighting for, King Without a Crown

James Blunt - Back to Bedlam - "Goodbye my lover" had me in tears, it's so hauntingly beautiful and sad. This is a guy to watch. And since he's pretty damn dishy, watching him shouldn't be all that difficult. My fave tracks: Wisemen, Tears and Rain, Cry, Goodbye my lover

Matisyahu - Live at Stubbs - Your basic Lubavitcher Reggae Rapper. (see above) Uh, what?!!

Ben Harper - The Will to Live - "Glory and Consequence" is my favorite track. "Every moral has a story and every story has an end..."

Cake - Comfort Eagle- love the title track, in particular, but the whole album is fab.

Disney's High School Musical Soundtrack - Yes, this is a little embarrassing (ok, a LOT embarrassing) to admit, but I really like this soundtrack! I watched the "premiere" of the movie with my daughter on Disney Channel, and found the songs catchy and the story charming and positive, if admittedly somewhat trite. I went straight to iTunes and downloaded the soundtrack, an act I have lived to regret since my daughter has kept it on the "25 most played" on MY iPod. I finally had to resort to the "It's my car and MY iPod and I get to control it...ok, after you listen to two songs...ok, three songs, but that's my final offer!" (good thing I'm not a pushover, huh?)