Nora Ephron, Gunter Grass...

Okay, a couple of things...

First, in the New York Times there's a excerpt from Nora Ephron's new book, I Feel Bad About My Neck published at the beginning of this month by Knopf. It's a book about aging and she says, "The honest truth is that it's sad to be over sixty." Ephron says the book is for those who "can't read a word on the pill bottle," follow a thought to a conclusion, or remember the thought after not being able to read the pill bottle. (from Amazon.com)

Here are few things she wishes she had known:

The last four years of psychoanalysis are a waste of money.

The plane is not going to crash.

The empty nest is underrated.

I think I'd like her book...

Now for Gunter Grass.

In the New York Times Arts section there's an article entitled "Gunter Grass Under Seige After Revealing SS Past." The article written by Alan Riding reveals Gunter Grass's confession that he was drafted late in the war, at age 17, into the Waffen SS the military branch of the notorious Nazi corps that played an important role in the Holocaust and other atrocities.

Grass has shocked his fatherland with his admission since he has had no trouble over time pointing his finger at Germany for all its sins and crimes during the Holocaust.

Read the whole article .